Introducing and practicing addition must be concret and hands-on. When our district scope and sequence was revised to introduce addition and subtraction in the first nine weeks of school, we wanted addition lessons for kindergarten that were easy and effective. And that is where “get on my boat” was born.
Addition Lessons For Kindergarten: Get On My Boat
We spend about 2 weeks learning how to add and practicing adding to five and ten. So, of course, that means I’m always on the lookout for fun games and activities to practice this math strategy. Well, a few years ago, we struggled with subtraction, and we started using an activity called GET OFF MY BOAT. Really. We made a boat on the floor. Kids got on the boat. Kids got off the boat to show that subtraction means take away. When we played this game our understanding of subtraction clicked. So, why not reverse this idea for adding?
You’ll need a boat. Keep it simple. Make a boat with tape. Just make it large enough for up to 10 kids to be on the boat at a time.
Addition Lessons For Kindergarten: Introducing And Practicing Addition
Frist, we introduce addition as put together or join. Our introduction lesson is just putting together and counting without equations. We have some people on our boat (kids standing on our boat). And we have some swimmers who are walking around the boat. When Mr. Greg yells “SHARK!” The swimmers jump on the boat. We count and solve the addition problem orally.
To practice, with equations, we write an equation on the board. The first number is the number of people on the boat. The second number is the number of swimmers. Yell “SHARK!” and watch the excitement. Then, you count to find the answer.
Addition Lessons For Kindergarten: Independent Practice
We also use Get On My Boat to do independent practice. Studetns have their own boat with pictures of kids and a recording sheet. We show equations on the document camera and they solve them independently.
Check out the video to see this addition strategy in action!
Don’t Miss Our Get On My Boat creation in our TKS & TPT Stores:
Check out these addition resources for more adding to 5 fun!
For more ideas and resources, check out these blog posts:
