Addition Lesson Plan for 3rd Grade

Learning objective

• Add single-digit and two-digit numbers fluently
• Practice combining ones and tens in addition equations
• Build mental math skills with 1 and 2-digit addends

Materials

• Add 1 & 2-digit numbers (with missing addend) - Guitar
• Add 2-digit and 1-digit numbers (with carrying) - Goat
• Add one 2-digit and two 1-digit numbers - Fish
• Add a 2-digit & two 1-digit numbers
• Add two whole tens and two 1-digit numbers
• Add 3 & 1-digit numbers
• Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. 1. Warm up together (5 min)

   Open with a quick count-around or number talk that touches addition. Ask students where they have seen addition outside of math class. You are listening for who already has the vocabulary and who does not, so keep it light and let several students answer.

2. 2. Model it (I do) (10 min)

   Work two examples of addition on the board, thinking out loud the whole way. Say the quiet parts: what you notice first, which step you do next, and why. Deliberately make one small error on the second example and let the class catch it.

3. 3. Practice together (we do) (10 min)

   Work three more problems as a class. Ask a different student to supply each step rather than the whole answer. If a step stalls, drop back to concrete objects or a drawing before moving on.

4. 4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)

   Hand out "Add 1 & 2-digit numbers (with missing addend) - Guitar". Students work independently while you circulate. Note who is fluent, who is counting on fingers, and who has not started, because that grouping drives tomorrow's small group.

5. 5. Close the loop (5 min)

   Pull the class back. Ask one student to explain a problem they got right and one to name something that is still confusing. End on the confusion, not the success, so students learn that naming a gap is normal.

Check for understanding

Collect the practice pages and sort them into three piles: fluent, developing, and not yet. Any student in the third pile needs addition retaught in a small group before the class moves on.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild addition with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own addition problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand addition.

Skills covered in this lesson

Add 1 & 2-digit numbers · Add 1 & 2-digit numbers (missing addend) · Complete one hundred (missing addends) · Add a 2-digit & two 1-digit numbers · Add 3 & 1-digit numbers · Add whole tens to 2-digit numbers · Add whole tens to 2-digit numbers (missing addend) · Add two whole tens and two 1-digit numbers · Add whole tens (3 addends) · Add whole tens (4 addends) · Add whole hundreds (2 addends) · Add whole hundreds (3 addends)