Mathematics

Intermediate

50 mins

Teacher/Student led

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

Lesson Files

+80 XP

What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Written Addition of 4-digit Numbers

Learn to add four-digit numbers in columns, managing carries that can reach the thousands place. Apply the method to real Irish contexts including sports venues and community fundraising.

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Set Out the Columns in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Two GAA clubs are counting the money they raised this year. One club raised €1,250 and the other raised €1,380. Roughly how much did they raise altogether — over or under €2,500? And where in the sum do you think we might have to trade ten of something for one of the next?

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

The interactive works four additions column by column, always from the right. Watch what happens each time a column reaches ten. As we go, notice how the trades build from none at all to one that runs the whole way across.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~10 mins

Key point

Today we work through these four-digit sums together, one at a time on the board: 2,134 + 1,523, then 3,406 + 2,285, then 4,617 + 1,538, and finally 5,678 + 2,456. Each one adds a wrinkle the one before it did not. We will say each column out loud before we check it.

Add these together, column by column

+15 XP

4 - Set Out the Columns in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, set out these two sums in columns, one under the other, with the thousands under the thousands and the units under the units. Carry where a column makes ten or more, then underline the thousands digit in each answer.

2,645 + 1,278
3,486 + 2,957

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Key point

Today we work through these four-digit addition problems together, each one from a real Irish setting. A stadium seats 1,240 in one stand and 1,315 in another. Then a charity counts €2,375 and €1,860. Then a school walks 3,608 metres and 2,495 metres. Then a festival sells 4,768 and 3,556 tickets. Each problem is a step harder than the last, and the later ones carry a trade further up the columns.

Adding four-digit numbers in real settings

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 2 · The Four Operations: Mental and Written Number

Lesson 17 · Written Addition of 4-digit Numbers

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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