How Many? – Class 1 Maths Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 1MathematicsChapter 5NCERT book: Joyful Mathematics - Class 1

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 5 of the NCERT Class 1 Mathematics book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 5: How Many?

Introduction

"How Many?" is the chapter where children meet addition (+) and subtraction (−) with numbers up to 10. It begins in a park with Grandfather, where more children keep joining the play. Children learn to say addition sentences aloud – "4 children and 2 children altogether make 6 children" – and connect the word make with + and altogether with =. Later, a poem about five children getting off a bus introduces taking away.

What's in this Chapter

Going out with Grandfather! Tell how many altogether: 4 children and 2 children make 6 (4 + 2 = 6); 3 tops and 1 top make 4; 3 ants and 2 ants make 5; 4 pencils and 3 pencils make 7.

Add and Draw: 6 balls and 2 balls make 8; 7 + 1 = 8.

Let us Count: How many fingers on both hands and feet? How many family members do you and your friend have altogether?

Addition with Dice: Roll two dice and find the total dots; Kishore and Nitya compare scores.

Beads and String: 3 + 4 = 7, 4 + 2 = 6, 5 + 4 = 9, 2 + 7 = 9, 7 + 3 = 10.

Hop and Find the Sum on a number strip, and Add in Your Own Way (Abdul and Rihana add 2 + 3, 5 + 1, 3 + 3 and 9 + 1 in two ways – across and down).

Number pairs: 7 + 1 and 1 + 7 both make 8; 5 + 3, 3 + 5 and 2 + 6 also make 8. A picture of the wheel of the Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, the world's oldest Sun Temple, appears here.

Addition Stories: Raghav has 4 shells and Sarita has 5 – 9 shells altogether; 3 marbles and 6 marbles – 9; 3 coconuts and 4 coconuts – 7.

Poem – "Five Little Children": "Five little children… One steps out, with a roar. Now, we are four!" …until "Now, there are none!"

How Many Left? 6 frogs, 2 jumped away, 4 left; 9 bananas, 6 taken away, 3 left; 7 ladoos, 4 eaten, 3 left; Manisha had 9 bananas and ate 3, so 6 are left; 8 butterflies, 5 flew away, 3 left.

Hidden dots on a ten-dot card, and hopping backwards: 3 steps back from 9 lands on 6 (9 − 3 = 6).

Key Ideas

Addition means putting groups together (aggregation) or adding more to a group (augmentation).

"+" is read as plus or and; "=" means altogether makes.

Changing the order does not change the sum: 7 + 1 = 1 + 7.

Subtraction means taking away and finding how many are left.

On a number strip, we hop forward to add and backwards to subtract.

Activities from the Book

Roll two dice and add the dots.

Colour beads on a string to show sums.

Make a ten-dot card, hide some dots and ask how many are hidden.

Solve 8 − 2 = 6, 7 − 3 = 4, 9 − 5 = 4, 6 − 3 = 3, 5 − 1 = 4, 4 − 2 = 2.

Project: arrange cards 0 to 9 so that the sum is 9 – there are many ways.

Words to Learn

add – put together (जोड़ना)

altogether / total / sum – how many in all (कुल / योग)

plus (+) – sign for adding (धन चिह्न)

equals (=) – is the same as (बराबर)

take away / subtract – remove some (घटाना)

minus (−) – sign for taking away (ऋण चिह्न)

left – what remains (बचे हुए)

dice – a cube with dots 1 to 6 (पासा)

Tips for Parents & Teachers

Always start with real objects – spoons, stones, toys – before writing sums.

Say full sentences: "3 apples and 2 apples altogether make 5 apples."

Let children make their own addition stories about their school bags.

Act out "Five Little Children" with five children leaving a pretend bus.

Talk about respecting and spending time with grandparents, as the book suggests.

Common Mistakes

Counting the first group again instead of counting on.

Mixing up + and − signs.

Thinking 4 + 0 is 0; adding zero keeps the number the same (4 + 0 = 4).

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Add two small numbers by putting groups together or adding more.
✓Read and write addition sentences using + and =.
✓Understand that the order of adding does not change the sum.
✓Subtract by taking away and find how many are left.
✓Use a number strip to hop forward for addition and backward for subtraction.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Give plenty of concrete objects before moving to written sums, as the book stresses.
→Practise both aggregation (two groups together) and augmentation (adding more to a group).
→Link the word 'make' to + and 'altogether' to = when children say sums aloud.
→Play the two-dice game in pairs and let children record who scored more.
→Enact the 'Five Little Children' poem with a pretend bus.
→Use ten-dot cards for hidden-dot games to build number sense for 10.
→Encourage children to create their own addition and subtraction stories.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the child find the total of two groups of objects up to 10?
Can the child write an addition sentence like 4 + 3 = 7 for a picture?
Can the child solve a simple take-away story such as 9 − 3?
Can the child show addition and subtraction by hopping on a number strip?
Can the child explain that 7 + 1 and 1 + 7 give the same answer?

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