What Is Addition?
What Is Addition?
Good morning, Koko! I see you brought something to school today. What is in that little bag?
Good morning, Owlo! I picked acorns from the big oak tree on my way here. I found so many!
Oh, how wonderful! How many did you find?
I found three on the ground, and then I found two more near the roots. I put them all in my bag!
So you started with three, and then you found two more. That means you did something very clever without even knowing it.
I did? What did I do?
You did addition, Koko! Addition is when you put two groups of things together to find out how many you have in total.
Addition? That sounds like a big word. Is it hard?
Not at all! You already did it with your acorns. Let us go to the classroom table and I will show you exactly how it works.
Here we go. Let us take your acorns out and put them on the table. Can you make two little groups for me?
Okay! Here are three acorns. And here are two more acorns. They are in two little piles.
Perfect. Now, when we add, we push the two groups together into one big group. Go ahead and do that.
I pushed them all together! Now they are one big pile. That feels like magic!
It does feel a little like magic, does it not! And now, how many acorns are in your big pile?
One, two, three, four, five! There are five acorns!
Exactly right. Three plus two equals five. That little word, plus, means we are adding two groups together.
Plus! So three plus two is five. I like that word. Plus. It sounds friendly.
It is a very friendly word. And we use a little symbol for it too. It looks like a small cross, and we call it the plus sign.
Can we try another one? I want to do more adding!
Of course! Let us use something else this time. Can you see those crayons on the shelf? Grab some for us.
I got four red crayons and one blue crayon. Is that good?
That is perfect. So we have one group of four, and one group of one. When we add them together, how many crayons do we have?
One, two, three, four, five! It is five again! Wait, is the answer always five?
That is such a smart question. No, the answer changes depending on the numbers you start with. We just happened to get five twice today.
Oh, that makes sense. So addition just tells us the total when we put things together.
Yes! The total is the whole amount after you have added everything together. That is a very important word to remember.
Total. Total. I like that word too. Today is a good word day.
Every day with you is a good word day, Koko. Addition is something you will use every single day of your life.
Like when I want to know how many grapes I have at lunch?
Exactly like that! Or how many friends are playing with you, or how many pages you have read in a book.
Wow, I did not know I was already doing addition all the time. I am basically a math expert.
You are well on your way! Now, before we put your acorns away, can you tell me what you learned today about addition?
Okay! Addition is when you take two groups of things and put them together to get a total. You use the plus sign, which looks like a little cross. Three plus two equals five, and I already do addition all the time without even knowing it! Next I want to learn about bigger numbers, like what is ten plus ten!
That is a wonderful summary, Koko. And ten plus ten is a great thing to explore next time. You should be very proud of yourself today.
Thanks, Owlo! I am going to count everything on my way home now.
What Is Addition?
Ages 4–5 · ~4 min
Join Owlo and Koko as they discover the fun of addition through acorns! A delightful way to introduce basic math concepts.
What you'll learn
- Understand the concept of addition
- Identify numbers in a real-world context
- Practice simple addition with objects
What Is Addition?
Ages 4–5 · ~4 min
