Oh, math facts! Our students, whether they have disabilities or not, struggle to master them. How can we help?

I believe that we can strategically break up math facts to help our students tackle them in smaller chucks. I also believe that we have to teach students good strategies for solving addition facts on their own when memorization is difficult.

How To Break Up Math Facts

While there isn’t a magic answer for solving all math fact mastery problems, I do think we can help our students see patterns. I like to start with simple problems that help them build confidence. Later, add more difficult skills that require more memorization.

  1. +0
  2. +1
  3. +2
  4. Doubles
  5. Doubles +1
  6. +10
  7. +9
  8. Sums of 5
  9. Sums of 10
  10. Fact Families

Supporting Your Students – My Least to Most Favorite

5. Counting on Fingers: Specifically, help them realize a two important tricks to be more efficient!

  • Counting On
  • Five Fingers on One Hand

4. Use Pictures, Manipulatives, Tally Marks, and Erasers for Counters. 

3. Number Line (I really like to use the metric side of a ruler for a number line.)

2. Hundreds Chart

  1. Touch Points