Help your 3rd grade students develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction with this comprehensive math lesson plan resource. This connecting addition and subtraction lesson helps students explore how these operations work together through fact families, checking answers, and solving missing number problems. Students learn how addition can be used to check subtraction and how subtraction can be used to check addition, strengthening both computational accuracy and mathematical reasoning. Designed for introduction, guided practice, review, and problem solving, this scaffolded lesson works seamlessly for whole-group instruction, interactive practice, sub plans, supplemental practice, review lessons, and print or digital classrooms.

Understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction can be challenging because students often view them as separate skills rather than related operations. This lesson provides explicit modeling and structured discussion so students learn how the same numbers can be used to create related equations, how fact families demonstrate the connection between operations, and how understanding that relationship can help them solve problems more efficiently.

Teachers will love that everything is fully editable, making it easy to adapt pacing, examples, or activities to meet your classroom’s needs, whether you teach paperless, print-based, or a mix of both.

What’s Included:

This complete connecting addition & subtraction lesson includes both teaching and student materials:

• Printable lesson plan with pacing, prompts, and instructional notes
• Editable Google Slides presentation for instruction (includes speaker notes aligned to the lesson plan)
• Interactive guided practice slides for students to follow along
• Printable guided practice version for print-based classrooms
• Independent practice worksheet (perfect for homework or extra in-class practice)
• Exit ticket and reflection prompts
• Answer keys for all student practice

How to Use It:

Teach this lesson during your addition & subtraction unit after students have an understanding of regrouping both in addition and subtraction. Present the lesson using the Google Slides, model strategies using the guided examples, and allow students to practice using the interactive slides or printable pages.

Because the resource is fully editable, you can:

• Choose digital, print, or hybrid formats
• Adjust examples or pacing
• Use it for whole group, small group, or reteaching
• Assign practice as classwork or homework

Standards Alignment:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NBT.A.2 

Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. 

This lesson focuses on understanding addition and subtraction as related operations.

Save planning time and give your students the structured support they need to understand how addition and subtraction work together. Download this editable, ready-to-use lesson and teach with confidence!

Want the next lesson on Mixed Word Problems? 

Grab it here → Addition & Subtraction Word Problems | One & Two-Step | 3rd Grade Lesson Plan