The work of this lesson connects to the previous lesson in which students represented and solved Add To and Take From, Result Unknown problems in any way they chose. Students connected the ways they acted out the stories physically with their bodies or with objects to the actions in the stories.

In this lesson, students make sense of ways to represent and solve stories that show not only their understanding of the story structure, but also their understanding of addition and subtraction. The first activity provides an opportunity to connect different ways to represent an Add To story, including drawings and expressions. In the Synthesis of the second activity, students compare different ways to count to find the answer to the problem. Students will compare different ways to count to add and subtract throughout the rest of the unit.

The problems in this lesson continue with the library context used in the previous lesson. Consider taking photographs of the school library or a library in your community to share with students.

As students worked in their partnerships and small groups today, whose ideas were heard, valued, and accepted? Is there a norm that could be added to encourage students to include all group members in discussions?