Building addition and subtraction fluency
As many of you may know, I was responsible for planning math for all of 1st grade this year. Let me tell you, I had a BLAST planning math this year! It was an awesome experience to be able to make math come alive for about 96 kiddos. I personally struggled with math throughout grade school, and I never really made the connection between math and the real world. My mission this year was to make sure that my students did not experience that gap.
As I planned math lessons this year, it was so important to make sure I was building and connecting background knowledge that would enable my kiddos to be successful not just in 1st grade, but in later years as well. This meant TONS of opportunities for my kids to make real-world connections to math. However, as we approached the end of the school year, I knew that our students needed to build fluency in addition and subtraction to be successful in 2nd grade. After speaking with some of my team members, I settled on an idea that would dramatically increase engagement and motivation to reach a goal that would potentially require quite a bit of “memorization” or “drill.”
So came the birth (so to speak) of my latest creation, Super Sundae Math Facts! Basically, students progress through 11 different math facts test that focus on addition, subtraction, and then both together. For each test that is passed, students earn an ice cream sundae ingredient. I can just about guarantee you that the addition of ice cream sundaes DRAMATICALLY increased engagement in what could have been perceived as boring practice. It was amazing to see my students so excited about passing the next test, or hear about how much they had been practicing at home. Seriously, kids excited about math – what could be better?? Please see my previous post to see more about what I’m talking about.
This packet is a complete system for building fluency in addition and subtraction. It is Common Core aligned and most app
ropriate for 1st grade – but can be used in Kindergarten and 2nd grade as well! The packet includes:
- 11 Different tests to build math fluency
- Answer keys for each test
- Super Sundae recording form so that students can keep track of which tests they have passed and which sundae toppings they have earned
- Parent communication letters in English AND Spanish
- 2 pages of flash cards for each test
I think that the best thing about building fluency using a packet like this is that students can progress at their own INDIVIDUAL level. Differentiation using an activity like this is almost so easy that it happens by itself!
In honor of completing one of my first summer projects, I am offering a raffle for a free copy of my Super Sundae Math Facts packet!