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Teaching math can be a struggle especially when you add that second digit. One way to help students understand how to add with two digit numbers is to try teaching addition with regrouping. When you use these regrouping tips, your students will be able to add with ease.
Using Money to Teach Addition with Regrouping
When I first introduce addition with regrouping, I like to use money. Money is something students can relate to, so they have a buy-in. In addition, money has several two digit values automatically which makes it a more challenging problem for students. I usually go to the bank and get a couple of rolls of dimes and some rolls of pennies.
Check out my YouTube video on this topic as well.
Review Tens and Ones Charts
When I teach addition with regrouping, the first thing I do is have students go review tens and ones charts. I do this by giving students a small chalkboard. On the chalkboard, they draw a tens and ones chart that is currently blank. Then, I display a picture like the one below on the SmartBoard and use it to teach addition with regrouping.
Explaining the Bank
Once students have drawn their table, I will explain to them that I have the bank on the right hand side. Then, I’ll demonstrate addition that doesn’t require regrouping. During this time, we learn about how we always add the ones column before the tens column.
Learning with an Equation
Next, I write down the equation and point out that I always have the addition sign because we are adding. For this example, I drew 41+17.
After I write the equation, I’m going to put the money on top of the numbers. Then, I ask what kind of money do you think goes on the one side? Most students will understand the ones with the number one on the coin. Next, we talk about how the dimes go on the 10 side.
With this equation, I’ll have seven pennies over one number and one penny over the other. Then, on the other side, I have to put my dimes over each number as well. So, we are always going to add up our ones first, so I bring all my pennies down under the line to add them together and get 8.
Now we have to do the other side. Have students bring the coins down. We have five dimes so we are going to write down the number 5. So 41+17 is 58; we have 58 cents.
Learning Addition with Regrouping with Partners
I will do the introductory work one day and let students work independently. Then, the next day, I’ll have students work together with partners. Just like the day before, students will use the chalkboard, and I will project the bank. However, today, one partner is the banker and the other person is the writer. The banker has a tub of dimes and pennies and the writer has the chalkboard and chalk.
The writer sets the board ups with the tens and ones table. Then, I put an equation on the board. For example, I might write 19+23. The writer in the group needs the money; therefore, they will ask the banker for what they need. So, they would say I need one dime (10’s) and nine pennies (1’s). Next, they will ask for what they need for 23.
After the students have their dimes and pennies on their board, they look back up to me and we teach addition with regrouping again. We slide all the money down. I always remind students they need to do the one column first. In this equation, I realize I have 12.
At this point, I have students take 10 of the pennies and turn it into a dime. The writer counts out 10 pennies and trades it for a dime with the banker. They swap coins and the writer puts the coins back where they belong on the chalkboard.
Now, when I teach addition with regrouping, I put the extra dime way up on top. This can be a tricky thing for students to understand. However, I point out that now we have an extra dime.
With all the dimes where they belong, we add up the tens spot by sliding all the dimes down. Students should see that we now have four dimes. Then, we talk about how many pennies we have which should be 2. Finally, we can say that 19+23 is 42.
It also works well without regrouping as in this example below.
Adding two digit numbers together can be difficult. However, when we teach addition with regrouping, it makes it that much easier. Students can see how to add the numbers together using the dimes and pennies which adds a math manipulative to make it that much simpler.
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