Single-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Lessons in this chapter
About Single-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Together and Apart is the chapter that turns addition and subtraction from something a 1st grader works out into something they know.
Work with Additions Facts up to 10 and Work with Subtraction Facts up to 10 extend the kindergarten facts to 5. The target is recall, not method: 7 + 2 should come back as fast as a child's own name, because every later topic, from double-digit addition to long division, sits on top of these.
Solve Story Problems on Addition and Solve Story Problems on Subtraction then do the harder half. The arithmetic in a story problem is usually trivial. The work is deciding which operation the story describes, and that decision is what kids actually get wrong.
Keeping the two story-problem lessons separate matters, because subtraction stories come in several shapes. Some take away, some compare, some ask for a missing part, and a child who has only met the first kind reads the other two as addition.
The four lessons each open as a worksheet in the page, two on facts and two on stories. Work with Additions Facts up to 10 and Work with Subtraction Facts up to 10 are the recall worksheets 1st graders should come back to often, and Solve Story Problems on Addition and Solve Story Problems on Subtraction turn those facts into word problems. Free to practice online, scored as you go.
Frequently asked questions
Four lessons. Work with Additions Facts up to 10 and Work with Subtraction Facts up to 10 come first and ask for the small facts by recall rather than by counting. Solve Story Problems on Addition and Solve Story Problems on Subtraction then put them in context, kept apart because subtraction stories come in several shapes and a child who has only met the take-away kind reads the others as addition. All of it sits in Operations and Algebraic Thinking (1.OA).
Addition and subtraction facts up to 10, so 6 + 3, 9 − 4 and the rest. Kindergarten covers up to 5, and this chapter takes it to 10.
Because working out small sums uses up the attention a child needs for the actual problem. Once the facts are instant, that attention goes to the reasoning instead of the arithmetic.
Almost certainly the reading, not the math. The hard part of a story problem is deciding which operation it describes. Ask them to retell the story before writing anything, and the operation usually becomes obvious.
Because they need different cues. Addition stories mostly join two amounts. Subtraction stories might take away, compare, or ask for a missing part, and those three look quite different on the page.
Short and frequent beats long and rare. A couple of minutes while walking or waiting, asking a handful of facts, works better than a worksheet once a week.