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Outdoor maths lessons for teaching addition to Year 4

Year 4 - Addition

Get your class moving and thinking with these active outdoor lessons on 4-digit addition, combining problem-solving hunts, games, and hands-on use of natural resources. From hopscotch column methods to large-scale place value grids, children will build fluency, reasoning, and collaboration skills in a fun, low-prep way.

Lesson Plans

Adding to 4 digit numbers

During this outdoor lesson your children will create large-scale place value grids and use natural loose parts to develop their understanding of addition to 4-digit numbers. This outdoor lesson plan requires no preparation before teaching!

Learning objective:

To add 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s to 4-digit numbers.

Adding 4-digit numbers without exchange

The main activity of this outdoor lesson incorporates a physically active game of hopscotch to engage your children and develop their skill of using the column method for addition. 

Learning objective:

To add two 4-digit numbers. No exchange

Adding 4-digit numbers with one exchange

Develop your children’s fluency of adding 4-digit numbers together using formal written methods with the movement and maths games included in this outdoor lesson plan. A low to resource lesson requiring only chalk and classroom equipment!

Learning objective:

To add two 4-digit numbers. One exchange

Adding 4-digit numbers with multiple exchanges

Deepen your children’s understanding of 4-digit addition through exchanging with the simple activities inside this outdoor lesson. Your children will use natural loose parts to solve addition problems with their and complete peer assessment to secure their knowledge.

Learning objective:

To add two 4-digit numbers. More than one exchange

Estimating answers for addition

During this outdoor lesson your children will use their existing knowledge of 4-digit numbers and collaborate to estimate answers to addition problems. They will develop their reasoning through discussion of true and false style questions. 

Learning objective:

To estimate answers for additions of 4-digit numbers.

Solving addition problems

During the main activity children will complete a hunt around your outdoor space to solve the addition problems they have worked on in small groups. This outdoor lesson includes plenty of discussion work and movement to keep your class engaged.

Learning objective:

To solve addition problems.

Before you get started

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