The young cowboy has his two hands full with five little ducks. They need three sacks of food and four bundles of hay. And when they each bring home a friend, it's twice as much work. For 10 little ducks, he needs double the food, double the hay and double the hands!
The first step in mastering basic addition is adding a number to itself (for example, 3+3).
Illustrated by Valeria Petrone.
After you've read the story together once, reread the story, using small objects such as buttons, marbles, or blocks. Ask your child or students to "double the number" of objects to match the storyline.
Tell the child or students that you have thought of a number and then doubled it. Then say what the doubled number is and ask if they can figure out what the original number was. For example, if the doubled number is 10, the correct answer is 5. If the child has difficulty, use a group of small objects—buttons, paper clips, or pennies—that total your doubled number. Then have the child separate them into two groups.
Have the children make “Doubles Books.” To prepare, take sheets of 8 1⁄2 x 11 inch paper, turn it so it’s horizontal (wide) and draw a line down the middle. On the left- hand side of each page, draw an object (for example, 1 person, 2 ducks, 3 balloons, 4 trees, and 5 flowers). Make enough photocopies so that each child gets a set of pages. Ask the children to draw double the number objects on the right-hand side of each page (for example, 2 people, 4 ducks, 6 balloons, 8 trees, and 10 flowers). Using a new sheet of paper, have the children draw a cover for their Doubles Books. Staple each book on the upper left hand corner. Your math whizzes are now authors!