Addition Strategies Teaching Resources

Make teaching addition strategies easier this school year with worksheets, printables, math games, and more created by elementary teachers for elementary teachers like you.

Aligned with both TEKS and the Common Core Math curriculum standards, the digital and printable teacher resources in this collection cover a range of grade levels, so you can find just what you need for your lesson plans. Whether you're teaching kindergartners how to count on, explaining the commutative property to your 3rd grade class or working on your students' front-end estimation skills, we've got you covered!

Has it been a while since you taught math, or at least this particular part of the curriculum? Our teacher team knows a quarter of American teachers switch grades every year, and sometimes you could use a quick refresher.

What Are Addition Strategies?

Using strategies in math teaches students to think flexibly about numbers and will help them develop automaticity. So, what does it mean in the context of addition?

The term addition strategies refers to the different methods and techniques that can be used by our students to solve addition problems.

These strategies are an important part of developing fluency and building a deeper conceptual understanding — not to mention more efficient than counting as students flex their math muscles!

6 Addition Strategy Examples That Can Help Elementary Students Build Fluency

Looking for examples of some of the addition strategies that can help put your students on the path to a more procedural model? Here are a few that can be used side by side:

Counting On Strategy

Kindergarten and 1st graders can start with the larger number and count on from there to begin mastering addition.

Counting On Strategy Example — If students want to find the sum of 7 + 3, they would start with 7 and count on 3 more (8, 9, 10).

Making 10

Finding ways to make one of the numbers a multiple of 10 and then adding the remaining number is a simple but effective strategy to help first and second graders build fluency.

Making 10 Strategy Example — If your student is looking to find the sum of 7 + 4, they could make 7 into 10 by adding 3 and have 1 left to add on.

Doubles Strategy

The doubles strategy for addition is based on the fact that adding a number to itself is the same as doubling that number.

Double Strategy Example — To add 8 + 7, one can think of it as 7 + 7 (which equals 14) and then add one more to get 8 + 7 = 15.

Number Bonds

Number bonds involve breaking the problem down into smaller parts that can be added together.

Number Bonds Strategy Example — To find the sum of 7 + 3, you could think of the problem as (5 + 2) + 3.

Place Value

This strategy involves breaking down numbers into their individual digits and adding them one column at a time, starting with the ones place, then the tens place, etc.

Mental Math

Using mental math as an addition strategy involves rounding, front-end estimation and compensation.