Number Bonds in First Grade

The first grade math program, Math in Focus, introduces addition with a method not too familiar to many of our first grade parents.  The concept of number bonds helps the students develop an important foundation for learning addition and subtraction.

Number bonds are based on the notion that any 'whole' can be broken into 'parts'. To make this concrete to our students, we used rods of unifix cubes to represent a 'whole' and asked to the students to break their rod into two 'parts'.  Students who had the same number of cubes in their 'whole' were able to see multiple ways to make the 'parts'.  Students who had rods with seven cubes for the 'whole' learned that the 'parts' could be any of the following: 1 and 6, 2 and 5 or 3 and 4. One student announced that if we didn't break the rod, we could have 0 and 7!!  Absolutely!  And, it is this shared thinking that helps our students discover that there are many ways to think about mathematical concepts.

After, practicing with a variety of number rods, we used our dry erase boards to create the number bond diagram that looks a bit like a small octopus to record our findings.  The main circle in the diagram represents the 'whole' and the two circles that branch off it each represent a 'part'.  The whole-part concept is the underpinning for addition and subtraction strategies.

We had a fun afternoon in small groups with both first grade classes using dice and a number bond score sheet to practice this new concept.  On one side, the students rolled two dice that became the 'parts' and they had to add to find the 'whole' and then on the other side of the score sheet, they rolled one die that would be the 'whole' and they had to figure out what the two 'parts' could be.  Some students went on to a challenge round with number bonds that had three 'parts'.

We also enjoyed monster number bonds after creating fabulous sock monsters in library!! If you have any questions about number bonds, find a first grader to help you out!!