Strategies for basic addition and subtraction facts

In this video I show several strategies for learning the basic addition and subtraction facts:

• finding all the possible sums for a certain number; e.g. for 6, these would be 0 + 6, 1 + 5, 2 + 4, and 3 + 3;
• writing out all the fact families where the sum is a certain number;
• the 9 "trick"; 9 + 7 is the same as 10 + 6 (9 wants so badly to be 10 so that it "steals" one from 7);
• doubles and the accompanying addition facts;
• number rainbows and how to use them to practice subtraction;
• a structured drill for addition facts.
  

Enjoy!



Strategies for Addition and Subtraction Facts - Video

Strategies for basic addition and subtraction facts

In this video I show several strategies for learning the basic addition and subtraction facts:

• finding all the possible sums for a certain number; e.g. for 6, these would be 0 + 6, 1 + 5, 2 + 4, and 3 + 3;
• writing out all the fact families where the sum is a certain number;
• the 9 "trick"; 9 + 7 is the same as 10 + 6 (9 wants so badly to be 10 so that it "steals" one from 7);
• doubles and the accompanying addition facts;
• number rainbows and how to use them to practice subtraction;
• a structured drill for addition facts.
  

Enjoy!



Strategies for Addition and Subtraction Facts - Video

Learn to recognize coins

Image by Stopnlook

In the past few days I decided it's time for my younger girl to start learning how to recognize coins and learn the cent-values of various coins. She's generally been doing kindergarten-1st grade addition and subtraction and I figured she's ready.

First, I got a pile of pennies, a pile of nickels, and a pile of dimes (no quarters at first). We played where I told her to make a certain amount, such as "Make 24 cents." She made it, I checked. Then she told me to make some amount. We just take turns.

It's like a game, and great fun for her! I figure it'll work the same with other kindergarten or 1st grade kids.

Since she did pretty good, I was able to introduce quarters the next day. I showed her that two of them makes 50, and we practiced making 62 or 58 or other such amounts that use 2 quarters.

Then I showed her a quarter and a nickel, and we figured out how much that was. That's always a difficult thing - to combine just one quarter with other coins. I soon asked her to make 30 cents, or 32 - and she was able to use the quarter and nickel combination to make 30 cents.

One important thing I've done is that I have deliberately NOT yet introduced the words "nickel", "dime", and "quarter". She's heard of the penny so much that she was fine with that. I want to scaffold the teaching so that we'll first learn the coin values, and later the customary names.

So, in essence, for now I've been calling them as "5-cent coin", "10-cent coin", and "25-cent coin". Has anyone else done that?

Learn to recognize coins

Image by Stopnlook

In the past few days I decided it's time for my younger girl to start learning how to recognize coins and learn the cent-values of various coins. She's generally been doing kindergarten-1st grade addition and subtraction and I figured she's ready.

First, I got a pile of pennies, a pile of nickels, and a pile of dimes (no quarters at first). We played where I told her to make a certain amount, such as "Make 24 cents." She made it, I checked. Then she told me to make some amount. We just take turns.

It's like a game, and great fun for her! I figure it'll work the same with other kindergarten or 1st grade kids.

Since she did pretty good, I was able to introduce quarters the next day. I showed her that two of them makes 50, and we practiced making 62 or 58 or other such amounts that use 2 quarters.

Then I showed her a quarter and a nickel, and we figured out how much that was. That's always a difficult thing - to combine just one quarter with other coins. I soon asked her to make 30 cents, or 32 - and she was able to use the quarter and nickel combination to make 30 cents.

One important thing I've done is that I have deliberately NOT yet introduced the words "nickel", "dime", and "quarter". She's heard of the penny so much that she was fine with that. I want to scaffold the teaching so that we'll first learn the coin values, and later the customary names.

So, in essence, for now I've been calling them as "5-cent coin", "10-cent coin", and "25-cent coin". Has anyone else done that?

Sticker Math Fun (K-2)

When I was a kid, my mom sometimes bought my brother and me activity books to fill up our summer time. Well, if you're into activity books, here's a Sticker Math Fun by Usborne that I can recommend for summer math learning and practice (grades K-2) (or for later in the school year as well, for that matter).

It has different mathematically-sound activities for addition, subtraction, beginning multiplication, fractions and clock, mostly on about 1st grade level but some for kindergarten and some for 2nd.

It is filled with quite variable and creative activities, and not just dull simple adding and subtracting. The activities include missing addends or subtrahends, number patterns, finding numbers that add up to a certain number, and so on.

It is in full color with kid-friendly imagery.

We bought this book several months ago, and I can say my kindergartner-1st grader has really enjoyed the book! And the third grader has wanted to do several pages as well.

The normal price is $15, but this morning when I checked, you can get copies from Amazon marketplace sellers for less than $5 (with shipping)! Go check it out!

Sticker Math Fun (K-2)

When I was a kid, my mom sometimes bought my brother and me activity books to fill up our summer time. Well, if you're into activity books, here's a Sticker Math Fun by Usborne that I can recommend for summer math learning and practice (grades K-2) (or for later in the school year as well, for that matter).

It has different mathematically-sound activities for addition, subtraction, beginning multiplication, fractions and clock, mostly on about 1st grade level but some for kindergarten and some for 2nd.

It is filled with quite variable and creative activities, and not just dull simple adding and subtracting. The activities include missing addends or subtrahends, number patterns, finding numbers that add up to a certain number, and so on.

It is in full color with kid-friendly imagery.

We bought this book several months ago, and I can say my kindergartner-1st grader has really enjoyed the book! And the third grader has wanted to do several pages as well.

The normal price is $15, but this morning when I checked, you can get copies from Amazon marketplace sellers for less than $5 (with shipping)! Go check it out!

Math Mammoth LightBlue series books as downloads

Great news!

The LightBlue Series books are now available as downloads. These are designed to be a complete curriculum for a given grade. They follow the lesson format of my Blue Series books: explanations, then problems (worktext). In fact, the two series do share a lot of material.

The LightBlue is for you if you need a math curriculum for a given grade that covers all the topics needed. These are practically no-prep for the teacher, and in fact, kids can probably teach themselves the majority of the time (assuming they can read).

Please read more by following these links:

Math Mammoth Grade 1 Complete Worktext

Math Mammoth Grade 2 Complete Worktext

Math Mammoth Grade 3 Complete Worktext

I will have grade 4 ready sometime this spring, February or March I think.

Math Mammoth LightBlue series books as downloads

Great news!

The LightBlue Series books are now available as downloads. These are designed to be a complete curriculum for a given grade. They follow the lesson format of my Blue Series books: explanations, then problems (worktext). In fact, the two series do share a lot of material.

The LightBlue is for you if you need a math curriculum for a given grade that covers all the topics needed. These are practically no-prep for the teacher, and in fact, kids can probably teach themselves the majority of the time (assuming they can read).

Please read more by following these links:

Math Mammoth Grade 1 Complete Worktext

Math Mammoth Grade 2 Complete Worktext

Math Mammoth Grade 3 Complete Worktext

I will have grade 4 ready sometime this spring, February or March I think.

Curriculum focal points

I'm going to talk again about the new report released by NCTM, Curriculum Focal Points.

For each grade, it describes THREE focal points, and also explains to which other mathematical topics these focal points connect to.

By familiarizing yourself with these few points, you can see the basics of school mathematics unfold before your eyes. Knowing the basic goals is essential for being a good teacher.

By the way, these aren't the only things kids might study on a given grade. They are the focus areas. Many of the other topics would connect with these.

Go look at the pics at textsavvy.blogspot.com about the way textbooks and programs typically present the topics, versus a "VISION OF CURRICULUM" laid out by the Focal Points document.


On grade 1, the focus is on

• addition/subtraction: basic basic addition facts and related subtraction facts. Learning to add and subtract two-digit numbers.


• Understanding whole numbers in terms of tens and ones


• Composing and decomposing geometric shapes

Measuring and simple bar and picture graphs are presented as applications of these.


On Grade 2:

• Understanding the base-ten numeration system and place-value concepts at least till 1000.


• Quick recall of addition facts and related subtraction facts and fluency with multidigit addition and subtraction.


• Measurement: Developing an understanding of linear measurement and facility in measuring lengths.

Skip-counting is also included, and prepares children for 3rd grade and multiplication.


On grade 3:

• Understanding multiplication and division, and strategies for basic multiplication facts and related division facts.


• Understanding fractions and fraction equivalence


• Geometry: Describing and analyzing properties of two-dimensional shapes.

Measuring using fractional parts ties nicely in with the second point.

So we get started on multiplication and division. Notice on next grade, one of the focal points is "developing quick recall", or basically memorizing multiplication/division facts.


On grade 4:

• Developing quick recall of multiplication facts and related division facts and fluency with whole number multiplication.


• Understanding decimals, including the connections between fractions and decimals.


• Measurement: Developing an understanding of area and determining the areas of two-dimensional shapes.

Well, reading these makes teaching school mathematics sound almost easy to teach - compared to reading a big laundry list of objectives and thinking, "Oh well, I'm supposed to cover all that".

You can find the other grades at Curriculum Focal Points by Grade.

Curriculum focal points

I'm going to talk again about the new report released by NCTM, Curriculum Focal Points.

For each grade, it describes THREE focal points, and also explains to which other mathematical topics these focal points connect to.

By familiarizing yourself with these few points, you can see the basics of school mathematics unfold before your eyes. Knowing the basic goals is essential for being a good teacher.

By the way, these aren't the only things kids might study on a given grade. They are the focus areas. Many of the other topics would connect with these.

Go look at the pics at textsavvy.blogspot.com about the way textbooks and programs typically present the topics, versus a "VISION OF CURRICULUM" laid out by the Focal Points document.


On grade 1, the focus is on

• addition/subtraction: basic basic addition facts and related subtraction facts. Learning to add and subtract two-digit numbers.


• Understanding whole numbers in terms of tens and ones


• Composing and decomposing geometric shapes

Measuring and simple bar and picture graphs are presented as applications of these.


On Grade 2:

• Understanding the base-ten numeration system and place-value concepts at least till 1000.


• Quick recall of addition facts and related subtraction facts and fluency with multidigit addition and subtraction.


• Measurement: Developing an understanding of linear measurement and facility in measuring lengths.

Skip-counting is also included, and prepares children for 3rd grade and multiplication.


On grade 3:

• Understanding multiplication and division, and strategies for basic multiplication facts and related division facts.


• Understanding fractions and fraction equivalence


• Geometry: Describing and analyzing properties of two-dimensional shapes.

Measuring using fractional parts ties nicely in with the second point.

So we get started on multiplication and division. Notice on next grade, one of the focal points is "developing quick recall", or basically memorizing multiplication/division facts.


On grade 4:

• Developing quick recall of multiplication facts and related division facts and fluency with whole number multiplication.


• Understanding decimals, including the connections between fractions and decimals.


• Measurement: Developing an understanding of area and determining the areas of two-dimensional shapes.

Well, reading these makes teaching school mathematics sound almost easy to teach - compared to reading a big laundry list of objectives and thinking, "Oh well, I'm supposed to cover all that".

You can find the other grades at Curriculum Focal Points by Grade.

10 Out - math card game

Today I told my dd to write down addition facts where the sum is 10 - "Which numbers make ten?" are the words I use with her. While she was writing them and using abacus, this math card came 'popped' to my mind...

I can't claim it as my own, because I have this 'feeling' that I've read about it somewhere, sometime, but since I can't remember when or where, I can't give credit to where credit might be due.

I will just name it "10 Out" - a math card game.

Anyway, this is how it goes:
Take away the 'picture' cards and joker from normal playing cards. Then deal 10 cards to each player; put the rest of the deck in the middle. The goal is to get rid of all cards in your hand.

Find all pairs of cards in your hand that add up to a ten (or single 10's) and discard them. Then you may ask the player left to you for one card, and if she has it, she has to give it to you.

For example, say you have 2, 3, 8, and 1 left in your hand. You ask the person next to you if he has 9 (because 9 and 1 would make ten). He has, and gives it to you. Then you form another ten and discard your 1 and the 9.

Then the next person asks the player to their left for one card, and on around.
You could modify it so that each players just blindly hands one card to the player on their left.

Then, once nobody can discard any more cards, every player takes one card from the deck in the middle, and checks if they can form a sum of ten and discard cards. Again each player will be allowed to ask for one card from their left neighbor, if they want to (or everyone hands one card blindly to the player on their left). Continue until someone wins.

I feel this can easily make kids memorize addition facts with sum 10.

Then, of course, next math lesson it will be time for "9 Out" and "8 Out" and "11 Out" and others!

Tags: math

10 Out - math card game

Today I told my dd to write down addition facts where the sum is 10 - "Which numbers make ten?" are the words I use with her. While she was writing them and using abacus, this math card came 'popped' to my mind...

I can't claim it as my own, because I have this 'feeling' that I've read about it somewhere, sometime, but since I can't remember when or where, I can't give credit to where credit might be due.

I will just name it "10 Out" - a math card game.

Anyway, this is how it goes:
Take away the 'picture' cards and joker from normal playing cards. Then deal 10 cards to each player; put the rest of the deck in the middle. The goal is to get rid of all cards in your hand.

Find all pairs of cards in your hand that add up to a ten (or single 10's) and discard them. Then you may ask the player left to you for one card, and if she has it, she has to give it to you.

For example, say you have 2, 3, 8, and 1 left in your hand. You ask the person next to you if he has 9 (because 9 and 1 would make ten). He has, and gives it to you. Then you form another ten and discard your 1 and the 9.

Then the next person asks the player to their left for one card, and on around.
You could modify it so that each players just blindly hands one card to the player on their left.

Then, once nobody can discard any more cards, every player takes one card from the deck in the middle, and checks if they can form a sum of ten and discard cards. Again each player will be allowed to ask for one card from their left neighbor, if they want to (or everyone hands one card blindly to the player on their left). Continue until someone wins.

I feel this can easily make kids memorize addition facts with sum 10.

Then, of course, next math lesson it will be time for "9 Out" and "8 Out" and "11 Out" and others!

Tags: math