Math Story : Introduction to addition

Who Ate More Ice Creams

Squarho is fond of Ice cream. As a surprise, Uncle Math decides to take Squarho and his friends to a bright and colourful Ice Cream Land.

“Woohoo! So much Ice cream!” screams Squarho excitedly. The colourful Ice Cream houses, trees, and other objects tempt the kids.

Squarho quickly runs to grab some ice creams and eat them. Triho, Cirho, and Cirha follow him.

First, they eat some pink ice creams and move forward.

Later they eat some brown ice creams. 

“I am so full. I cannot eat more”, says Cirha and decides to rest. Others agree and join her. Meanwhile, “ I am sure I ate more ice creams than all of you”, says Squarho proudly.

“No, I  ate more!” shouts Cirho. Triho and Cirha say that they ate more ice creams. This initiates a fight between them. Squarho loses his calm.

He starts screaming and hitting himself in anger. “Calm down, Squarho”, says Uncle Math. But nothing seems to work.

Uncle Math goes and hugs Squarho. He feels better.

He then asks Squarho to take a deep breath and count from 1-10 backwards. Voila! Squarho is calm and normal now.

Uncle Math helps the kids in deciding who ate more ice cream. Starting with Triho, he asks, “How many Ice creams did you eat?”

“Umm… I ate 3 pink ice creams first and 2 brown ice creams later. But, how many did I eat altogether?” says the confused Triho.

Taking some pink and brown ice creams Uncle Math explains, “ So you ate these 3 first and these 3 more later. Now can you tell me how many you ate altogether?”

“1,2,3,4,5. I ate 5 ice creams altogether”, screams Triho. 

“Well done! This method of putting two or more things together is called Addition. We show addition using the “+” plus symbol. So, we say 3 ice creams plus 2 ice creams is equal to 5 ice creams.” adds Uncle Math.

Cirha is intrigued and wants to try addition herself. She says, “ I ate 4 pink ice creams and 2 brown ice creams.” She quickly grabs some ice creams and starts adding. Cirha ate 6 ice creams altogether.

Following Cirha, Cirho and Squarho also decide to find out for themselves.

Squarho ate 3 pink ice creams and 4 brown ice creams. So he ate 7 ice creams altogether.

Cirho ate 2 pink ice creams and 2 brown ice creams. So, he ate 4 ice creams altogether.

Triho ate 5, Cirha ate 6, Cirho ate 4 and Squarho ate 7. Clearly, Squarho is the winner. 

Squarho is elated. He apologizes for his bad behaviour and thanks to Uncle Math for teaching him a simple anger management trick.

They quickly board their spacecraft and fly back home. On the way, Squarho gets angry again. Cirha asks him to count 1-10 backwards. Everybody bursts into laughter. Tempting ice creams, a simple anger management trick to staying calm and addition to the rescue, an adventurous day indeed.

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We Learnt That…

1. The method of putting two or more things together is called Addition.
2. Addition is denoted using the + : Plus symbol.
3. It is okay to get angry, but it is not okay to harm ourselves or others when we are angry.
4. Whenever angry, take a deep breath and count backwards.

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Let’s Discuss

• Who is fond of ice creams? 
•  Uncle Math used a method to help us decide who ate more? What method was it? Explain. 
• Squarho got angry when we did not listen to him and started screaming. Is this the right behaviour? Why or why not? 
• Uncle Math suggested a simple anger management trick to Squarho. What was it? Would you suggest this trick to your friends?

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• Introduction To Addition