 I would like to show you how I teach the addition symbol to the students in my classroom. To begin with, I introduce the symbol to the children. I say, boys and girls, this is an addition symbol. When you see this symbol, it means to add, to put two groups together or to make a group larger. But there's another piece of our addition. This is the equal sign. The equal sign tells you that both sides are equal. This will reflect our total. That's what's going to tell us. All right, boys and girls, I have four candy bars and I am going to put my four right here. Do you see my four candy bars? Wonderful. My mom goes to the store and she brings me two more because I have been the best girl in school. Now what is my math problem? Four plus two equals, hmm, I don't know what that equals. So let's use our counting on strategy that we've already learned. Which clothespin has the most dots? That's right, the four. So put four in your head. What number's in your head? Four. Now count on the dots. Four, five, six. That is right, boys and girls, four plus two equals six. I now have six candy bars. Let's try that again. I have dog treats for my dog and I have three dog treats. My BFF comes over and brings me two more for my dog. My math problem is three plus two equals, hmm, look at the clothespins. Which clothespin has the most dots? You are correct, the three. Put three in your head and that's where we're starting. Three, four, five. Boys and girls, three plus two equals five. How many dog treats does my dog have? He has five. Let's try another one. Let's go out into my garden and let's see how many flowers are there. Boys and girls, I'm going to plant five flowers. Oh, they were so beautiful that it just made me want to put some more out there so I went and put three more flowers in the garden. Okay, so my math problem is five plus three. All right, which has the most dots? Oh, you're so smart, five. Put five in your head, five, six, seven, eight. Boys and girls, five plus three equals eight. There are eight flowers in my garden. Now boys and girls, what is this symbol called? The addition sign. And when we use this, we put two groups together. This is one way that I would teach the addition sign to students in my classroom.