This finding 10 more 10 less activity helps 1st and 2nd grade children use a hundred chart to find 10 more and 10 less. Practice page and answer key included.
This subtraction as an unknown addend activity helps K through 2nd grade students solve subtraction within 20 by matching each fact to its addition fact card. Answer key included.
This subtracting 10 using a number line activity helps 1st and 2nd grade students take away tens by hopping back on a number line. An answer key is included for easy checking.
Find the missing number in equations within 20 with this adding and subtracting unknown numbers activity for 1st and 2nd grade: matching cards, a recording sheet and practice, answer key included.
This decomposing a ten frame activity helps kindergarten to 2nd grade students match ten frames to facts that make 10, with a practice page and answer key included.
This missing number subtraction activity gives 1st and 2nd grade students watermelon task cards that check themselves, plus a practice page. An answer key is included.
This missing number addition activity has children draw watermelon slices to find the unknown addend in 18 problems within 10. Made for kindergarten and 1st grade, with a practice page and answer key included.
Using Count Back Activity, students count back from one number to another number to solve the subtraction equations.
Using Missing Number Addition and Subtraction Activity, students fill in the missing addends to complete the addition and subtraction number sentences.
This subtraction within 5 activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children solve peanut butter jar problems and match them to jelly jar answers. Answer key included.
This Let's Workout Our Brain Add Subtract Within 20 activity gives 1st-2nd grade students two mental math card games, a score sheet and a practice page, with an answer key included.
This add and subtract with frogs activity has 1st and 2nd Grade students flip lily pad cards and spin to add or subtract within 20, with a record sheet, practice page and answer key included.
This single digit subtraction activity has kindergarten and 1st grade students draw apple number cards, subtract, and record each difference. Answer key included.
This subtraction in the garden subtraction activity lets kindergarten and 1st grade children plant, pick and count paper vegetables to solve take-away problems within 10. Answer key included.
Using Adding to Make 10 Activity, students match addition equation cards with missing addend cards to show equations that make 10.
This subtraction with 6-7-8-9 differences activity is a snowy card sort for kindergarten and 1st grade students. Solve each fact, sort it under its snowflake, and check with the answer key included.
In this Popcorn Mental Math Activity, students mentally add and subtract 10 or 100 to a given number 100–900.
In this Let's Go on a Trip Addition Subtraction Within 100 Activity, students add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies.
Using Subtraction BINGO, students play BINGO to solve subtraction problems to 20 and build fact fluency.
Using Pirate Addition to 12 Activity, students match addition equation cards with sum cards to build addition fact fluency skills.
Take away, count back, think addition
First graders move from "take away" stories to real strategies. By the end of the year they subtract within 20, and they learn that subtraction can mean taking away or finding a difference: "Sam has 9 stickers and Ava has 6. How many more does Sam have?" They count back on a number line, make a ten, and use the facts they already know: 13 − 5 = ? becomes "5 plus what makes 13?" They also find 10 less than a two-digit number in their heads, like 47 − 10 = 37. The big click is seeing that addition and subtraction are partners, not strangers.
These moves take kids from counting on fingers to thinking like mathematicians.
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: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withCounting Back to Subtract WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Draw a big number line on the floor with tape and let a child stand on 15. Call "minus 3!" and they hop back three spaces. Then move to the paper number line. Seeing the jumps go backward makes "counting back" make sense.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withNumber Line Jump Backwards and Solve WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →When kids see 14 − 6, ask "6 plus what makes 14?" Have them explain their thinking to a partner. Talking it through helps them use the addition facts they already know, which is faster and more reliable than counting back by ones.
Why it works: using clear, consistent math words out loud is one of the U.S. Department of Education's recommendations for elementary math.
Try it withAdding to Solve Subtraction Problems WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Subtraction gets a lot friendlier when there is a game attached.
ActivitiesRide the hundreds chart "elevator" up and down a floor. Every ride down a row takes away ten!
Open Finding 10 More 10 Less Activity →
WorksheetsKids act out a word problem with stuffed animals, then the audience writes the number sentence.
Open Subtraction Word Problem Worksheet →
WorksheetsFill in the missing number so both sides balance. Kids love being the judge of "true or not true!"
Open Make It True Missing Number Addition Subtraction Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Finding 10 More 10 Less Activity, Subtraction as an Unknown Addend Activity and Subtracting 10 Using a Number Line Activity.
First graders subtract within 20 and should know facts within 10 quickly. They also find 10 less than a two-digit number and solve one-step subtraction word problems.
Start with real objects and simple "take away" stories, then move to drawings and a number line. Once kids understand the idea, teach them to think addition: for 9 − 4, ask "4 plus what makes 9?"
Yes, fingers are a normal step! Over the year, help your child move to strategies like counting back from the bigger number, making ten, and using known facts so they rely on fingers less.
Subtraction asks kids to count backward and think about a missing part, which is harder than counting forward. Linking each subtraction fact to its addition partner makes it much easier.
A fact family is a set of related facts using the same three numbers, like 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 3 = 8, 8 − 5 = 3 and 8 − 3 = 5. Fact families show kids how addition and subtraction work together.
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