Lesson 13: Adding on an abacus for kids: plus 1 to 4
Level 2, Easy Street. Start at the first number. Push more beads to the bar.
What your child does, card by card
Adding with bottom beads. Plus 1, 2, 3 or 4. PlayType opens the lesson: “You can make numbers. Now let's add them.”
2 + 1 = 3: start at 2. Push one more bead up. The abacus makes 2, then clears. Above, “Start at 2”, “+ 1 bead” and “= 3” take turns to glow. Its words: “Read the beads: that is the answer.”
Open a finger to add: 2 + 1: two fingers up. Open one more. The beads show 2 and go back to zero. Here the hands lead: they show 2, 3 and 2, and a moment later the beads copy each one. The labels “Open = add” and “Close = take away” light up as each idea comes. “Tap a finger to try it.” Any bead or finger may be tapped afterwards.
Watch me: 1 and 4 appear on the beads one move at a time, each bead ringed in green before it goes. Make 1. Then push 3 more beads up.
Try it puts a green ring on each next bead; your child works out 2 + 1, 1 + 3, 2 + 2, 0 + 4 and 5 + 3.
A tiny practice with no ring: work out 3 + 1, 1 + 2, 1 + 1, 6 + 3 and 1 + 3, each round starting from its own number.
In Copy me the drawn hand holds up 2, 4 and 3 in turn, and your child copies each one in beads.
In your head: the abacus is covered and your child works out 2 + 1, 1 + 3 and 1 + 1, showing each answer on the drawn fingers.
You're ready! You can add 1 to 4 with the bottom beads.
What this lesson trains
16 answers, roughly five minutes: 13 bead moves, all with bottom beads. The biggest number is 9, all on the ones rod; the 2 rods to its left stay clear and are named on a touch. Then 3 quick looks in your head.
Your child’s first moves: work out 2 + 1, 1 + 3, 2 + 2, 0 + 4 and 5 + 3.
Fingers and hands
In the lower window two drawn hands work as a finger abacus and always match the beads: a finger up is a bottom bead (1), the thumb out is the top bead (5), a closed hand is zero. In this lesson the hands show zero and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9.
On “Open a finger to add” the hands move first and the beads follow, so your child sees that a finger and a bead move together: open a finger and a bead goes to the bar, close it and the bead goes back.
In Copy me the hand leads with 2, 4 and 3 and your child turns each into beads.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayType: “You can make numbers. Now let's add them.”
PlayBuddy: “To add, push beads to the bar.”
Stars
Three stars for up to 1 slip in 16 answers, two stars for up to 4. A number counts as a slip only when it stays wrong for a moment and is not on the way to the answer, so a child who moves beads one at a time is never marked down. After two slips on one task the green ring comes back.
About Easy Street
Easy Street is Level 2 of nine (grade 1): adding and taking away when the beads you need are free, one rod then two. In your head: short sums with the abacus hidden.