Small Friends Pond — Lesson 35: Small friends: all the taking away
Small friends on the tens rod →Lesson 35: Abacus small friends subtraction practice
Level 3, Small Friends Pond. Take away with the small friends. Then beat your best time!
What your child does, card by card
Small friends: all the taking away. Practice day! PlayBuddy opens the lesson: “Practice time. Let's get quicker and better.”
All four small friends: the top bead goes up every time. The beads show 5 and go back to zero. Here the hands lead: they show 5, zero, 4, 5, zero, 3, 5, zero, 2, 5, zero and 1, and a moment later the beads copy each one. Above, “−1: 4 back”, “−2: 3 back”, “−3: 2 back” and “−4: 1 back” take turns to glow. Its words: “The more you take, the fewer beads come back.”
In Try it a green ring marks the next bead while your child works out 7 - 4 and 5 - 1.
Six sums, fast: a mission of 6 tasks with a clock against your child’s own best time. Your child must work out 6 - 3, 8 - 4, 5 - 2, 7 - 3, 6 - 4 and 5 - 1.
In Copy me the drawn hand holds up 4, 1 and 3 in turn, and your child copies each one in beads.
In your head: the abacus is covered and your child works out 6 - 4, 5 - 3 and 7 - 4, showing each answer on the drawn fingers.
You're ready! You can take away 1 to 4 with the small friends.
What this lesson trains
14 answers, roughly five minutes: 19 moves of the beads, 8 of them with the top bead and 11 with bottom beads. Nothing goes past 8. Then 3 quick looks in your head. The friend rules here: −4 = −5 +1, −1 = −5 +4, −3 = −5 +2 and −2 = −5 +3, used in 8 of 8 sums.
The first thing your child does: work out 7 - 4 and 5 - 1.
Fingers and hands
Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 here, finger for bead.
−4 on the fingers: the thumb closes and one finger opens (−5 +1). −1 on the fingers: the thumb closes and 4 fingers open (−5 +4). −3 on the fingers: the thumb closes and 2 fingers open (−5 +2). −2 on the fingers: the thumb closes and 3 fingers open (−5 +3).
On “All four small friends” 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.
The fingers lead in Copy me (4, 1 and 3); the beads answer.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayType: “Top bead up, small friend on.”
Stars
With 1 or fewer slips across the 14 answers your child earns three stars; 3 or fewer, two.