Max Maths, Year 1, Try it, Number sentence families

In the 'Max Maths' curriculum for Year 1, students are encouraged to explore the concept of number sentence families through a 'Let's Try It' activity. This exercise aims to help children understand the relationship between addition and subtraction, and how numbers can be manipulated within these operations to create a set of related equations. The activity presents a template with blank spaces where students are asked to fill in numbers to complete both addition and subtraction sentences.

For example, in part (a) of the activity, students might use the numbers 3 and 5 to create a family of number sentences. They would write '3 + 5 = 8' for the first addition sentence and '5 + 3 = 8' for the second, showing that the order of numbers in addition doesn't affect the sum. For the subtraction sentences, they would write '8 − 5 = 3' and '8 − 3 = 5', demonstrating how the sum and one of the addends can be used to find the missing addend. Similarly, in part (b), students would create another set of related addition and subtraction sentences using different numbers. This activity not only reinforces basic arithmetic skills but also introduces the concept of the commutative property of addition and the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction.