Ask Edison what are the questions that he hate most in Mathematics, he’ll say “more than” and “less than”. More often than not, lower primary students are baffled by this type of questions.
____ is 225 less than 500.
535 is ____ more than 353.
507 is 11 tens less than ____.
In fact, he started learning this type of questions since Primary 1 with addition and subtraction up to 100. I had a hard time getting him to understand the concept of comparing the two values to find the missing number in the addition / subtraction equation.
He had a faint understanding of the concept; sometimes he was confused with the words and made mistakes.
Now in Primary 2, he’s learning addition and subtraction up to 1000. When this type of questions comes up again, he becomes totally lost as the numbers get bigger. The silly husband tried to use algebra to teach him and the poor boy almost cried!
So, I decided to ask Janice. Janice is the founder and CEO of Concept Math, a private education centre set up in 2010 offering Mathematics enrichment classes to primary school students (Primary 1 to Primary 6). I’ve been following her on Facebook for quite some time; she’s a very awesome mother and a passionate educator.
She has generously shared this worksheet from Concept Math with me. There are some simple steps to solve this type of questions with ease. The moment I looked at it, I was like “Wow! I should have known this much earlier!” By converting the words to signs (+ or -) and using the number bonds, the concept is so much easier to understand.
Picture Credit: Concept Math
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Many thanks to Janice who has kindly allow me to share this worksheet from Concept Math on my blog. I’m sure this worksheet will be useful to you too. If your kids are also struggling with this type of questions, try out these 3 simple steps today.
Janice also constantly shares useful math concepts and tools on Concept Math Facebook Page. LIKE her page to get yourself equipped with these useful tips.
