War medals

Mr Crutch, who helps the teachers with computer problems, let us look at his war medals. He has some medals that he earned when he was a Peace-Keeper. Mr Crutch said that military personnel earn a medal each time they serve 30 or more days during a campaign. Mr Crutch has 5 medals. His father served during World War 2 and he earned 7 medals.

Mr Crutch wears his medals to ceremonies such as the one we had this morning. He wears his own medals on his left side, over his heart, and wears his father's medals on the other side. When Mr Crutch wears his father's medals it feels as though his dad is with him. 

Rowan and Sydney had the chance to put on Mr Crutch's jacket to feel how heavy the medals are. 

Mr Crutch has 5 medals and his dad got 7. How many medals are there all together?  

We learnt that we can store the 7 in our head because it is the larger of the numbers, then we can count on 5 more.