First Grade Math Curriculum Unit 2 - Subtraction, Doubles Facts, Fact Families, Missing Addends

We are halfway through 2nd quarter in my 1st grade classroom. That means we are halfway through my 2nd Headfirst Math Unit. Here is a page from my lesson plan binder.

One of my favorite things about using this on the computer is that this page is clickable! You can click on the topic and be taken right to it instead of having to go through all the pages to find the math lesson you need! Each lesson has sets of worksheets that go with it. Plenty for in-class and homework and extra practice if needed. You can use the lesson for whole group or small groups. Many have partner activities and math mats for kids to get hands-on activities. 

Here are the math vocabulary cards that we learn and review. I have them as 1/2 sheet size as a math word wall and as 1/4 sheet size on a ring to practice like flashcards.  

Here is some independent subtraction math fact practice. I used this as an activity for the whole class and then put it in my math center after they knew how to play. My desks are in groups of 4 so each had a set of cups and lollipops to sort.

My team felt our students had a pretty good handle on subtraction already with the way we taught number bonds in my first unit so we skipped that and started with turn around facts and fact families. This was the first year that I have felt confident that my students have mastered this math strategy. Here are the reasons why!

Students love linking cubes. I have a set that I keep sorted by color at all times so when I pull them out, I can give students 5 of each color. They also love using whiteboards, so before I gave them the cubes, I modeled with the cubes and had them write their turn around facts on their whiteboards to hold up. I also like this activity because it begins to show students that the equal sign means that both sides are equal and it's not just what comes before the answer. Instead of just understanding 3 + 4 = 7 they understand that 3 + 4 = 4 + 3. 

Using this worksheet after they got to play with the linking cubes was a nice way to tie the hands-on and paper-pencil activities together.

The kids enjoyed this Turn Around Facts craft. Just have them tract their hands and arms on brown construction paper, fill in turn around facts on the leaves and color, cut them both out, and glue the leaves to the finger branches. 

Once we got an understanding of turn around facts, we got into fact families. 

I think the most powerful part of this topic was using the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I read the story to them first. Baby is the smallest number, Mama is the middle number, and Papa is the biggest number. It was a great way to link literacy with math!

The students helped me chose the numbers. I helped to make sure the numbers would work. Then they took turns holding the cards to make the facts.

Each time we used the Papa, Mama, Baby cards, we filled out a page in our Fact Families Book.

We played this partner game several times during our fact family study. The 1st student spins the top spinner to find the Papa number and puts it by Papa on the house mat.

The student's partner spins the bottom spinner to find the Mama or Baby number and puts that number on the mat. 

Then they figured out what the third number

was. As I was circulating, I had to point out several times that they needed to switch the Mama and Baby numbers. I saw some Aha! moments which is so awesome!

On the carpet, we used this mat in a page protector with dry erase markers to practice the fact families.

Here are some of the worksheets we used. 

Next up was our study of Doubles Facts. Memorizing doubles facts is a helpful skill for students to have. There are some really cute YouTube videos that I've used in class. Here are two of them by Harry Kindergarten.

I made a copy of this for each student to put in their binders to refer to when needed. 

We loved playing Doubles Bump. Partners use one die and each uses a different color of marker. The player rolls the die and doubles it. The goal is to cover as many numbers as you can. If one partner gets the same answer that is already covered, she can bump off her partner's marker. When all are covered, whoever has the most numbers covered wins. I made this bump game so that you can see the number even while it is marked. I have some other bump games that once it is covered, you can't see what it is which makes it hard for first graders to remember which numbers are where. 

After doubles, we moved on to doubles plus 1 facts. I'm not totally convinced that this is an appropriate skill for 1st grade brains. They understood the concept when the doubles facts and the doubles + 1 facts were side by side, but when I removed that crutch, it was much harder for them to use the doubles to solve doubles + 1 facts.  My team and I decided to throw out the grade on the original test because so many of our students did not use the skill when solving the problems. They instead tried to use fingers, number lines, and subtraction instead. 

Here's the flashcards that are in the unit: 

We are getting ready to begin Mixed Addition and Subtraction and then will follow with Missing Addends before beginning our holiday break. 

Click HERE to download the 

Sampler FREEBIE!

Click to check out Unit 2:

Click to check out the Bundle:

Happy Teaching! 

22 days left!

T minus 22 days until inservice starts! Still been working hard. In my classroom, I have done some painting and redecorating. Here is a before picture.

My bulletin boards were in sad shape and there weren't enough of them so I put new ones up. Hubby helped me hang plywood and I glued cork squares to it. It was a bit of work but turned out great!

My old chalkboard I decided to paint with magnetic paint. I have not worked with this paint before and to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with it. I had to use 3 cans for a total of about 9 coats and it still isn't as magnetic as I'd like it to be. Maybe next year I'll cover it with a bulletin board too. Chaching!

I also painted several shelves and two tables. My classroom animal is a panda so I'm going with the black and white theme. I'm hoping the black paint holds up!

I'll be going back in probably tomorrow to do some more work. Until then, happy summer!

Elf on the Shelf

Merry Christmas! I wanted to share my elf on the shelf activities in our classroom this year. Some of these I have done in the past but I did a few new things this year too. I am a cheapskate and I came across this elf from Oriental Trading. It was a lot cheaper than the real elf on the shelf. 

Here's the link where you can get it. Oriental Trading Elf on the Shelf
This is the first note when our elf arrived. I let the kids name him. They suggested names and I wrote them on the board. Then at lunch I picked 3 that I liked and we voted on the name after lunch. We did a graph. 

The day after the elf arrived, he covered the board with his name and left this note. 

I also made wallet-size pictures of the elf for the kids to take home.

This was an easy one, aka a day I forgot to move the elf before I left school.

This was after a day that had been rough in my classroom.

We had written about reindeer and they got to sit in the reader's chair and use the microphone to read their writing. The elf brought them all new Christmas pencils.

I laid the elf on the copy machine and made some copies.

I wrapped the easel with wrapping paper. I've also used sticky bows in the past which is easier but kind of expensive!

We were getting ready for our Christmas concert later that week.

Another easy one. I give out stickers when the kids read and return their paper readers. So I just stuck some stickers on him.

 

I made a zip line in the classroom. It was a huge hit!

I wrapped up the elf's leg and pretended it was hurt.

I hid candy canes all over the classroom. They each got to find one.

We have been doing gingerbread stories in addition to elf activities.

 They had their Christmas concert the night before.

I have a pet leopard gecko that has a heating lamp.

 I brought a miniature tree and put it in the classroom.

 

 I made up a little bed and threw tissues all over the floor. I made sure I told the janitor. The first year I did it, he swept up all the tissues before the kids saw them!

I put up a slide show on PowerPoint of staged pictures of my elf doing things in the classroom. 

 I put him up on the projector on my ceiling.

I had this sign on my classroom door. Kids arrive for breakfast before I even get to school so I caught them going into the classroom before I was there. This was a problem because some days I didn't move the elf before I left for the day and needed to do it in the morning. Also, I wanted everyone to see the elf at the same time so that some who saw it before others wouldn't spoil the daily surprise.

With all the excitement of the elf, there was a lot of commotion when the kids came into the classroom so I used this note next.

I bought a new elf book. It was cute. I got it at Target.

At the end of his stay, he left some candy for them and gave them a peek at Santa's nice list (they were all on it).

Elf on the Shelf is a pretty big time commitment but it was fun for me and sooo much fun for them. 

❤Melissa