Subtraction often feels straightforward until you face a problem like 7 minus 9. Many people immediately say, "You can’t do that," because it seems impossible to take away more than you have. But this common belief limits how we understand subtraction. The truth is, 7 minus 9 equals –2, and this result makes perfect sense when we rethink subtraction beyond just "taking away." This post explores why 7 − 9 is not only possible but also a useful way to understand numbers on a broader scale. We...

Unitising  is the ability to treat a group of things as a single “unit” and then work with that unit as though it were one object. It’s a fundamental mathematical idea, yet often one of the least visible. When children can unitise, they can see ten ones as a single ten , two socks as one pair , or 100 centimetres as a single metre . It unlocks a huge amount of future learning. Look at the images: coins, crayons, socks, fractions, measures. They might seem unrelated at first glance, but they...

Addition structures