Using Bar Models For Simple Addition Problems

Hi, I'm Luke. Today we're going to be looking at how to use a bar model to solve a word problem involving addition. So let's refer to the question. There are 32 apples in the school. The school buys 124 oranges. How many pieces of fruit are in the school altogether? Now you want to ask the pupils, what information do we have? First, they may point out that we have 32 apples and we can label this clearly on the board for the pupils to see. At this point, you want to ask the pupils, what other information do we have in the question? And they will point out that we have also 124 oranges and we need to represent this on our bar model as well. Now the question is asking us to find how many pieces of fruit in the school they are all together. Referring back to the bar model, pupils should be able to work out that we need to add both these sections together and we can do this using a variety of different methods. They can use the formal method, they can use a number line, or they can use mental methods, depending on their confidence level. So we add 32 to 124 and this means that we've got 156 pieces of fruit altogether. And that's how you use a bar model to help solve a word problem involving addition.