I have gotten many questions over the last few days about number bonds. I can't say that I blame you! This is a completely different strategy for addition than the way that adults of our generation learned to add, let alone the way that your older children learned to add. Please keep in mind that this is ONE OF MANY strategies that are presented to the scholars as methods to solve an addition problem. The thought process behind number bonds is that it builds a strong conceptual understanding of how the groups of tens and ones are combined. With that said, I fully agree that they are complicated to draw and keep orderly. My job is to present multiple strategies and make sure that my scholars know how to correctly use the variety of strategies. When the students take tests they are able to choose the strategies that they prefer. So while you may see classwork and homework from me asking them to use number bonds, if they prefer to use a different strategy on their test that is perfectly fine! As long as they understand the process of addition and are able to explain their thinking then our mission is accomplished.
Here are the steps for addition with regrouping:
Number bonds for addition without regrouping:
Some of the many other possible strategies that students may choose to use for addition:
More student work
When given a choice, about half of the class chooses to use number bonds to add and half chooses a different strategy. All scholars are able to find the answer correctly using the strategy of their choice.
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