Strategies for Basic FactsUnit of Study: Basic Facts and RelationshipsGlobal Concept Guide: 2 of 4

Content Development The focus of this GCG is to build students’ basic fact fluency by extending previously learned

strategies.

When approaching problem solving, it is important to emphasize direct modeling and quick pictures as they relate to the fact strategies taught.

Direct Modeling is students’ use of manipulatives and drawings along with counting to represent directly the meaning of a story or problem.

Students will use doubles facts to find sums for near double facts. (e.g. If I know 5+5=10, then I know 5+6 is 1 more than 10 which is 11.)

Students will use ten frames and number lines to make a ten in order to solve basic addition and subtraction problems. In order to use these strategies, students will need to be comfortable decomposing numbers.

Add Within 20 by Regrouping on a Ten Frame – Quick code- LZ2686

It is a good idea to write the new strategies on the board or make a poster of fact strategies students develop. Give the strategies names that make sense.

After children have worked on two or three strategies, strategy selection drills are very important. Simple drills are flash cards, matching games, dice, or spinner activities in which the objective is quick response. They should ONLY be used when an efficient strategy is in place.

Research from John A. Van de Walle (2004) states that prematurely drilling children on their basic facts solely by memorization such as timed test and flash cards before the child has had the opportunity to understand the meaning of the operation will hinder their ability to retain the facts in long term memory and apply the concepts later in more rigorous situations.

Day 1 Essential question: How can you use doubles facts to find sums for near doubles

facts? Review doubles facts.

Doubles video/songDoubles game- Give each team of 2 players a set of 1-10 cards. Player 1 draws a card and says the double of the number. If they get it correct they keep the card. Player 2 draws a card and doubles that number. If the answer is incorrect, they return the card to the bottom of the pile. Play continues until time is up.

After reviewing doubles, move on to near doubles. Coach lined up her students in 2 lines. There were 6 students in the girls’ line

and 7 students in the boys’ line. How can you use a doubles fact to figure out how many students were in line? ( Students should model what this looks like using manipulatives red/yellow counters, snap cubes, stackable counters, ten frames, number line, etc.)

Ms. Pittman fed her cat Noah 4 treats and her cat MooMoo 5 treats. How many treats did she feed her cats?

Ms. White collected 5 brown eggs and 6 white eggs from her chickens. If she puts them all in an egg carton, how many eggs will she have?

Ms. Lunchlady served 13 milks for lunch. Six were chocolate and the rest were white. How many were white?

One orange had 8 seeds and a grapefruit had 1 more seed than the orange. How many seeds were in the two pieces of fruit?

Additional word problems

Students may solve by either doubling the lesser number and adding 1 or doubling the greater number and subtracting 1.

Once the strategy has been established, students will require multiple opportunities to practice within problem solving scenarios. (Teachers should stress direct modeling for students to demonstrate understanding prior to choosing a strategy.)

Animated math model- doubles plus one. By the end of Day 1 students will be able to solve a near double fact mentally by using double facts.

Day 1 continued

Day 2 Essential question: How is the make a ten strategy used to find sums? Engage with a problem such as:

10 children went to the fair. How many were girls? How many boys? There are 7 kids playing marbles on the sidewalk and 9 kids playing marbles on

the court. How many kids are playing marbles? Sand E. Beaches found 6 seashells in the morning and 8 seashells in the

afternoon. How many seashells did she find?

(Allow students to solve this problem using 2 color counters and 2 ten frames. Facilitate a discussion of student responses and record their results.) The use of visual models (ten frames) will be key to having students be able to use

and apply the strategy effectively. ( Make a Ten Strategy & Ten Frame Chart) By the end of Day 2 students will be able to make a ten to mentally solve addition

problems.

Day 3 Essential question: How does getting to 10 in subtraction help when

finding differences?There are 14 bluebirds sitting on a tree. Six flew away. How many are in

the tree now?

14-6… First I think 14-4

to make a 10.

I know 4 + 2 makes 6

so I need to take away 2

more.

Now I have 8. So

14-6=8.

Make sure students are modeling the problem using manipulatives.

Day 3 continued Sample word problems:Dallas ran 13 laps and Dakota ran 7 laps. How many more laps did Dallas

run than Dakota?Eighteen students went outside to recess. Nine brought math problems to

solve. How many did not bring math problems?Cora had 14 rainbow loom bracelets. She gave 8 away to her friends. How

many does she have now?At Blue Lake there were 12 frogs. Seven frogs hopped away. How many are

left?

Day 3 continued Number lines are a great tool to support students’ conceptual

understanding.

By the end of Day 3 students should discover how to apply the make a ten strategy to help them mentally solve subtraction problems.

1212-9= 16-9=

14-8=

Day 4 Essential question: How do the make a ten and near doubles strategies help

you mentally solve problems?

Now that students have been introduced to new strategies for solving basic facts, Day 4 is an opportunity for students to practice and apply those strategies within problem solving scenarios.

Students should be encouraged to shift these strategies from concrete and pictorial to mental processes; however, each student will differ as to the appropriate time to make the shift. Teachers should not force a student into only mental strategies too early.

Be sure to check out the “Mixed Review” link under online resources on the GCG. Teachers should consider pulling small groups during this day based on students’ needs.

Strategy sort- give to groups of students and they sort the equations based on the most efficient strategy and justify why that is the most efficient strategy.

By the end of Day 4 students should be able to select and use efficient strategies.

Enrich/Reteach/InterventionReteach: Animated model from Think Central for using make-a–ten.

Reteach Book p. R22

Be sure to have two color counters available for students to use while solving problems.

Useful video to gauge students’ prior knowledge about decomposing a whole into a variety of parts.

Enrich: Enrich Book p. E22 ~ To extend this activity students could create their own riddles. - Go Deeper (TE p. 123), & Enrich (TE p.145B)