{"id":3179,"date":"2025-10-27T15:46:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theothermath.com\/?p=3179"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:46:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:46:38","slug":"how-to-teach-addition-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theothermath.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/27\/how-to-teach-addition-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to teach ADDITION facts"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a math coach for the past 12 years or so, I notice a lot of students in 3rd and 4th grade you are still using their fingers to add two single-digit numbers together. Using fingers to “count on” an addition fact 7+ 5 for example, is perfectly fine in kindergarten or 1st grade, but too often I see students who do not advance to automaticity or immediate recall. In this post, I’ll walk you through my process for getting ALL students to know their addition facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is fluency?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let’s begin by quoting the CA Math Standards: “By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.” (2.OA.2)<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice the word is “memory” and not “memorized”. Knowing one’s addition facts from memory is the result of repeated experience working with the number facts in a variety of ways such that eventually the facts is known from memory. Learning facts through memorization denies students the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the meaning of addition in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

How is fluency developed?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Students need to progress through the different levels of mathematical reasoning. <\/span>First students use counting strategies, but then they advance to additive thinking and using strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Research tells us that students generally do not master their addition facts because traditional teaching approaches too often allows students to get stuck at Stage 2 without ever fully developing a set of strategies that students can use on their way towards fluency.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we are happy any time a student can correctly say that 9 + 6 is 15. What the teacher REALLY is interested in is HOW the student arrived at 15. Was it through counting strategies? The use of an addition strategy? Or was it from recall?<\/span><\/p>\n

We want\u00a0<\/span>recall<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At first glance there are 100 addition facts that students need to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

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That’s a lot of things to memorize so we need to break these 100 facts into smaller chunks. We can immediately cut this in half by recognizing the commutative property. For example, 4 + 8 and 8 + 4 are really the SAME addition fact.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now I provide explicit instruction to clearly and directly teach the four most important strategies. Here is the order I usually teach them and practice them\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n