Act out the story first
Hand kids 12 counters and tell a story: "12 frogs on a log, 4 hop away." They push 4 frogs off and count what is left. Then they write the number sentence. Acting it out before writing it shows kids what the minus sign really means.
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withCounting Back to Subtract WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →























