The foundations for reading, writing, and arithmetic are built in the elementary years. With math, in particular, students need to acquire fundamental skills before they can continue with higher-level concepts. Without addition and subtraction facts, other math skills feel out of reach to kids.
Understanding addition and subtraction fact fluency
It’s critical to help students develop fluency with addition and subtraction math facts. Math fact fluency refers to the ability to recall the basic facts in all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) accurately, quickly, and effortlessly. Building fluency in basic calculations improves efficiency and accuracy with math skills.
Through a solid foundation of subtraction and addition math facts, students gain a deeper sense of number relationships, which makes applying this knowledge easier in various math situations. Those strong math skills ultimately help students solve more complex problems. Students are more flexible with their problem-solving methods because they haven’t simply memorized facts. Math fact fluency builds procedural and conceptual understanding that allows them to apply different strategies as they approach different types of math problems.
Why are addition and subtraction facts important?
Number sense, mental math skills, and higher–level math concepts all require the building blocks of solid math fact fluency. Without fluency in subtraction and addition facts, a student’s math progress is impeded. They might try to rely on tally marks or counting fingers, which is time-consuming and ineffective.
Addition and subtraction skills are necessary for solving everyday math problems, like counting money, managing time, or measuring ingredients for cooking. Higher-level math concepts also require the critical skills of addition and subtraction.
Benefits of mastering addition and subtraction facts
When students master addition and subtraction facts, they open up to the world of more advanced math concepts. Improved problem-solving skills lead to increased speed and accuracy. Because of addition and subtraction fact fluency, students are able to focus on strategies to solve complex calculations. They don’t get bogged down with simple arithmetic while solving word problems or multi-step computations.
Having a strong foundation in math also means that students feel comfortable asking questions and taking academic risks. When students understand how to approach math problems, successful attempts boost confidence, which also motivates them to tackle more advanced math concepts.
Seven strategies for teaching addition & subtraction facts
Teachers know the importance of incorporating a variety of strategies to reach different learning styles. What works for one student may not work for another. Try these seven strategies that go beyond the whiteboard to teach addition and subtraction facts to your students.
- Manipulatives: Any kind of manipulative – candy pieces, tiles, stickers – work to help students visualize adding and subtracting.
- Doubles: Create doubles by breaking down one number. For example, think of 7 + 9 as 7 + 7 +2.
- Counting on and back: Start with a number and count forward for addition or backward for subtraction.
- Make ten: Using this strategy, break down the numbers to use 10. For example, break down 6 + 8 to 6 + 4 + 4.
- Writing: Ask students to write stories that explain addition and subtraction. Don’t forget to share!
- Math discourse: Don’t just perform math concepts on paper or devices. Talk about it!
- Edtech resources: ExploreLearning Reflex is a digital tool that’s fully adaptive, so students get individualized math facts instruction.
Common challenges in learning addition and subtraction facts
There are many reasons that students have difficulty learning addition and subtraction facts. It could be attention problems or math anxiety. Maybe students have learning difficulties, such as dyscalculia and dysgraphia. Some students have trouble recalling basic facts or inconsistent mastery. Whatever the challenge, students are confused if they don’t fully grasp the concepts of addition and subtraction.
The good news is that there are strategies and tools, like Reflex, to help all students learn addition and subtraction facts.
Support addition and subtraction fact fluency with Reflex
Reflex is an adaptive, game-based program that can help students build fluency with addition and subtraction facts while adjusting the difficulty of fact retrieval based on each student's progress. Reflex uses a fact family approach for teaching new facts because it works. We can define a fact family in math as a group of related facts that use the same numbers.
Reflex is fun and motivating, too! Using rewards and a Green Light to encourage students and increase fluency, Reflex is designed to be engaging and enjoyable for students. Teachers can even create competitions for students to participate in.
Students should begin building fluency with addition and subtraction facts (0-10) in grade 2. One recent study found that 2nd-grade students who used Reflex frequently improved by an average of 11 percentile points. Teachers can use the Reflex Readiness Quiz to ensure students are ready to use Reflex and the reporting features to monitor student progress. Students can continue using Reflex in grade 3 as needed.
Research continuously shows that students who use Reflex score higher and grow faster than their peers. Are you ready to bring those kinds of results to your classroom?
