In early grade levels, it can feel easy to skip number bonds. They are not the end goal! Your students can use hands-on materials or even just their fingers to add and subtract. So why do you need the number bond? The answer lies in number sense relationships. The purpose
Last week we talked about the importance and purpose of visual models and where they live within the CRA progression. If you missed that post, you can read it here. This week, our focus is on counting models. These are models that support students in using the count sequence, but
This multi-week series is all about representational models. We are talking about where representational models live in the sequence of math instruction, why they are important and useful to students, and where these models can lead our students in the future. When we think about a CRA math progression, we
Before we talk about subtraction facts, we need to slow down and talk about subtraction itself. Step one in teaching subtraction fluency is making sure students understand what subtraction is and what it does. Subtraction is not just a set of facts to memorize. It represents relationships between numbers, and
Week 5 of our focus on fact fluency is an interesting one, because this is where we make a shift. Miss weeks 1-4? Start here Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Up until now, I have spent a lot of time advocating for number sense,
Over the last few weeks, we have been building a clear picture of what a strong fact fluency strategy requires. In Week 1, we started by grounding ourselves in the standards. Knowing math facts from memory is a non-negotiable. I shared an assessment so teachers could see where their students
Fact fluency is often treated like something we should be able to squeeze in quickly. A game you play for a few minutes at the end of math if there is time left. When students struggle, the response is usually to add more practice and repetition. For most students, fluency
We’ve been teaching math facts backwards. The second-grade standards ask students to know from memory all sums of two single-digit numbers. On paper, that looks like one hundred individual facts. It’s absolutely no wonder at all that so many students feel overwhelmed and discouraged. And it’s also no wonder that
Math facts are one of those skills that ripple out into almost everything else students do in the math classroom. When a student does not know basic facts, every task feels like walking through quicksand. For example, adding 23 plus 15 using mental strategies becomes an arduous task if a
A few weeks ago, I went to a conference where it felt like every presenter started their session the same way. They would say something like, “Pretend you don’t know how to solve this,” and then walk us through manipulatives, models, or routines that would help a student who truly