Sentence Stems And Vocabulary Lists | Addition And Subtraction

Create a common mathematical language between all pupils and staff with these addition and subtraction sentence stems and vocabulary lists.

Secure and deepen pupils’ understanding of addition and subtraction with all of the appropriate vocabulary and sentence stems you need for Years 1 to 6 in one central place.

Display the addition and subtraction vocabulary lists on your working wall or place them in pupil's books at the start of a topic to encourage accurate mathematical vocabulary.

Use these addition and subtraction sentence stems in class to help pupils vocalise their mathematical thinking. Alternatively, send them home to help pupils complete their place value homework and encourage mathematical conversations outside the classroom.

Sentence stems can be a whole sentence, for example: 10 ones are equal to one ten. Alternatively, they can have missing parts that can be filled for flexible use, for example: The number that comes before (number) is (number). This can be completed using 1-digit numbers (The number before 5 is 4.) or with larger numbers (The number before 1,000,000 is 999,999.)

Each set of sentence stems is carefully designed to reflect when each addition and subtraction concept is introduced in our whole class teaching resource, Ready-To-Go lessons (aligned to White Rose version 3).

Teachers understand the importance of using consistent and mathematically correct language while also reducing cognitive load. Providing pupils with a sentence stem frame to build upon helps pupils focus on understanding the mathematical concept while using the correct mathematical language.

Addition and subtraction sentence stems and vocabulary

• Year 1: Adding numbers within 20, subtracting numbers within 20 and number pairs.
• Year 2: Understanding addition and subtraction, adding and subtracting 10, partitioning numbers
• Year 3: Adding and subtracting using formal methods, adding and subtracting numbers within 100 and adding and subtracting using partitioning.
• Year 4: Order of addition and subtraction and rounding to estimate answers.
• Year 5: The link between addition and multiplication, missing number calculations and using estimation to check answers.
• Year 6: Understanding the order of operations.