The purpose of this activity is for students to represent subtraction with objects. Students connect the action of subtraction with the language “take away.”

• Display 6 counters.
• “I have 6 counters. I am going to take away 4 counters.”
• Take away 4 counters.
• “6 take away 4 is 2.”

The purpose of this activity is for students to learn Stage 2 of the 5-Frames center. Students represent subtraction with objects. Students begin with 5 counters on a 5-frame. Students then roll a connecting cube onto a number mat to see how many counters to take away. After they take some counters away, they figure out how many counters are left.

• Show a 5-frame with 3 counters.
• “How many counters did we start with?”
• “How many counters did we take away? How do you know?”
• Write and invite students to chorally repeat “5 take away 2.”
• “How many counters do we have left?”
• Write “There are 3 counters left.”

The purpose of this activity is for students to choose from activities that offer practice adding and subtracting with objects and images, writing numbers, and describing and building with shapes.

Students choose any previously introduced stage from these centers:

• 5-Frames
• Roll and Add
• Math Libs
• Tower Build

• Display a full 5-frame.
• “Han is playing 5-Frames—Subtract. He rolled the cube and landed on 1. He says he has 6 counters now. What do you think?”