Introduction:
Addition and Subtraction are necessary skills for children to practice and develop so that they may continue to be successful throughout their journey in understanding and using mathematical concepts. As they grow and develop, students will use addition, subtraction, and fact families in their daily lives and will be well serviced to have the ability to recall these facts quickly, efficiently, and accurately.
The resources found here can be used with first graders to help develop understanding, or with second graders as opportunities for more practice. The associated Virginia Standards of Learning for this topic is: 1.5: The student will recall basic addition facts with sums to 18 or less and the corresponding subtraction facts.
Recommended books for assisting in teaching this topic:
1) One More Bunny, By Rick Walton, Illustrated by Paige Miglio
In this book, animals are joined together to make sums up to 10. The animals are depicted with single numerals and the equations are also included. Another great aspect to this book is that partitions of integers are shown such as: 4+2=6, 3+3=6 and 1+5=6, which is a great way to get kids thinking about the patterns of addition and the different numbers that can be used to find equal sums.
2) Domino Addtion, By Lynette Long
Long combines dominoes, counting, and addition in this straight-forward book. Educators could easily make this an interactive activity, with the use of personal dominoes and addition mats while the book is read aloud. Domino Addition, like One More Bunny, also includes basic examples of partitions of integers, so that 8 can be found by: 0+8, 1+7, 2+6, 3+5, and 4+4.
3) Twenty is Too Many, By Kate Duke
This fun book incorporates a problem (too many guinea pigs will make their boat capsize), mathematical language and symbols (minus, -, =), and vivid pictures to engage students and get them having fun while practicing subtraction. The book also serves to get imaginations guessing about what might happen next; on one page an observant reader might notice that the rope one guinea pig is holding has a fraying end, the next page shows that little guy floating in the water, resulting in one less guinea pig. Fun for all while getting in some subtraction practice!
4) Elevator Magic, By Stuart J. Murphy, Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz and G. Brian Karas
In this book, Ben joins his mother on the 10th floor of her office building. They begin to ride the elevator, but there are some errands that must be completed along the way. Ben’s job is to subtract the number of floors from the number 10 to know what button to press on the elevator. A simple, yet real-world problem that many kids can relate to; what kid doesn’t love pressing buttons?
5) Hershey Kisses Addition Book, By Jerry Pallotta, Illustrated by Rob Bolster
This book includes math symbols (+, -, =), addition of single digits and addition of single digits to the number 10, and addition depicted both vertically and horizontally. The author also includes addition of greater numbers and briefly introduces taking away, but educators can easily focus on what is applicable to their class. This book could easily be used with manipulative (Hershey kisses, anyone?) to help kids have something tangible (and tasty) to add or subtract, making it another way to get kids practicing the process of addition while having fun, too.
Recommended Web Sites:
1) Max’s Math Adventures – Available on this great site provided by Scholastic, kids can play games, do interactive worksheets, and practice concepts learned in the classroom all on their own! They could visit this site at home or during computer time in the classroom with a partner. They can do it on their own, even in these early elementary grades, because audio directions are provided for each game or activity! There are some excellent activities, but for specific practice of addition and subtraction activities, I might direct my students to: Farmer Fred’s Counting fun, Card Castle Addition, or Subtraction Square Dance Sing-Along.
2) Ten Frame Addition Practice– This game is provided by Illuminations found at the website for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The game is fantastic, particularly when played on the “Play All” function. Students can practice using a ten frame in which they physically move red and/or blue markers to the 10 frame to determine how many chips are displayed, “build” a provided number, add the correct number of chips to fill the frame (some blue chips are already included), or add red and blue chips to sums of 20 or less. There are many math concepts being practiced, not to mention that students will gain facility with using the mouse, AND they are having fun, too!
3) Math Games at A Plus Math – I would direct my students to games like Hidden Picture Subtraction (also has addition and Mult. version) or MATHO. The Hidden Picture game provide cross-curricular elements. Students uncover a real photograph by finishing addition or subtraction equations. The picture is generally of something from nature (coral, sea turtle, etc.) and, upon uncovering all of the squares, the student is provided with a brief description of where the picture was taken and something about the object’s significance. MATHO is an addition version of BINGO.
4) Harcourt School has mutliple resources for elementary students to practice Operations – Student would have fun playing games like A Day at the Beach, where an equation using subtraction is displayed, and the program models what the answer would be by crossing off the correct number of fish. The player supplies the correct difference in the equation and, when a group of problems have been solved, the player can paint the beach scene. Students would also enjoy playing Busy Bees. For these subtraction problems, a sentence is displayed such as: “There were 9 bees. Some flew in the hive, 5 are left. How many flew in the hive?” The player supplies the correct answer and then the hive becomes transparent so that he can see the 4 buzzing bees inside. A fun game to practice addition is Adding Bricks. Here, the player watches as two construction workers walk across the screen, each pushing a wheelbarrow of bricks in two different colors. They dump their bricks, one pile on one side of the screen and one pile on the other. Then the equation is shown: 4+2=, and the player must supply the answer. There are many other games and models for students to practice a variety of math concepts, all which are presented in sections titled “Addition,” “Subtraction,” etc., so that even younger students could be directed to games that are age and developmentally-appropriate.
5) Math is Fun – This site has many resources involving mathematical concepts from measurement, algebra, money, and addition/subtraction. However, this does not make the site too difficult to navigate, and students would benefit from checking it out on their own. For specific investigation and practice of addition and subtraction, I would direct my students to an addition page, where they can see models of addition and Math trainer, where they can fill in answers to supplied addition equations. The Subtraction page and the Subtraction Trainer would also be great places for them to check out on the site. The subtraction page gives a subtraction table and give visual models for subtraction. The subtraction trainer responds to the supplied answers, so there are opportunities for practicing equations that are troubling students.
Additional resources
1) This is a link to an addition/subtraction card game found at public education site for New South Wales. It would be an easy game to have at a math center, as a “Math-Tub” activity, or whenever there is some ‘down’ time (yeah, right!). It is a cheap and easy game that will get students practicing math facts and really thinking about strategy for making the largest single-digit number they can with adding and subtracting 4 playing cards. You could assign all the face cards as being 1, or simply remove them.
2) Kathy Gursky is a first grade teacher and workshop presenter. She has created a wonderful website where she shares a wealth of information to help with instructing lower elementary grades. She has an entire section dedicated to instructing students on fact families. I particularly like this card game for practicing addition fact families. She uses a gameboard for the number 9, but includes links to gameboards for numbers 5 through 18. For the example of 9, she explains that students place a marker on the start. They draw a card (Aces are 0, kings/queens/jacks are 1), and the card drawn tells them what number they place their marker on. So, if a child draws a 4, he would move to the next available 5, because 4+5=9. In this example, there is a ‘winner’s circle,’ where the winner must draw a 4, 3, or 6 to make 9. This game can be played with 2 to 4 players, and would also be a great game to use as a center or Math Tub idea.
3) This site is a good refresher on addition and subtraction math facts for teachers. It also goes through how you can introduce the topic to your students, complete with examples to use (call 3 students to the front, class counts, adds one more student, etc.) The class sees their classmates being added/subtracted, but they also use snap blocks (or manipulatives of your choice) to work through the suggestions as well. Check out the Introducing and Developing the Concept, as well.