How are we supposed to teach addition and subtraction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

If your 2nd grader is still counting on fingers then you need speed drills and facts. Recognizing addition and subtraction within 20 should be automatic.

If you're talking about borrowing and carrying, just teach the standard old school way of doing it. You can explain it with place value blocks if you want a concrete representation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

If your 2nd grader is still counting on fingers then you need speed drills and facts. Recognizing addition and subtraction within 20 should be automatic.

If you're talking about borrowing and carrying, just teach the standard old school way of doing it. You can explain it with place value blocks if you want a concrete representation.

We did drills and it was great over the summer. Since school started they do number line and counting up or down to add/subtract and place value. Now 12-5 and 6+3 are no longer automatic because he is following what is being taught at school. So I want to move to teaching one of the two ways I mentioned upthread. And using double digits to prevent counting to solve.

[Anonymous]

Memorization for double digits. Schools dont love that but its the most effective way to build foundation. Flashcards with the answers.

For triple digits, I agree there are many ways and you can pick the one that makes the most sense to your kid.

[Anonymous]

There are different strategies that children learn to add and subject in a public school setting; on a number line, make 10, count on, doubles facts, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Side question… if you do the 30+50 and the 5+1 method, how do you explain what happens on the next problem when the sum of the two ones-place digits exceeds nine?

37 + 58 =
30 + 50 = 80
7 + 8 = 15

It seems to me that now you’re back to explaining the same principle as moving that little 1 up to the tens column.

Although I agree with PP that learning different ways to see problems helps solidify a deeper understanding.

You explain that the next step is to add 80+15, just as the child would add the two sums together even if the second sum was not double digits. There's no breaking down and regrouping the three and eight as you would if you were to do the borrowing method.

--OP, I do both. I think the above is a great place for kids to start learning the concept of place value and the relationship between the numbers. But, as a child gets into multi-digit problems, that there are many times where regrouping or borrowing will be easier to use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

DP. Agree it is totally normal at age 8 for kids to add subtract simple numbers without fingers.

[Anonymous]

Kumon workbooks (from the bookstore) are a great way to practice - and most kids need more math practice than schools provide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

DP. Agree it is totally normal at age 8 for kids to add subtract simple numbers without fingers.

Plus 1. It is age-appropriate for an 8 year old to count on fingers because they are still learning in a concrete manner..

[Anonymous]

I like this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

DP. Agree it is totally normal at age 8 for kids to add subtract simple numbers without fingers.

Plus 1. It is age-appropriate for an 8 year old to count on fingers because they are still learning in a concrete manner..

At age 6 or 7 , I would agree with that.

[Anonymous]

The series addition facts that stick, subtraction facts that stick, etc has great games

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can teach your child to add and subtract in any ways you like. If their school teaches a different method, so much the better. Learning more than one way to solve problems is like exercise for the brain.

Best practices say to grade based on arriving at the correct answer via any grade level-appropriate method. (Drawing 35 dots and then 51 dots and then counting them one by one would not be appropriate for any grade above K.)

School is not teaching it. They are looking at place value pictures (Given a picture of squares, how many 10s and 1s are there). For equations they are still doing 12-3 and kids are counting to add and subtract.

So I am wondering how schools are teaching it so I can do it the correct way nationally. I don’t really want to wait for them to learn it in 3rd grade (which is when our curriculum says it will happen). I also want to know how other schools are doing it because I don’t really trust our curriculum. I think we are behind.

Using place value pictures is how they start in 2nd grade. They move on from there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned to line numbers up and work from right to left, “borrowing” from or adding 1 to the column to the left if necessary.

This way first.

Are we supposed to teach our kids this way? Or are they learning to add and subtract using place value? So 35+51, you would do 30+50 and 5+1. This way second after the first.

Find what works for the individual child. Not everyone learns or "sees" things the same way.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to Common Core where they teach math this way. I learned "carry the one" growing up. My oldest is learning multiple ways of adding (including the 35+51 example above). Teaching anything other than "carry the one" seems more complicated but I realized that for years, when adding in my head, I'll do the 35+51 method. I just wouldn't have known how to teach or explain that.

Now, don't get started on my oldest not memorizing multiplication tables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overthinking this, imo.
I would back off w/ the add/sub.
You also risk confusing your child.

I don’t think I am overthinking it. I don’t think it’s wrong or weird to want to teach an 8 year old 12+4 or 11-7 without counting on fingers.

DP. Agree it is totally normal at age 8 for kids to add subtract simple numbers without fingers.

Plus 1. It is age-appropriate for an 8 year old to count on fingers because they are still learning in a concrete manner..

Huh? There are other ways for 8 year olds to learn concretely. Place value blocks (the actual physical objects, not versions on a screen), an abacus, other physical math tools. But even an 8 year old 2nd grader, and especially an 8 year old 3rd grader, should know their math facts.