Lesson 14: Adding 5 on an abacus with the top bead
Level 2, Easy Street. The top bead adds five at once.
What your child does, card by card
Adding with the top bead. Plus 5. PlayBuddy opens the lesson: “Adding five is the top bead's job.”
3 + 5 = 8: start at 3. Bring the top bead down. The abacus makes 3, then clears. Here the hands lead: they show 3 and 8, and a moment later the beads copy each one. On the card, “Start at 3”, “+ 5: the top bead” and “= 8” light up one by one. Then the card invites a touch: “Tap the top bead to try it.”
Watch me: 2 and 7 appear on the beads one move at a time, each bead ringed in green before it goes. The top bead comes down.
Try it puts a green ring on each next bead; your child works out 3 + 5, 2 + 5, 4 + 5 and 0 + 5.
A tiny practice with no ring: work out 1 + 5, 0 + 5, 3 + 5 and 4 + 5, each round starting from its own number.
Then the beads hide and the sums 3 + 5, 2 + 5 and 1 + 5 are done in the head, the answer shown on the fingers.
You're ready! You can add 5 with the top bead.
What this lesson trains
11 answers, roughly five minutes: 8 moves of the beads, 8 of them with the top bead and 0 with bottom beads. The work stays at 9 or below, on one rod. Then 3 quick looks in your head.
The first thing your child does: work out 3 + 5, 2 + 5, 4 + 5 and 0 + 5.
Fingers and hands
Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 here, finger for bead.
On “3 + 5 = 8” 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.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayBuddy: “Adding five is the top bead's job.”
PlayBuddy: “To add, push beads to the bar.”
Stars
With 1 or fewer slips across the 11 answers your child earns three stars; 2 or fewer, two.