2 and 3 is 5

Up to this point, we've been working on identifying our numerals in kindergarten and understanding that the number 5 means that we have 5 of something - cupcakes, balls, fish, or friends. As we move into our new topic, Understanding Addition, we will slow down a little and take our time to really understand the relationship numbers have with each other and practice putting numbers together to make a bigger number.

I begin our addition learning telling the students that addition is taking two smaller groups and putting them together to make one big group, or part - part - whole. We use the below visual, a number bond, to practice that concept. (When we get into subtraction, we will also use number bonds but will call them whole - part - part.)

The two smaller groups are called the part,
the bigger group is called the whole.

We use visuals A LOT during the early stages of learning addition to help the students see the parts of the whole group. Today, we colored in groups of objects in two different colors, recorded our two smaller numbers, then what our big number is. 

Language is also very important at this stage of our addition learning. We use the language 2 and 3 IS 5 or 2 and 3 MAKE 5 to help the students understand that these numbers, when put together to make the "big" group or the "whole", we will ALWAYS get 5.

Here, we counted the first group of circles,
recorded the number, counted the second group and then put them together.

We use one-to-one correspondence (pointing or crossing off objects as we count)
 to make sure we count correctly.

Then, we record the number of objects before putting them together.

Eventually, we will move towards recording our number equations (or sometimes we call them sentences) in the traditional way, 2 + 3 = 5. We will focus more on the operations of writing number equations after the winter break!