Column addition – Year 4 maths lesson

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Euclid, our Head of Maths, likes it: one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.

1. Read what your child will learn together.
2. Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
3. Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
4. Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Explain what the small 1 you carry is really worth.”
5. Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

• Not carrying: writing 13 in a column or dropping the ten. Model with base 10 blocks: ten ones are exchanged for one ten and moved to the tens column.
• Digits not lined up, especially when the numbers have different lengths. Use squared paper, one digit per square, and write the column headings on top.

Miss Hypatia's tip for home: Add two prices or distances together on paper, then check with a quick estimate.