Subtract numbers from 1 to 9
for Kindergarten

Subtract numbers

When you subtract 2 numbers, what you are doing is the opposite of addition. You are taking the big number and then counting down from that number as many ones as are in the second, smaller number.

So if we wanted to take away 3 from 7 (we can say 7 minus 3), we start with 7, then count down to 6, then to 5, and finally to 4, which is 3 less than 7. Subtracting numbers always makes an answer that is smaller than the first big number. That new number, the answer, is the first number with the second number taken away.

If you think about toys: you count your toy cars - say you have 6 of them. You decide to give 2 of them to your brother. When you give him the first car you now have 5 cars left. When you give him the other car, you now have 4 cars left. So, when you have given him 2 cars from your 6 cars, you have 4 cars left, which is 6 - 2.

Written as a sum, that is:

6 cars - 2 cars = 4 cars