1st Grade Ways to Make a Number Worksheet: Add or Subtract to 20

Give a six-year-old the number 16 and ask how to get there, and you may hear 8 + 8 straight away, yet few children think of 17 - 1 on their own. This 1st grade ways to make a number worksheet invites both directions. Each of the eight boxes asks a question, such as How do you make 12? or How do you make 9? Below it, four choices mix plus and minus, like 17 - 5, 11 + 2 or 12 + 2, and only one reaches the target. Your child works out each choice and marks the right one. All the numbers stay within 20. A boy swinging a golf club watches from the top. A second page gives the answer key.

Why mixing the signs matters

When every problem on a page is a subtraction, children can stop reading the sign. Here, each box mixes addition and subtraction, so your child has to look at the sign before working anything out. That small pause builds careful habits.

The page also shows that a target number can be reached from above or below. For example, 13 can come from 11 + 2, while 9 can come from 19 - 10.

The wrong choices are thoughtful: in the box for 12, the choice 12 + 2 starts with 12, which tempts a quick guess. In the box for 7, 7 - 7 does the same. So every answer needs a real calculation within 20. Good mixed practice for first grade.

At the table: the boxes for 12 and 14

Start with the box for 5, and ask your child to read each sign out loud first. "Is this one plus or minus?"

The green box for 12 is a likely trap. A child may mark 12 + 2 because the 12 is right there. Instead of correcting, ask, "What does 12 + 2 make?" Then let your child work through the other three choices.

In the box for 14, the choice 14 - 0 can feel too easy to be right. Some children skip it and pick 12 + 3. Ask, "If you take nothing from 14, what do you have?" Your child can tap each choice, say its answer, and then decide.

Simon says, add or take away

Mixed signs are easy to practice with things you already have. At snack time, put ten grapes on a plate, then add two or eat three, and ask your child to say the sentence that matches. While you tidy toys, build a tower of twelve blocks and ask for two different ways to make it.

Also, Simon Says works well with numbers. Say, "Simon says hold up 6 fingers. Simon says add 2," and then try a take away, so your child must listen for both the sign and the number.

Finally, check the page with the answer key and praise the effort: "You read every sign before you worked it out."