Practicing fluency races will help your first grader develop fluency (speed/automaticity) in adding and subtracting. Select the math fact fluency page that we are currently working on in class or another level if your child is ready for it. (I'll let you know the fact page we are currently working on in our weekly newsletters.) Print it out and...
-Have your child practice one row at a time. Set a timer for one minute. With math fluency races, we race the clock--not each other. Start with row one and when the timer goes off, celebrate how far your child got. Circle the last problem your child completed on row one and then help your child finish the row. Then move on to row two and see if your child can get farther in one minute than he/she did on row one. Keep going this way until done.
OR...
-Set the timer for five minutes and let your child tackle the whole page.
If the whole page is overwhelming, continue the row at a time method or two rows at a time or whatever your child is ready to try.
The first grade goal it to complete the 50 problems in 5 minutes with at least 90% accuracy (45 correct out of 50).
Watch to see how your child is adding. Our goal is to get 1st graders to add accurately within 20 (up to 10+10) and with fluency/automaticity/speed. These are some appropriate strategies:
*instead of counting all the counters/numbers, say the larger number and then count on the smaller number
*use doubles and add on the rest (for example 5+4 is close to the double 5+5, I know that 5+5 is ten, so 5+4 has to be 9 because 4 is one less than 5)
*look for combinations that make 10 (for example 7+4 is close to the 10 Friend 7+3, I know that 7+3 equals 10 so 7+4 has to be 11 because 4 is one more than 3)
Watch to see how your child is subtracting. Our goal is to get 1st graders to subtract accurately within 20 (up to 20-10). These are some appropriate strategies:
*if a zero is being subtracted, the first (larger) number will not change
*if a small number is being subtracted (a 1, 2, or 3), count backwards from the bigger number
*if the difference between the numbers isn’t too large—like 12-7, say the smaller number and count up to the larger number
*relate known addition facts to subtraction facts (for example, if your child knows that 3+7=10, then 10-7 will equal 3)
It is OK for your child to use a number line, fingers, 100s board or counters. It isn’t cheating to use these tools. If one of these tools works for your child, that’s great for now. Try to get your child to use the above listed strategies as they will help improve speed.
-Have your child practice one row at a time. Set a timer for one minute. With math fluency races, we race the clock--not each other. Start with row one and when the timer goes off, celebrate how far your child got. Circle the last problem your child completed on row one and then help your child finish the row. Then move on to row two and see if your child can get farther in one minute than he/she did on row one. Keep going this way until done.
OR...
-Set the timer for five minutes and let your child tackle the whole page.
If the whole page is overwhelming, continue the row at a time method or two rows at a time or whatever your child is ready to try.
The first grade goal it to complete the 50 problems in 5 minutes with at least 90% accuracy (45 correct out of 50).
Watch to see how your child is adding. Our goal is to get 1st graders to add accurately within 20 (up to 10+10) and with fluency/automaticity/speed. These are some appropriate strategies:
*instead of counting all the counters/numbers, say the larger number and then count on the smaller number
*use doubles and add on the rest (for example 5+4 is close to the double 5+5, I know that 5+5 is ten, so 5+4 has to be 9 because 4 is one less than 5)
*look for combinations that make 10 (for example 7+4 is close to the 10 Friend 7+3, I know that 7+3 equals 10 so 7+4 has to be 11 because 4 is one more than 3)
Watch to see how your child is subtracting. Our goal is to get 1st graders to subtract accurately within 20 (up to 20-10). These are some appropriate strategies:
*if a zero is being subtracted, the first (larger) number will not change
*if a small number is being subtracted (a 1, 2, or 3), count backwards from the bigger number
*if the difference between the numbers isn’t too large—like 12-7, say the smaller number and count up to the larger number
*relate known addition facts to subtraction facts (for example, if your child knows that 3+7=10, then 10-7 will equal 3)
It is OK for your child to use a number line, fingers, 100s board or counters. It isn’t cheating to use these tools. If one of these tools works for your child, that’s great for now. Try to get your child to use the above listed strategies as they will help improve speed.
Addition
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Subtraction
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Ten Friends & Doubles
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Flashcards
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