Kindergarten Circle the Addition Sentence Worksheet: Make 8, 5 and 10

Hand a child eight blocks and ask for two piles, and you may get five and three, or four and four. Both are right, so this kindergarten circle the addition sentence worksheet plays with that idea from the other side. Each of its three boxes asks a question: how do you make 8, then 5, then 10? Five sums wait in colored frames, and only one reaches the target, while a cheerful yellow bird watches from the corner. The PDF has two pages: the worksheet and its answer key.

Why testing five sums beats finding one

A sum like 5 + 2 usually asks for an answer. Here, however, the page gives the answer first, and the child has to check which sum fits, which is a different kind of thinking: test, compare, keep or reject.

As a result, it builds the idea that a number has many parts inside it: eight can be 5 and 3, but also 4 and 4. Seeing ways to make a number is the root of mental math later on.

The wrong choices are close on purpose. In the first box, 4 + 3 and 5 + 3 sit side by side, so the child cannot guess by looks and must add each one. Close calls teach.

At the table: the box that asks for 10

Read each question out loud first: "How do you make 8?" Then let your child pick one sum and test it on their fingers.

However, the last box is the trickiest. Three choices, 5 + 4, 2 + 7 and 6 + 3, all land one short of ten, so a child who counts quickly may circle one of them. Instead of correcting, say, "Hold up both hands. Show me 5 and 4. How many fingers are still down?" That one folded finger tells the story.

Also, encourage your child to cross out the sums that miss. Then the right one stands alone, and choosing to circle the right answer feels earned.

After the page: ten apples and a stack of ten

Making 10 deserves extra practice, because ten is the anchor of our number system. For example, line up ten spoons on the counter, slide some to one side, and ask, "Six here. How many over there?"

Also, the picture book Ten Apples Up On Top! by Theo LeSieg, a pen name of Dr. Seuss, stacks apples on animals' heads until there are ten. Pause on a page and ask how many more are needed.

These small games turn number combinations into something your child can touch. Finally, check the page with the answer key and praise the method: "You tested every sum before you circled. That was careful work."