Showing Your Working

Mastery Evidence

Use objects or drawings to demonstrate how an addition or subtraction was solved
Respond to 'how do you know?' by pointing to objects or a drawing and describing what was done
Listen to a peer's explanation and say whether they agree or disagree

Assessment Prompt

“After [child] solves a maths problem, can they explain how they got their answer — using counters, a drawing, or words — rather than just writing down the final number?”

Prerequisites3

Numbers up to 10 into pairs
softAges 4—6
Number bonds to 9
softAges 4—6
Listening and responding
softAges 4—11

Show full prerequisite tree

Numbers up to 10 into pairs soft
Explaining part-part-whole decompositions exercises showing and telling
- Addition as combining or putting together two hard
  Decomposing numbers into pairs requires understanding addition as combining
  - How Many in Total? hard
    Understanding addition as combining groups requires knowing numbers represent quantities (cardinality)
    - One-to-one counting hard
      Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
Number bonds to 9 soft
Explaining how to find number bonds to 10 exercises showing thinking with objects
- Numbers up to 10 into pairs hard
  Making 10 is a specific application of decomposing numbers into pairs
  - Addition as combining or putting together two hard
    Decomposing numbers into pairs requires understanding addition as combining
    - How Many in Total? hard
      Understanding addition as combining groups requires knowing numbers represent quantities (cardinality)
      - One-to-one counting hard
        Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
Listening and responding soft
Explaining mathematical reasoning orally requires basic listening and responding skills

Unlocks1

Explaining Mathematical Reasoning
hardAges 6—7