Cross Out and Count What Remains
Use a drawing to find how many remain after some leave.
Supplied materials
- A trusted adult to read aloud; paper and pencil are optional.
- Supplied story: six drawn birds are on a branch and two fly away.
Learn the idea
Taking away means some objects leave a group. Start by showing the whole starting group. Cross out the birds that fly away rather than erasing all the birds, so the drawing still shows what happened.
Count only birds that have not been crossed out to find how many remain. A crossed-out bird was in the starting group but is no longer on the branch. An adult can read the story while you point to birds that stay.
- Draw six birds and count them once.
- Cross out exactly two birds for the ones that fly away.
- Count the four uncrossed birds, then show a new group of eight with three leaving.
See the method in action
Six birds with two leaving gives four remaining: 6 − 2 = 4. The drawing shows two crossed-out birds and four uncrossed birds.
Check your reasoning
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See the answer and explanation
5 birds
Cross out three of the eight birds. Five are still on the branch: 8 − 3 = 5. Adding three would tell a different story.
Take it further
Instead, only one of the eight birds leaves. Seven remain: 8 − 1 = 7. Point to that one crossed-out bird and the seven birds that stay.
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