NARRATOR:'Ready, steady, Number Squad. Bring on the numbers. Here's Rodd.'
RODD:Hey, Number Squad! Thank you, you guys are so cool. Hey! It's good to see you. Check it out. I'm packing for a mountain climbing trip.
RODD:Now, it gets really cold at night, so we need to wear lots of layers. See? I've got five jumpers here. One… Two… Three… Four… Five.
RODD:The only question is… Will they fit in my rucksack? Let's find out.
RODD:Ta-da! No. No, no. Well, maybe if I took one out. Will that do it? Yeah? If I take it away? Okay.
RODD:Okay, okay that's working. That's working. Yay, yay.
RODD:Yay, it closes! Excellent! So, Number Squad, how many jumpers have I got in my rucksack?
RODD:Oh, no, no, no, I am not opening that again. But, I do know a way we can work it out. We're gonna need a little mathematical action, figuring it out just using… Subtraction!
RODD:Hello, abacus!
RODD:Right. Now, how many jumpers did I have to start with?
RODD:Right, five! Yes. So, let's pretend that these balls are my jumpers. Okay? Let's count it out.
RODD:One… Two… Three… Four… Five.
RODD:Ah, but, I'm leaving one jumper behind. So, let's take one away.
HE BEEPS
RODD:Now, how many are left? There are… One, two, three, four! Woohoo! Five, take away one, leaves four!
RODD:So, five take away one leaves… One, two, three, four. Number Squad, you guys are amazing.
NARRATOR:'Attention, attention, Number Squad, Can you count the moves with Rodd?'
RODD:Hey! Let's pretend we're camping up a mountain on a c-c-cold night! And we sleep in five sleeping bags. Come on, copy me, as we snuggle in. Okay, are we ready? Alright. Get the sleeping bag there. Put both feet in, that's it. Pull it up! And zip it up. Here we go… Great! One sleeping bag. Come on.
RODD:Okay. Zip it up. Two sleeping bags, well done. Alright.
RODD:Alright, there we go!
RODD:And, three sleeping bags. Alright. Are you getting warm? I am.
RODD:Zip it up… Four sleeping bags! One more, here we go. Here we go… Bag up. And… Zip. Five sleeping bags! Are you still there?
RODD:I am warm. Now, I can fall asleep! You too, come on.
SNORING
COCKEREL CROWING
RODD:Did you hear that? It's sunrise!
RODD:It's a bit warmer, so we can push off one sleeping bag. Okay, copy me.
RODD:Yeah, there you go. Now, how many pretend sleeping bags are we in now?
RODD:Let's check. Here we go.
RODD:We had five sleeping bags. We push one off, so we count back one to get… Four! Alright.
RODD:
If you ever wanna be clever
Take away, there's gonna be less
From the five you take away one
And you know there's only four left
If you wanna know what to do
Listen up, what I'm telling you
Easy when you're on the track
Feels so good when you're counting back
I feel the numbery
RODD:Till next time! Goodbye!
Rodd is trying to squeeze 5 jumpers into his camping rucksack.
He has to take 1 out, and shows us that we can use subtraction to work out how many jumpers are left inside, without having to take them out and count them again.
We join in with Rodd and learn that ‘5 take away 1 leaves 4’, through counting with his special abacus, finger counting, sleeping bag ‘moves’, counting back on the number track, and singing a number rap.
This is from the series: Counting with Rodd Counting with Rodd 2
Teacher Notes
In a circle, students could make up variations of ‘When I went camping, five squirrels I saw, but one ran away, so that left four!’.
Students could lay out paper plates for a camping picnic, with five pretend food items on each.
They could turn their backs while another student takes away one item from one plate.
The others would then need to spot what has been taken and talk about how ‘five take away one leaves four’.
Students could pretend to pack to go on a very cold camping trip.
Using a pile of jumpers, hats and scarves, students could count how many they start with, squeeze as many as they can into a bag and then count how many are left.
Curriculum Notes
This clip is relevant for teaching Maths at KS1 in England, Foundation Phase in Wales and Early and 1st Level in Scotland. Also Foundation and KS1 in Northern Ireland.
More from the series: Counting with Rodd Counting with Rodd 2
Maths KS1: Subtracting 2 from 4. video
Rodd finds his microphone is faulty. He repairs it by putting in 2 new batteries from a pack of 4. He challenges the children to work out how many batteries are left in the pack.
Maths KS1: Subtracting 2 from 8. video
Rodd the pirate sees an advert for a parrot costing 2 gold pieces. Rodd involves the children in counting the 8 gold pieces in his chest, and has them think about whether he has enough coins.
Maths KS1: Adding 2 to 8. video
Rodd has made a birthday cake for his mascot dog called Patch. He is putting the candles on Patch’s cake, and asks us to work out how old she is.
Maths KS1: Adding 2 to 2. video
Rod learns about the addition of 2 plus 2 by counting on his special abacus.
Maths KS1: Subtracting 1 from 11. video
Rodd is playing table football when he discovers that one of the players is injured. Rodd invites the children to help him work out how many players are left on the team, using subtraction.
Maths KS1: Adding 1 to 3. video
Rodd practises adding one and three together by counting the buttons on his clown coat and juggling with fruit. He asks the children to join in with a clown footsteps game and a number rap.
Maths KS1: Counting down from 10. video
Rodd is about to do a test countdown and asks the children to help him count down from 10, checking to see that as he says each number, each light on his rocket goes out.
Maths KS1: Adding from 1 to 20. video
Rodd has a bad cold and is at home. Bored, he looks out of his window and counts the cars on a bridge. Realising that he needs to count more than 10, he has the idea of making an unusual abacus...
Maths KS1: Adding 1 to 6. video
Rodd practises adding one and six together by using his marble run, a rollercoaster and singing the Six Plus One rap.
