Here is a short story about our hurling club. The club has 248 members, and 137 more people sign up over the summer. How many members are there now?

Before we work anything out, listen for the words in the story. Which words tell you what to do with the two numbers?

Each screen shows a number sentence. Listen for the clue words in the story your teacher reads that tell you whether to add or take away. After the three screens, a two-step puzzle is done with no screen.

This is a whole-class board activity. We take turns at the front to work through these stories together, and everyone else follows along and calls out the clue words. For each story we decide whether it is an adding story or a subtracting story before we work out the answer.

• A team has 128 supporters, and 96 more travel to the away game — how many altogether?
• A tuck shop has 210 bars and sells 145 — how many are left?
• Kerry won 22 matches and Mayo won 15 — how many more did Kerry win?
• A locker room has 60 pegs and 48 are used — how many are free?

For each story we find the clue words first, choose + or −, then build the number sentence and check it together.

Today we work through these stories in order at the board, deciding add or subtract each time. They get a little trickier as we go.

• A pitch had 153 fans, then 128 more arrived — how many altogether?
• Cork scored 314 and Galway 246 — how many more did Cork score?
• A raffle printed 285 tickets and 190 were sold — how many were left over?
• A team collects €175 and €168 — how much is that altogether? (first step)
• Now they spend €240 of that total on gear, how much is left? (second step)

The last two go together: they are the two steps of one money story. Work through each step in order.