ADDITION 



ADDITION 



For drill in addition let the child make up 

 columns to be added. Instead of depending 

 upon mother or father or teacher to "mark 

 them," let him learn to depend upon his own 

 testing. 



Tests. Let him add from the bottom, from 

 the top, separate about at the middle and add 

 both parts. Add as above, adding any column 

 first, as hundreds, and put down the sum in 

 full, as 1400; then tens and put down 340. and 

 so on. Then get the total by adding these 

 partial sums. Children enjoy this test better 

 than those in common use. Use the test "cast- 

 ing out nines" (see Casting Out 9's, under Ni M- 

 BER). The testing habit is an excellent one, 

 but the habit of adding correctly is more excel- 

 lent. Below are suggestions concerning the 

 latter: 



Rapid adding is desirable, and much stn-ss 

 is laid upon it at school and at home. But 

 remember, adding loses as one adds too rapidly 

 or too slowly, because 



In adding too rapidly the mind fails to get 



sufficient hold upon the last sum and the new 



addend or "fails to motorize" these two points. 



Tli is causes a feeling of Insecuri^-, and failure 



.'.ts. 



In adding too slowly the mind wanders be- 

 tween the parts of the process and failure en- 

 sues. So the element of speed must be consid- 

 ered from the standpoint of the mind of the 

 learner, or the teacher defeats her purpose. 



Some experiments made recently seem to indi- 

 cate that combination of any kind in the col- 

 umn, as finding 10's (which is common), seeing 

 a number of 8's, or 7's, etc., is not a help, that 

 those who add straight on without this li.iv 

 advantage as to speed and arcur.n y. So on-- 

 must not "impose his combination upon another 

 mind." 



Of course this latter does not apply to the 

 young child learning the notation ; he must flnd 

 th> 10's and continue such finding until he has 

 a clear understanding of th- notation. 



Helps in Getting Control of Addition. 1. 

 Each child should have a large box of inch- 

 cube blocks for number work at home and at 

 school. Make tin combinations of 



addition with inch-cube blocks; put them in 

 "table" form sometimes, make all combinations 

 many times. Use paper counters for this also, 



hildren like best to handle blocks. Later 

 use squared paper (which can he purchased at 

 school supply stores). On this the ch:ld draws 

 the combinations and has a sonx ma- 



in nt picture of his work. It is this j>< : 

 which makes squared paper do*iral>le. He 

 cannot keep his "tables" in blocks or counters, 

 for they occupy too much space. The paper 



l>e kept and referred to for review at 

 time. To iddition, combinations from 



4 



squared paper have the advantage over the 

 written tables namely, the child sees each 

 combination as he looks at the paper. For 

 example, in this written table he reads 

 8+7=15. On the squared paper he sees 8 

 squares-f 7 squares is 15 squares, and sees 7 

 squares+8 squares is 15 squares. A glance 

 at the tables of 8's shows how clear this com- 

 putation, (8-|-7=15), (7+8=15), is 'made by 

 the squared paper. 



= 6 



10 



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