Year 4 · Column methods and times tables
Column adding and subtracting with 4 digits
Add and subtract numbers with up to 4 digits using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction where appropriate
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Add and subtract numbers with up to 4 digits using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction where appropriate
Key learning points
- • Lining up
- • A worked addition
- • Subtracting with exchange
- • Checking your answer
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 19 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 19
Watch first
Column adding and subtracting with 4 digits
A catchy song that helps you learn your 8 times table fast.
Do it for real
The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.
In a nutshell
Add and subtract numbers with up to 4 digits using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction where appropriate
What you already know
Part 2 of 19
Before we start
What you already know
You know place value up to 10,000 and your number bonds to 20.
Key words
Part 3 of 19
Key words
Words you'll need today
- carry
- Moving ten ones (or ten tens) into the next column along.
- exchange
- Swapping one ten for ten ones so you can subtract.
- column
- The line of digits with the same place value.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 19
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Adding
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 19
Learn
Lining up
Write the numbers with ones under ones, tens under tens, and so on. Start on the right, in the ones column, and work left. If a column adds to 10 or more, write the ones digit and carry the ten into the next column as a small 1.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 19
Learn
A worked addition
2,476 + 1,358. Ones: 6 + 8 = 14, write 4 carry 1. Tens: 7 + 5 + 1 = 13, write 3 carry 1. Hundreds: 4 + 3 + 1 = 8. Thousands: 2 + 1 = 3. Answer 3,834. Check it roughly: 2,500 + 1,400 is about 3,900, so 3,834 looks right.
Quick check
Part 7 of 19
Quick check
3,145 + 2,678 =
Quick check
Part 8 of 19
Quick check
What do you do when the ones column adds to 15?
Reset break
Part 9 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 19
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Subtracting
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 19
Learn
Subtracting with exchange
4,203 − 1,547. Ones: 3 − 7 does not work, so exchange a ten. The 0 tens has nothing to give, so go to the hundreds: 2 hundreds becomes 1 hundred and 10 tens, then 10 tens becomes 9 tens and 13 ones. Now 13 − 7 = 6, 9 − 4 = 5, 1 − 5 needs another exchange from the thousands: 11 − 5 = 6, and 3 − 1 = 2. Answer 2,656.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 19
Learn
Checking your answer
Addition can be checked by adding in the other order. Subtraction can be checked by adding your answer back on: 2,656 + 1,547 = 4,203. If it does not come back, the mistake is nearly always a forgotten carry or exchange.
Quick check
Part 13 of 19
Quick check
5,000 − 2,468 =
Quick check
Part 14 of 19
Quick check
Best way to check 6,204 − 1,879 = 4,325?
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 19
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Not lining up the columns, so tens get added to hundreds.
- Forgetting to write the carried ten.
- Subtracting the smaller digit from the bigger one instead of exchanging.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 19
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 17 of 19
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Write the ____ with ones under ones, tens under tens, and so on.
Mastery quiz
Part 18 of 19
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 19 of 19
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The cost of a school trip
A school is planning a trip to a wildlife park. The coach costs £480 however many people go. Entry costs £9.50 for each pupil and each adult goes free. The school says every pupil must pay the same amount, and the trip must not lose money.
If 60 pupils go, the coach works out at £8 each, so the total for each pupil is £17.50. If only 40 pupils go, the coach works out at £12 each, so the price rises to £21.50. The teacher explains that the coach is a fixed cost and the entry is a cost per person — which is why the price per pupil changes when the number changes.
The school decides to charge £20 and to use anything left over for a second trip later in the year.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Work out the total cost of the trip if 50 pupils go.
- Show why the price per pupil falls when more pupils go, using numbers.
- At £20 each, how many pupils must go before the trip makes money? Show your working.
Working out
Working outDo the practice questions on paper, showing every step — not just the answer. Mark them yourself and circle anything you got wrong.
10–15 questions
Worked example, explained
WritingCopy one question out and write underneath, in words, why each step works.
1 question, 4–5 sentences
Problem in words
Working outWrite your own real-life problem that uses today's method, then solve it.
1 problem + solution
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover