Preschool · Math · week 22

First take-away: eat one, how many left?

Introduce simple subtraction as removing 1 object from a small group and counting what is left.

Take-away means some go away, and you count how many are left.

If you have 3 crackers and eat 1, you can count what is left to find the new number.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Snacks make take-away deliciously concrete - eating one and counting the rest is a natural, motivating action.
  • Always count what remains after taking one away, rather than guessing.
  • Keep starting amounts small (2 to 5) so the take-away stays easy to picture.
  • Connect back to last week: adding puts groups together, and take-away pulls one group apart - two sides of the same idea.
Talk about it:
  • If you have 4 grapes and eat 1, how many are left?
  • How did you figure out how many were left?
  • Is take-away more like adding or different from adding? How?

Mastery looks like: Child removes one object from a small group and correctly counts how many remain.

Common stumbles: Child recounts the original total instead of the smaller group that is left after removing one.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Counting & Ten-FramesCount objects in ten-frames and base-ten blocks, one tap at a time.try →SubtractionTake away and count back, step by step.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Math for this learner.
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