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Session 5: Subtraction

Session Title

Subtraction 

Objective
  •  Understand subtraction through situation-based and real-life examples.
  •  Apply subtraction to everyday tasks and scenarios.
  •  Solve subtraction problems using fun, interactive activities.

Concept

Subtraction is used in real-life situations to take away or find the difference between quantities. It is useful when giving change, removing objects, or finding how much is left.

Materials Required
  1. Board & Chalk, Counters(small physical objects used to help students visualize and solve math problems.They can be anything like:Colored chips,Bottle caps,Beads,Pebbles,Coins,Buttons),
  2.  Dice
  3.  Role-play props (toys, food items, play money)
  4.  Chart paper
  5.  Number line

Methodology

Activity-based Learning: Games and acting out real-life scenarios. Experiential Learning: Practicing subtraction through relevant daily experiences.

Session Duration

 90 Minutes

Intro  Activity (15 minutes):

Market Math

Set up a pretend market. Each student gets some fake money. Items have price tags. Students buy items and calculate how much money they have left using subtraction.

Main Activity(65 minutes):

Objective: Build subtraction understanding through realistic examples.

 Subtraction Scenes (10 minutes)

Ask:

  1. A child has 10 cookies and eats 3. How many are left?
  2. A shop has 15 pencils, and 6 are sold. How many remain?
  3. A basket had 8 apples. 5 are given away. How many are left?

Class discusses and writes subtraction sentences.


Substraction Treasure Hunt (20 minutes) 

1. Hide numbers around the room.

2. In teams, students pick two numbers, subtract the smaller from the larger.

3. Write a subtraction sentence and run to post it on the answer chart.

4. The team with the most accurate sentences wins.

Time to Solve (25 Minutes)

Subtraction:

  1. Picture-based subtraction
  2. This involves showing pictures (like apples, animals, or toys) and asking students to count and subtract by visually removing some.

Example:

There are 7 apples in a picture. Then 3 are crossed out.

Question: “How many apples are left?”

Answer: 7 - 3 = 4

2. Real-life word problems

These help children understand how subtraction is used in everyday life.

Example 1:

"There were 12 birds. 4 flew away. How many are left?"

Children need to subtract 4 from 12:

12 - 4 = 8 birds are left

Example 2:

"You had 10 candies. Gave 3 to your friend. How many do you have now?"

Subtract the given candies:

10 - 3 = 7 candies left

3. Fill in the blanks

These help kids work backwards in a subtraction equation.

Example:

___ – 3 = 6

Ask: “What number minus 3 equals 6?”

Answer: 9, because 9 - 3 = 6


Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

1. ___ – 6 = 9

2. ___ – 4 = 7

3. 10 – ___ = 6

4. ___ – 6 = 3

5. 8 – ___ = 2

6.  ___ – 15 = 4

7.  15 – ___ = 10

8.  ___ – 7 = 2

9. 9 – ___ = 3

10. ___ – 15 = 6

Review Questions(10 minutes):

Ask:

  1. When did you use subtraction today?
  2. Can subtraction mean 'how many more'?
  3. How did role-play help you understand subtraction?

Follow up Tasks(10 minutes):

Homework:

  1.  Think of 3 real-life situations where subtraction was used today.
  2.  Write the subtraction sentence for each.
  3. Ask a family member a subtraction problem and explain how they solved it

Expected Learning  Outcome:

Knowledge building:

  • Concept of subtraction through everyday context.
  • Visual and situational understanding of subtraction.

Skill Building:

  • Logical reasoning
  • Visual learning through role play
  • Confidence in applying math to real life
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