Year 3 Column subtraction worksheet

“Finding the minuend” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 maths unit “Column subtraction”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 23 to 24 of the year, 5 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Finding the minuend

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · Maths · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can find the minuend, subtrahend and difference in a subtraction, wherever it is written.

A Look back3 min

1.
5 tens and 7 ones make
2.
74 − 30 =
3.
64 46

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali has 58 stickers. He gives 23 to a friend. How many does he have left?

Watch me

58 is the whole, so it is the minuend.

23 is taken away, so it is the subtrahend.

58 − 23 = 35, so 35 is the difference.

Now you

1.
In 26 = 71 − 45, the minuend is

C Your turn6 min

Find the missing number in each subtraction. It is the subtrahend.

1.
In 63 − ? = 41, the subtrahend is
2.
In 74 − ? = 39, the subtrahend is
3.
In 62 = 185 − ?, the subtrahend is
4.
In 268 = 352 − ?, the subtrahend is

Say it out loud: Which number stays the whole, even when the subtraction is written the other way round?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Mia says: “18 = 42 − 24, so 24 is the minuend.”

1.
In 18 = 42 − 24, the minuend is

E Think deeper3 min

1.
Kai sets out 14 = 59 − 45 as a column subtraction. Which number goes at the top, and why? Explain in your own words.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Finding the minuend · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 57

2. 44

3. >

B

1. 71 If your child picks a smaller number from the bar, ask which number is the whole, the one that holds the others.

C

1. 22 If your child writes 104, they added 63 and 41. 63 is the whole, so take 41 away from it: 63 − 41 = 22.

2. 35

3. 123

4. 84

D

1. 42 If your child writes 24, they picked the number taken away. The minuend is the whole you start with, so here it is 42.

E

1. Look for: 59 goes on top because it is the whole, the minuend, even though it is not written first in the subtraction. If your child puts the answer on top, ask which number is the whole being taken from. Then rewrite the column with that number first.

Words to use

Say“Which number is the whole? That one always goes on top.”

Instead of“Just work out the answer, the names do not matter.”

After the sheet

Lay out 9 pegs as a whole, take 4 away, then say which number is the whole, which was taken away, and what is left.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

4 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Subtracting in columns(with a plan)
Column subtraction with swaps(with a plan)
Regrouping with zeros(with a plan)
Look before you calculate(with a plan)

Every Year 3 maths worksheet

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