Add To Stories: More Things Arrive and the Total Is the Mystery

Think about where you have seen this before. Add to stories happen at every gathering. Guests arrive one car at a time and the cook keeps recounting the plates needed. This is worth learning because spotting the story type tells you which operation to use before you calculate.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Here comes a new math idea. In an add to story, you start with some, then more arrive, and you want the total.

Six ducks were on the pond. Five more landed. How many now? You had six, five joined them, so you add: six plus five equals eleven. Listen for arriving words like came, landed, joined, brought, and found. Those words mean the group grew, and growing groups call for addition every single time.

Try this one. Three eggs were in the nest and two more were laid. Three plus two equals five. Notice the word more, sitting right there in the story, telling you what happened. Story problems usually announce themselves if you listen closely enough to the words. Try it once with someone beside you, then try it alone.