Addition: Booklet 1

Addition: Booklet 1 – Beginning Addition from Pattern Press is a hands-on math curriculum resource designed to help students build a deep conceptual understanding of addition through games, manipulatives, storytelling, and discovery-based learning.

This complete booklet set includes a 116-page Parent/Teacher Guide and a 120-page Student Workbook filled with guided lessons, worksheets, games, and practice activities that help students understand why addition works rather than simply memorizing procedures. Developed by Prof. Emeritus Michael Butler at the world renowned UCI Farm Elementary School, this unique approach encourages students to think flexibly about numbers and mathematical relationships from the very beginning.

The Patterns in Arithmetic series teaches for understanding using an inductive and discovery-based approach. Students explore addition concepts through story problems, number sentence recording, visual models, and Circle Math — the program’s unique method of breaking large problems into many smaller parts, solving each part, and combining the results.

As students work through hands-on activities and guided discussions, they begin recognizing patterns in numbers and operations, leading to a stronger foundation in regrouping, number sense, and mathematical reasoning.

The Parent/Teacher Guide includes lesson instructions, sample dialogues, games, teaching support, and the Answer Key. The Student Workbook includes worksheets and practice pages designed to reinforce conceptual understanding through active mathematical exploration.

Topics included in this booklet:

• Student Evaluation
• Fishy Game
• Story Problems and Recording Number Sentences
• Beginning Circle Math
• Standard Addition Formats
• Discovering the Commutative Property of Addition
• Introduction to Circle Math with Two and Three Circles
• Circle Math Review
• Practice Activities
• Answer Key

This resource also includes:

• Foreword by Professor Michael Butler
• Introduction
• Farm School Math Notes
• A Guideline to the Lessons
• Teaching Techniques
• Arithmetic Conventions
• Lesson Planning
• Materials and Resources

Core Learning Skills:

• Building foundational addition understanding through hands-on learning
• Developing number sense through games and mathematical storytelling
• Exploring flexible addition strategies with Circle Math
• Understanding addition through visual models and number relationships
• Discovering patterns within addition and numerical structure
• Connecting concrete manipulatives to symbolic notation
• Developing beginning regrouping concepts conceptually
• Strengthening mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills
• Supporting conceptual understanding before memorizing procedures
• Encouraging confidence and flexibility with early addition thinking

Perfect for:

• Homeschool math curriculums
• Classroom teachers using hands-on math instruction
• Charter school math curriculum programs
• Visual and tactile learners