Subtracting with Digits Up to 5

Subtracting with digits up to 5 means finding out what is left after some objects are taken away, when every number in the problem is 5 or smaller. This is one of the very first subtraction skills kindergarten students learn, right after they practice taking away with objects up to 5. Because the numbers stay small, children can use fingers, toys, drawings, or a number line to see exactly what happens when a group gets smaller.

In math language, subtraction is written with the minus sign. For example, \(5 - 2 = 3\) means "start with 5, take away 2, and 3 is left." Every number in this topic, the starting amount, the amount taken away, and the difference, is always between 0 and 5.

The easiest way to subtract is to start with a picture of objects and cross some of them out. If there are 5 apples and 2 are eaten, a child can count the apples that are left instead of the ones that are gone.

Once a story matches a picture like this, it can be turned into a full number sentence, which is covered in more depth on the writing a subtraction statement up to 5 lesson.

Another strategy is counting back on a number line. To solve \(5 - 2\), a student starts at 5 and counts back 2 spaces: 5, then 4, then 3. Landing on 3 shows that \(5 - 2 = 3\).

Counting back works well for small numbers because there are never more than 5 spaces to move, which keeps the counting quick and manageable.

After acting out a subtraction with objects or a number line, students write the matching sentence, such as \(4 - 1 = 3\) or \(3 - 3 = 0\). It helps to say the sentence out loud: "4 take away 1 equals 3." Noticing that a number minus itself always equals \(0\), as in \(2 - 2 = 0\), is an important pattern to spot early on.

These stories often show up as short word problems too, like "There are 5 birds on a branch, and 2 fly away, how many are left?" Practicing this kind of question is the focus of the subtraction word problems up to 5 lesson, which connects real-life situations to the number sentences learned here.

• \(5 - 1 = 4\): start with 5 items and take away 1.
• \(4 - 2 = 2\): start with 4 items and take away 2.
• \(3 - 0 = 3\): taking away 0 leaves the same amount.
• \(5 - 5 = 0\): taking away all 5 items leaves nothing.

Try drawing each of these as a small picture or acting them out on a number line before checking the answer. Repeating the same few steps, picture or count back, then write the sentence, is what makes subtracting with digits up to 5 feel automatic over time.

Related lessons

• Kindergarten