Break Apart Strategy Addition Worksheets | Decompose Numbers with Answer Key

Break apart strategy addition worksheets

These break apart strategy addition worksheets are an 11 page packet with 70 questions on decomposing numbers and adding with place value. The worksheet is marked for grades 1 to 4.

Students break a number into hundreds, tens and ones, then use those parts to add. The packet starts with the breaking apart itself and ends with full addition problems.

Teachers who want a break apart addition strategy lesson that students can practice on their own will find four sections here, and the decomposing numbers worksheet pages build step by step from one skill to the next.

What’s on the pages

The worksheet has four sections, and each one has its own heading and directions.

• Multiple choice, decomposing numbers: 20 questions that ask which choice shows a number broken apart correctly, such as 512, 19 and 264.
• Fill in the blank, place value equations: 20 questions that use a Number Bank, such as 234 = ? + 30 + 4, 63 = 60 + ? and 72 = 70 + ?.
• True or false, decomposing equations: 15 statements, such as breaking apart 77 as 70 + 7, which is right, and 96 as 9 + 6, which is not.
• Short answer, solving addition: 15 problems where students break apart both numbers into tens and ones, group them and add, like 14 + 81, 46 + 53 and 23 + 14.

The order matters. Students first learn what a correct break apart looks like, then they see wrong ones, and only then do they use the method to add.

Each of the break apart strategy addition worksheets sections stands on its own. A teacher can split students into groups, give the first group the multiple choice section, and let a faster group start with the short answer problems.

Students who learn to break apart numbers by place value usually add faster in their heads later, because they stop counting up one at a time. This break apart strategy with answer key lets a parent or aide confirm each step without extra training.

What’s in the download

• Student worksheet: 11 pages
• Answer key: 13 pages, with a short explanation after each answer
• Answer sheet: 3 pages
• Lesson plan: 2 pages

The four parts add up to 29 pages, and everything comes as PDF.

How to use these break apart strategy addition worksheets

The lesson plan is set for 60 minutes. Its objectives are to decompose multi-digit numbers using place value, to apply the break apart strategy to addition problems, and to find and fix errors in decomposition.

The plan lists a whiteboard and markers, base-ten blocks and the printed worksheet as materials. Model one problem with blocks, break 46 and 53 into 40 and 6 and 50 and 3, then add the tens and the ones separately before you give the worksheet.

The true or false section teaches the most important habit: check that the parts add back to the original number. A student who sees 250 broken apart as 200 + 5 should notice that the parts are 45 short.

The short answer section asks students to show their work, so you can see whether they grouped the tens and ones or guessed. That is much more useful than a single correct answer.

The answer key gives a short explanation for every answer, and the answer sheet keeps the worksheet clean for reuse.

Where it fits

Use the break apart strategy addition worksheets for a place value unit, a math center, small group intervention, homework or a review before a test. Homeschool families can use one section a day, starting with the first one.

Take a look at the preview pages before you buy, so you can see the worksheet, the answer key and the answer sheet.

For more practice, browse the math worksheets, the wider set of printable worksheets or the whole shop.

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