The Action of Subtraction

$The Action of Subtraction book cover$

Grade 1
3 skill lessons · 3 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Seven Bulldogs, Three Gone, Four Left
2Sally First, Then Mary Kate
3Ten Pins, Eight Down, and What Is Means

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

4The Words That Empty the Mat
5The Number in the Middle
6Which Ball Did More Work?

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

7Words That Chime: Finding the Rhymes in a Poem
8Saying It Twice: How This Book Explains a Word
9Fewer, Shorter, Smaller: A Poem's Words for Getting Less
10Where Does It Stop? Reading a Line With a Missing Full Stop
11A Shrinking Kind of Action: Words That Make a Picture

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Skill lessons

3 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Seven Bulldogs, Three Gone, Four Left Concept · Taking away from a group and counting what is left

The book hands a teacher two clean take-away scenes with every number printed: seven bulldogs with three scared off leaving four, and thirteen hornets with ten buzzing away leaving three. Students do not read those results off the page; they build the start amount in counters, physically remove the part the book names, and count the remainder themselves. A take-away has three numbers in a fixed order, a start, a part that goes, and a part that stays, and the last one is found by counting what your hand did not touch.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Set out the start amount (4 min)
Count seven counters onto your mat and say aloud how many are there before anything moves. Listen to the bulldog line and keep your hand flat over the seven so nobody takes any yet. Say the starting number one more time so your partner hears it.
Word preview: seven
If seven angry bulldogs were barking at your door...
2. Take the part away (6 min)
Slide three counters right off the mat and into the cup, one at a time, saying take away as each one leaves. Count what is still on the mat and say the number out loud. Tell your partner the three numbers in order: seven, took away three, four are left.
Word preview: away, left
A kitten could scare three away.
Then you'd be left with four.
3. Run the hornets the same way (6 min)
Build thirteen counters, slide ten into the cup, and count what stays. Say the whole action aloud before you check the book's number. Then listen for the line and see whether your mat matches what the book says.
Word preview: thirteen
If ten of them would just buzz off, you'd then have only three.
4. Say the three numbers (4 min)
Point at your mat and say the start, the part that left, and the part still there. Do it once for the bulldogs and once for the hornets. Every sentence must have all three numbers in it.
Word preview: start

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Set out the start amount (4 min)
Count seven counters onto your mat and say how many before anything moves. Keep a flat hand over them so none leave early.
Word preview: seven
If seven angry bulldogs were barking at your door...
2. Take the part away (5 min)
Slide three counters into the cup one at a time, saying take away as each leaves. Count what stays and say all three numbers: seven, took away three, four are left.
Word preview: away, left
Then you'd be left with four.

Three levels

Support: Work the bulldogs only, with seven counters in a straight line so the four that stay are easy to count without recounting the whole row. Move one counter at a time and say take away with each. Keep the cup where the child can see the three that left, so both parts stay visible.
At Grade: Work both scenes, thirteen included, and say the three numbers in order without the teacher prompting for them. The remainder is counted from the mat, never guessed from the book.
Extension: After both scenes, set up a start of thirteen and ask what would be left if only three buzzed off instead of ten. Build it, count it, and say why the answer got bigger when the part that left got smaller.

English learners

Take away is the phrase to rehearse, and it is two ordinary words doing one mathematical job, so a child who knows both words can still miss the meaning. Left is the harder one: it is the past of leave and also means the opposite of right, and in this lesson it means what stays. Give the frame aloud and let them fill it: I had ___, ___ went away, ___ are left. Invite the count of the start amount in the child's strongest language, then the same three numbers in English with the counters in hand.

Materials

Two-colour counters, ten per pair
Subtraction mats, one per pair
Small cup for the taken-away counters, one per pair
Word cards: take away, left, start

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. Sally First, Then Mary Kate Application · Two-step take-away where the second step starts from the first result

This is the only place the book slows down and shows the procedure in imperatives: start with twelve, take two away, then subtract the five. Students carry it out on trays so the middle number is a thing they made rather than a line they read. The application is that the second removal does not start from twelve; it starts from the ten that the first removal produced, and a child who takes both parts off the original pile lands in the same place by an argument that will fail them later. The lesson makes the middle number visible and then asks for it out loud.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build Jen's twelve (4 min)
Count twelve counters into one pile and say the number aloud. This pile is everything Jen has before she gives anything to anybody. Do not move a single counter until your partner agrees the pile is twelve.
Word preview: twelve
If Jen had 12 stuffed animals and she gave 2 to Sally.
2. Give Sally her two (5 min)
Move two counters onto Sally's tray and count what is left in Jen's pile. Say the number you land on. Check it against the line the teacher reads, then leave Sally's two on her tray where you can still see them.
Word preview: minus
12 minus 2 is 10.
3. Give Mary Kate her five (7 min)
Now move five counters from what is left onto Mary Kate's tray. Count Jen's pile again and say the new number. Say aloud where you started this time: not twelve, but the ten you had after Sally, because Sally's two are already gone.
Word preview: subtract
Subtract the 5 for Mary Kate.
Then that leaves 5 for Jen.
4. Tell the whole story back (4 min)
Point at the three piles and tell the whole thing in order: Jen started with twelve, Sally got two, ten were left, Mary Kate got five, five are left. Your partner listens for the ten in the middle and stops you if you skip it.
Word preview: leaves

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build Jen's twelve (3 min)
Count twelve counters into one pile and say the number aloud. Nothing moves until your partner agrees it is twelve.
Word preview: twelve
Start with 12.
2. Give Sally her two (6 min)
Move two counters onto Sally's tray and count what is left in Jen's pile. Say that number aloud, then check it against the line the teacher reads. Leave Sally's two where you can still see them.
Word preview: minus, subtract
Take two away.

Three levels

Support: Do the two removals with a pause between them, and count Jen's pile aloud at the pause before any more counters move. Say the middle number, ten, and touch it, then start the second removal from that pile only. Keep Sally's tray in view so the child can see the two are already spent.
At Grade: Carry out both removals and state the middle number without being asked for it. When retelling, the ten must appear in the sentence between the two givings.
Extension: Give Mary Kate her five first and Sally her two second, build it, and count. Say what came out the same and what came out different, and be exact: the five at the end is the same, the middle number is not.

English learners

Minus and subtract both name the same action here and the book uses them one line apart, so treat them as a pair rather than two lessons. Leaves is the trap: in this book it means what remains, not what a tree grows, and a child who knows the plant word will hear the wrong one. Rehearse the frame with the trays in hand: first ___ went to Sally, then ___ went to Mary Kate, ___ are left. Let students narrate the two givings in their strongest language first, then say the middle number in English while pointing at Jen's pile.

Materials

Two-colour counters, fifteen per pair
Two small trays labelled Sally and Mary Kate
Word cards: minus, subtract, leaves

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. Ten Pins, Eight Down, and What Is Means Representation · Reading a subtraction sentence and matching it to objects

The book writes two subtraction sentences in symbols, 10 minus 8 is 2 and 2 minus 2 is 0, and then stops to explain its own equals sign. Students knock the pins over first and build the sentence afterwards, so the line describes something they did rather than something they must decode cold. The representation work is the match: each number on the card line has a job on the mat, and the word in the middle is a claim that the two sides are worth the same. The book's own gloss of is gives the lesson its language without the teacher importing a definition.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Knock down the pins (5 min)
Stand ten counters in a row as bowling pins. Sweep eight of them over and count how many are still standing. Say the number aloud before anyone writes anything down.
Word preview: pins
Like if you had ten bowling pins and grabbed a ball to roll.
Let's say you knock down eight pins with the first ball that you threw.
2. Match the line to the mat (6 min)
The teacher reads the book's line for what you just did. Lay out number cards to match your mat: the ten you started with, the eight you knocked over, the two still standing. Point at each card as you say the line back.
Word preview: minus
Then two would still be standing because 10 minus 8 is 2.
3. Roll the second ball (5 min)
Knock over the two that are left and count what is standing now. Build the line with your cards for this roll too. Say what the last number means when there is nothing left standing.
Word preview: zero
You're the hero Now all the pins are down because 2 minus 2 is 0.
4. Say what is means here (4 min)
Point at the middle of your card line and say what that word is doing: it tells you the two sides are worth the same. Say your whole line aloud, then say it again swapping is for equals. Check that nothing about the pins changed when the word did.
Word preview: equals
In this case, is means equals or totals just the same.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Knock down the pins (4 min)
Stand ten counters as pins, sweep eight over, and count what is still standing. Say the number before writing anything.
Word preview: pins
Let's say you knock down eight pins with the first ball that you threw.
2. Say what is means here (5 min)
Lay number cards to match your mat and read the line aloud. Then say what the middle word does: it says both sides are worth the same. Read it once with is and once with equals.
Word preview: minus, equals
That sign means matching value in a problem or game.

Three levels

Support: Stay with the first roll only. Lay the three number cards under the mat where the pins actually are, so ten sits under the whole row, eight under the swept pins and two under the standing ones. Read the line aloud with a finger on each card.
At Grade: Build both rolls, read both lines, and say what is claims about the two sides without the teacher supplying the word same.
Extension: Set out a card line for the second roll with the answer card face down. Say what must be under it before turning it over, and say why zero is the only card that can go there when every pin is down.

English learners

Is carries a heavy load in this lesson and it is the commonest word in the language, so the mathematical use will not stand out on its own. The book does the work itself by glossing is as equals, and that gloss is the sentence to rehearse. Minus is likely new as a word but names something the hands already did. Give the frame aloud: ten minus eight is two, and let students say it with a finger on each card. Invite the count of standing pins in the strongest language before the English line is read back.

Materials

Ten counters or blocks per pair to stand as pins
Number cards 0 to 13, one set per pair
Word cards: minus, equals, zero

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

4. The Words That Empty the Mat Integrated · Students find the single word in each of the book's lines that decides whether counters leave the mat, then prove its force by swapping it and rebuilding.

Students find the single word in each of the book's lines that decides whether counters leave the mat, then prove its force by swapping it and rebuilding.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hear the word that moves things (4 min)
Listen to the bulldog lines read aloud twice and say which single word tells you that some bulldogs are gone. Students offer a candidate word and say what it orders before any counter is touched.
2. Build what the words say (6 min)
Build seven counters, slide three into the cup as the line is reread, and count what stays. Say the three numbers in order with their words: seven at the start, three away, four left.
3. Swap one word (6 min)
The teacher reads the line again with four replaced by seven. Students test the claim on their own mats, find it false, and say what their counters show instead. Pairs state the true sentence and the false one and point at the counters that settle it.
4. Say it about your own pile (4 min)
Each student sets up a small removal of their own choosing inside ten, performs it, and says the I had, went away, are left sentence about it while a partner checks the mat.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build what the words say (6 min)
Build seven counters, slide three into the cup as the line is reread, and count what stays. Say the three numbers in order with their words: seven at the start, three away, four left.
2. Swap one word (6 min)
The teacher reads the line again with four replaced by seven. Students test the claim on their own mats, find it false, and say what their counters show instead. Pairs state the true sentence and the false one and point at the counters that settle it.

Three levels

Support: Work the bulldog scene only, with the seven counters in a straight line so the four that stay can be counted without rebuilding the row. The teacher rereads the line one phrase at a time and the child moves counters on the phrase that names the removal, so the word and the hand action arrive together.
At grade: Work both the bulldogs and the hornets, take the swap without a rebuild prompt, and produce the three-number sentence unaided with the correct word on each number.
Extension: Students invent a swap of their own that would change the answer and one that would not, try both on a partner, and say which kind of word carries mathematical force. Naming a colour or an animal changes nothing; naming the direction or the operation changes the pile.

English learners

Away and left are the two to rehearse and both are ordinary words carrying an unfamiliar load, which makes them harder than a technical term a child knows to look up. Left is the sharpest trap: it is the opposite of right in daily use and the past of leave besides, and here it means what stays. Give the frame aloud and let students fill the blanks with the counters in hand: I had ___, ___ went away, ___ are left. Invite the count of the starting pile and of the remainder in the student's strongest language first, then the same three numbers in English while pointing, so the vocabulary rides on a quantity the child has already established.

Materials

Two-colour counters, ten per pair
A mat and a small cup for the counters taken away
The bulldog and hornet lines on chart paper
A card showing the swapped sentence, revealed only at segment three

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

5. The Number in the Middle Integrated · Students carry Jen's twelve animals through two givings on trays and discover that the ten the book prints exists only if Sally is served first.

Students carry Jen's twelve animals through two givings on trays and discover that the ten the book prints exists only if Sally is served first.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build Jen's twelve (4 min)
Count twelve counters into one pile and agree with a partner that it is twelve before anything moves. Hear the two lines about Sally and Mary Kate read once through.
2. Give Sally her two (5 min)
Move two counters onto Sally's tray as the line is reread, then count what remains in Jen's pile and say that number aloud.
3. Find the middle number (6 min)
The teacher reads the book's line for what just happened. Students match it to their pile, say the middle number, and then take Mary Kate's five from what is left rather than from the original twelve. Pairs say aloud where the second giving started and why it is not twelve.
4. Retell it in order (5 min)
Retell the whole episode to a partner with every number in place, pointing at the trays as each giving is named. The partner listens for the middle number and stops the retelling if it goes missing.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Give Sally her two (5 min)
Move two counters onto Sally's tray as the line is reread, then count what remains in Jen's pile and say that number aloud.
2. Find the middle number (6 min)
The teacher reads the book's line for what just happened. Students match it to their pile, say the middle number, and then take Mary Kate's five from what is left rather than from the original twelve. Pairs say aloud where the second giving started and why it is not twelve.

Three levels

Support: Work with a deliberate pause between the two givings, and count Jen's pile aloud at the pause while touching each counter. Say the middle number and leave Sally's tray in plain view so the two already given cannot be reached for again. The retelling can be done in three short sentences rather than one long one.
At grade: Carry out both givings and state the middle number without being prompted for it, then retell the episode with all five numbers in their correct order.
Extension: Serve Mary Kate first and Sally second, build it, and count. Say precisely what came out the same and what did not: the five at the end is unchanged, the middle number is seven instead of ten, and the book's printed line no longer describes anything that happened.

English learners

This lesson lives on sequence words, so rehearse the three that carry it: first, then, and now there are. The mathematical trap is a grammatical one, because and can join two givings without saying which came first, and a retelling built on and alone loses exactly the ordering the lesson is about. Give the frame and let students fill it at the trays: first ___ went to Sally, then ___ went to Mary Kate, ___ are left. Invite the whole retelling in the student's strongest language before the English one, and let the trays stay in reach so the second telling is pointing rather than remembering.

Materials

Two-colour counters, fifteen per pair
Two small trays labelled Sally and Mary Kate
The Jen lines and the procedure lines side by side on chart paper

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

6. Which Ball Did More Work? Integrated · Students settle a question the poem leaves open, whether the ball that knocked eight pins or the ball that knocked the last two did more of the work, using the book's own four numbers as evidence.

Students settle a question the poem leaves open, whether the ball that knocked eight pins or the ball that knocked the last two did more of the work, using the book's own four numbers as evidence.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Roll both balls (6 min)
Stand ten pins, sweep eight down for the first ball, and count what is standing. Sweep the rest down for the second ball and count again. Keep the two knocked-down groups separate so both rolls stay visible.
2. Hear the question (3 min)
Hear the poem's praise for the second ball read aloud, and hear the question: which ball did more work? Students think without speaking and put a hand on the group of pins they will argue for.
3. Take a side and say your number (7 min)
Students state their position with a number from the pins in front of them. Those choosing the first ball point at the eight; those choosing the second point at the two it took and the nothing it left. Each speaker must then say what the other side would point at, using the other side's number.
4. Say what more work means (4 min)
The class settles what more work is being taken to mean, and students say whether both answers can be right at once when the two sides mean different things by it.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Roll both balls (6 min)
Stand ten pins, sweep eight down for the first ball, and count what is standing. Sweep the rest down for the second ball and count again. Keep the two knocked-down groups separate so both rolls stay visible.
2. Take a side and say your number (7 min)
Students state their position with a number from the pins in front of them. Those choosing the first ball point at the eight; those choosing the second point at the two it took and the nothing it left. Each speaker must then say what the other side would point at, using the other side's number.

Three levels

Support: Work with the two knocked-down groups pushed physically apart and labelled first ball and second ball, so the eight and the two can be counted at any moment without rebuilding. Offer the position sentence with the number blank left open, the ___ ball did more work because it knocked down ___, and accept a position supported by one number rather than two.
At grade: Take a position, support it with a quantity from the pins, and state the opposing side's number correctly before the discussion closes.
Extension: Students test their position against a changed case: the first ball takes nine and the second takes one. Say whether the answer moves, and say which of the two meanings of more work is doing the moving, since one meaning still favours the second ball and the other favours the first more strongly than before.

English learners

This lesson asks for a position and a reason, which is a two-clause utterance, and because is the joint it turns on. Rehearse the whole frame rather than the word alone, since a child can know because and still produce a reason with no number in it: the ___ ball did more work because it knocked down ___. More work is the phrase to unpack explicitly, as more here is not about which number is bigger but about which contribution counts for more, and that is the ambiguity the whole lesson turns on. Let students state a position in their strongest language first and then supply the number in English while pointing at the pins, so the quantity is the part that is rehearsed rather than the argument.

Materials

Ten counters or blocks per pair to stand as pins
Two labelled areas for the pins each ball takes down
The two bowling lines and the hero line on chart paper

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

5 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

7. Words That Chime: Finding the Rhymes in a Poem Language · Hearing and Naming Rhyming Words in a Poem

This whole book is a poem, and its lines are held together by pairs of words that end with the same sound. Students listen for those pairs, say them aloud, find the rhyming partner in a second passage, and then supply a rhyme of their own for a word the poem uses. The work is hearing sound at the end of a word and matching it, which is why it belongs to reading rather than to number work; the amounts inside the lines are never the point.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Listen for the two words that chime (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud twice, slowly. Close your eyes the second time and listen to the last word of each part. Two words end with the same sound. Say those two words aloud together, then say them again and clap on the part that sounds the same.
Word preview: rhyme
If seven angry bulldogs were barking at your door... A kitten could scare three away. Then you'd be left with four.
2. Find the rhyming pair in a new passage (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner, taking one part each. Say the last word of your part out loud. Do the two last words chime? Say the pair aloud, then say which sound they share at the end.
Word preview: pair
And what if 13 Hornets had nested in your tree? If ten of them would just buzz off, you'd then have only three.
3. Sort which passage rhymes and which does not (4 min)
Two passages are printed below. Read each one aloud. One of them ends its parts with words that chime and one does not. Hold up your rhyme card for the one that chimes, and say the two chiming words. Then say the last word of the other passage and explain that nothing chimes with it here.
Word preview: sort
Like, if you had three time outs left and somehow lost your shoe, your coach would have to call one and you'd be left with two.
So, what is subtraction? Do you know?
4. Add a rhyme of your own (4 min)
Read the passage printed below once more and say its two chiming words aloud. Now think of one more word that chimes with them, one the poem does not use. Say it to a partner. Your partner says yes if it chimes and no if it does not, and says why.
Word preview: chime
If seven angry bulldogs were barking at your door... A kitten could scare three away. Then you'd be left with four.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Listen for the two words that chime (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below twice. Listen to the last word of each part. Say the two words that end with the same sound, then clap on the part that matches.
Word preview: rhyme
If seven angry bulldogs were barking at your door... A kitten could scare three away. Then you'd be left with four.
2. Find the rhyming pair in a new passage (4 min)
Read the passage below with a partner, one part each. Say your last word aloud. Say the chiming pair and the sound they share.
Word preview: pair
And what if 13 Hornets had nested in your tree? If ten of them would just buzz off, you'd then have only three.

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. The teacher says door, then four, then door again. Echo each one. Say yes when two words chime. Then say the pair on your own, once.
At Grade: Say the chiming pair in the bulldog passage and the chiming pair in the hornet passage, and name the ending sound each pair shares.
Extension: The bulldog passage chimes door with four. Say two sentences about why a poet might want the last words of lines to chime, and what a reader would notice if one line suddenly did not.

English learners

Rhyme in English depends on the vowel and everything after it, and door and four share a vowel-plus-r that many students do not contrast in their first language. Say the pair slowly, stretch the ending, then let students hold their hand at their mouth to feel that nothing changes after the vowel. Invite students to say a rhyming pair from a song or clapping game in their strongest language so the idea travels before the English sounds do. Rehearsable frame: ___ and ___ chime.

Materials

The Action of Subtraction, the passage printed in this step
rhyme partner cards
Word cards: rhyme, pair, sort, chime

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

8. Saying It Twice: How This Book Explains a Word Language · Reading a Definition and Saying It Another Way

The book opens with a plain definition and then says the same idea again in poem lines. Students read both, decide what each one gives that the other does not, and then put the idea into their own words for a listener who has heard neither. The skill is understanding how a text defines a term and restating it, which is reading work; students describe what the word means, and are never asked to carry out the operation it names.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the plain definition (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud once. Read it again together. This sentence is the book telling you straight out what the word means. Say aloud the part of it that tells what happens to what you started with. Then say the whole meaning back in one sentence, using your own words.
Word preview: definition
Subtraction. Taking one number away from another, resulting in less than you started with.
2. Read the poem saying the same thing (6 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. It says the same idea as the plain definition, but it chimes and it names real things. Point to the words that mean the same as less than you started with. Say aloud one thing this passage gives you that the plain definition did not.
Word preview: restate
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.
3. Put the two side by side (4 min)
Both passages are printed below. Read them one after the other with a partner. Say which one you would give to somebody who wanted the meaning fast, and which one you would give to somebody who wanted to picture it. Say why for each.
Word preview: compare
Subtraction. Taking one number away from another, resulting in less than you started with.
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.
4. Explain it to somebody who has not read it (4 min)
Read the passage printed below once more. Now turn to a partner who will pretend they have never heard the word. Explain what it means without reading the sentence out. Your partner listens and says whether your explanation told them the important part, that you end with less than you began with.
Word preview: explain
Subtraction. Taking one number away from another, resulting in less than you started with.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the plain definition (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below once, then everyone reads it together. Say the part that tells what happens to what you started with, then say the meaning in your own words.
Word preview: definition
Subtraction. Taking one number away from another, resulting in less than you started with.
2. Read the poem saying the same thing (4 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. Point to the words that mean the same as less than you started with, and say one thing this passage adds.
Word preview: restate
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.

Three levels

Support: Use only the plain definition in step 1. Echo the teacher, one part at a time. Then answer aloud: does it leave you with more or with less? Say the word less.
At Grade: Say the plain definition in your own words, then read the poem line and say one thing it gives a reader that the plain definition does not.
Extension: The plain definition ends resulting in less than you started with, and the poem line says it will make your total less. Say two sentences about which wording would help a reader who had never met the word, and why.

English learners

Definitions in English often hang on a participle with no subject of its own, as in resulting in less than you started with, which can read as a fragment to students whose languages require a full clause. Read the definition, then say it again as two full sentences aloud so the grammar is heard as complete. Invite students to define a familiar everyday word in their strongest language and notice whether they used a full sentence. Rehearsable frame: ___ means ___.

Materials

The Action of Subtraction, the passage printed in this step
meaning cards
Word cards: definition, restate, compare, explain

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

9. Fewer, Shorter, Smaller: A Poem's Words for Getting Less Language · Words for Less: Fewer, Smaller, Shorter, Not as Much

Near its end the poem lists everyday things and reaches for a different word each time for the same idea of less: fewer days, a smaller plate, a shorter list, not quite as many. Students collect those words, match each to the thing it describes, and work out why the poet could not use the same word every time. This is vocabulary work about which word fits which noun, and no step asks students to find or compare an amount.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Collect the words that mean less (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud. Listen for every word that tells you there is less of something. Read it again together and put a finger under each one as you hear it. Say the words you found aloud as a list.
Word preview: fewer
A smaller plate of vegetables, a shorter list of chores, less time with your homework, and not quite as many snores.
2. Match the word to the thing it describes (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. The poet uses fewer for one thing and less for another. Say which word goes with school days and which goes with time. Then try swapping them and say aloud how the sentence sounds when you do.
Word preview: fewer
Like fewer school days due to snow and less time with the dentist.
3. Say why the poet changed words (4 min)
Both passages are printed below. Read them and look at all the different words the poet used for the same idea. Say aloud to a partner why a poet might not want to use the very same word four times in a row, and which of the words you liked hearing best.
Word preview: choose
A smaller plate of vegetables, a shorter list of chores, less time with your homework, and not quite as many snores.
Like fewer school days due to snow and less time with the dentist.
4. Use one of the words about your own day (4 min)
Read the passage printed below one more time and pick one word from it that means less. Say a sentence about something in your own day using that word. Your partner says whether the word fitted the thing you put it with, the way shorter fits a list and smaller fits a plate.
Word preview: fits
A smaller plate of vegetables, a shorter list of chores, less time with your homework, and not quite as many snores.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Collect the words that mean less (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Put a finger under each word that tells you there is less of something, then say your list aloud.
Word preview: fewer
A smaller plate of vegetables, a shorter list of chores, less time with your homework, and not quite as many snores.
2. Match the word to the thing it describes (4 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Say which word goes with school days and which goes with time, then try swapping them and say how it sounds.
Word preview: fewer
Like fewer school days due to snow and less time with the dentist.

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. The teacher reads it and stops at smaller. Echo the word. Do the same for shorter. Say the two words to a partner and point to the thing each one describes.
At Grade: List the words for less in the chores passage, then say which of fewer and less the poet put with school days and which with time.
Extension: The poet writes a shorter list of chores rather than a smaller list. Say two sentences about why shorter fits a list better than smaller does, and name one other thing you would call short rather than small.

English learners

English splits this idea in a way most languages do not: fewer goes with things you could point at one by one, less with things you cannot, and getting it wrong is one of the last errors to disappear. Do not teach the rule first; read fewer school days and less time aloud as fixed pairs until they sound settled, then add a third pair. Invite students to say how their strongest language marks the difference, if it does. Rehearsable frame: fewer ___, less ___.

Materials

The Action of Subtraction, the passage printed in this step
word collecting sheet
Word cards: fewer, choose, fits, less

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. Where Does It Stop? Reading a Line With a Missing Full Stop Language · Knowing Where One Sentence Ends and the Next Begins

One passage in this book is printed without the full stop that belongs after the word hero, so two sentences run together. It is quoted here exactly as the book has it, and the missing mark is the lesson. Students read a clean passage first to hear what a full stop does, then meet the run-together line, decide by ear where the break belongs, and say what a reader loses when the mark is not there. The skill is sentence boundaries and punctuation.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hear what a full stop does (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud, taking a clear breath at every full stop. Read it again together and tap the desk each time you reach one. Say aloud the last word of each sentence you heard, and say what told you that sentence had finished.
Word preview: sentence
And what if 13 Hornets had nested in your tree? If ten of them would just buzz off, you'd then have only three.
2. Meet a line with a mark missing (6 min)
Read the passage below. It is printed exactly as the book prints it, and something is missing: there is no full stop after the word hero, so two sentences have run into one another. We are not fixing the book. Read it aloud once the way it is printed, then read it again pausing where you think the sentence really ends.
Word preview: missing
You did it. You're the hero Now all the pins are down because 2 minus 2 is 0.
3. Say where the break belongs and why (4 min)
The same passage is printed below. With a partner, say aloud the words that end the first sentence and the words that begin the next one. Say how your ear knew, and what word gave the new sentence away.
Word preview: break
You did it. You're the hero Now all the pins are down because 2 minus 2 is 0.
4. Read a clean line beside the damaged one (4 min)
Two passages are printed below. One is punctuated properly and one has the missing mark. Read them one after the other. Say aloud which was easier to read and why, and say one sentence about why writers put full stops in at all.
Word preview: clear
Like, if you had three time outs left and somehow lost your shoe, your coach would have to call one and you'd be left with two.
You did it. You're the hero Now all the pins are down because 2 minus 2 is 0.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Hear what a full stop does (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below, breathing at every full stop. Tap the desk at each one, then say the last word of each sentence you heard.
Word preview: sentence
And what if 13 Hornets had nested in your tree? If ten of them would just buzz off, you'd then have only three.
2. Meet a line with a mark missing (4 min)
Read the passage below, printed exactly as the book has it, with no full stop after hero. Read it as printed, then again pausing where the sentence really ends.
Word preview: missing
You did it. You're the hero Now all the pins are down because 2 minus 2 is 0.

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. The teacher reads one sentence and stops. Say stop when you hear the end. Do it again for the next sentence. Point to the full stop on the page each time.
At Grade: Tap the full stops in the hornet passage, then read the hero passage and say aloud where the missing full stop belongs and what told you.
Extension: The hero passage runs two sentences together. Say two sentences about how a reader who did not notice might read it wrongly out loud, and what the full stop would have told them to do.

English learners

Readers new to English lean hard on punctuation to find sentence boundaries, because the spoken cues, a falling pitch and a short silence, are easy to miss at speed. Read the clean passage first and exaggerate the fall at each full stop, then read the damaged line so students hear the same fall arriving with no mark on the page to match it. Reassure them the book is at fault, not their reading. Rehearsable frame: The sentence ends after ___.

Materials

The Action of Subtraction, the passage printed in this step
punctuation cards
Word cards: sentence, missing, break, clear

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

11. A Shrinking Kind of Action: Words That Make a Picture Language · Picturing What a Poem's Describing Words Show You

The poem calls what it is describing a shrinking kind of action and says numbers move toward zero, which asks a reader to picture movement and size rather than to work anything out. Students say what picture the words put in their heads, find another describing phrase earlier in the poem, and end by making a describing phrase of their own. The skill is responding to imagery in a poem; nothing is computed and no total is found.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Say what picture the words make (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud slowly. Close your eyes and let the words make a picture. Open them and say what you saw. Then find the words shrinking kind of action in the passage and say what shrinking makes you picture.
Word preview: shrinking
See, the numbers move toward zero with a shrinking kind of action. And all of this is possible because we have subtraction.
2. Find another picture earlier in the poem (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. The poet names things you can see and hold instead of just saying the idea. Say aloud the three things named. Tell your partner which one made the strongest picture for you and why.
Word preview: picture
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.
3. Draw one line's picture (4 min)
The passage below is printed again. Choose one thing it names and draw it quickly, showing it getting smaller. Hold up your drawing and say the words from the passage that your picture goes with.
Word preview: draw
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.
4. Say the ending in your own words (4 min)
Both closing passages are printed below. Read them aloud. The poem finishes by asking the reader a question. Say aloud how the ending made you feel, and answer the question in one sentence of your own without using the poem's words.
Word preview: ending
See, the numbers move toward zero with a shrinking kind of action. And all of this is possible because we have subtraction.
So, what is subtraction? Do you know?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Say what picture the words make (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below slowly. Close your eyes, then say what picture you saw and what shrinking makes you imagine.
Word preview: shrinking
See, the numbers move toward zero with a shrinking kind of action. And all of this is possible because we have subtraction.
2. Find another picture earlier in the poem (4 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Say aloud the three things it names, and which one made the strongest picture for you.
Word preview: picture
Subtraction is an action that will make your total less. Whether ice cream scoops or hula hoops or inches from a dress.

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. The teacher reads it and says the word shrinking. Echo it. Show shrinking with your hands. Say one thing that gets smaller.
At Grade: Say what picture a shrinking kind of action puts in your head, then name the three things the earlier passage lists and say which pictured best for you.
Extension: The poem says the numbers move toward zero with a shrinking kind of action. Say two sentences about why a poet would describe this as moving and shrinking rather than just naming it, and what the picture adds for a reader.

English learners

A shrinking kind of action stacks a describing word onto kind of, a vague English frame that rarely translates directly and can sound like hedging rather than description. Read the phrase and act it out with your hands at the same time, so meaning arrives through gesture before grammar. Invite students to name something that shrinks in their strongest language and show it. Rehearsable frame: It is a ___ kind of ___.

Materials

The Action of Subtraction, the passage printed in this step
picture drawing paper
Word cards: shrinking, picture, draw, ending

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.