Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction: Strategies, Activities, and Interventions to Move Students Beyond Memorization

“When math fact instruction is thoughtful and strategic, it results in more than a student’s ability to quickly recall a fact; it cultivates reflective students who have a greater understanding of numbers and a flexibility of thinking that allows them to understand connections between mathematical ideas.”
—Susan O’Connell and John SanGiovanni

In today’s math classroom, we want children to do more than just memorize math facts. We want them to understand the math facts they are being asked to memorize. Our goal is automaticity and understanding; without both, our children will never build the foundational skills needed to do more complex math. Both the Common Core State Standards and the NCTM Principles and Standards emphasize the importance of understanding the concepts of addition and subtraction. Susan O’Connell and John SanGiovanni provide insights into the teaching of basic math facts, including a multitude of instructional strategies, teacher tips, and classroom activities to help students master their facts while strengthening their understanding of numbers, patterns, and properties.

Designed to be easily integrated into your existing math program, Mastering the Basic Math Facts:

• emphasizes the big ideas that provide a focus for math facts instruction
• broadens your repertoire of instructional strategies
• provides dozens of easy-to-implement activities to support varied levels of learners
• stimulates your reflection related to teaching math facts.

Through investigations, discussions, visual models, children’s literature, and hands-on explorations, students develop an understanding of the concepts of addition and subtraction, and through engaging, interactive practice achieve fluency with basic facts.

Whether you’re introducing your students to basic math facts, reviewing facts, or providing intervention for struggling students, this book will provide you with insights and activities to simplify this complex, but critical, component of math teaching.

Extensive online resources include customizable activities, templates, recording sheets, and teacher tools (such as multiplication tables, game templates, and assessment options) to simplify your planning and preparation. Over 450 pages of reproducible forms are included in English and Spanish translations.

A study guide for Professional Learning Communities and book clubs is also included.

Discover more resources for developing mathematical thinking at Heinemann.com/Math

Susan O'Connell has decades of experience supporting teachers in making sense of mathematics and effectively shifting how they teach. As a former elementary teacher, reading specialist, and math coach, Sue knows what it's like in the classroom and her background is evident throughout her work as she unpacks best practices in a clear, practical, and upbeat way. Sue is the lead author of the new Math by the Book series, a K-5 resource connecting math and children's literature. She is also the lead author of Math in Practice, a grade-by-grade K-5 professional learning resource. She is also coauthor of the bestselling Putting the Practices Into Action, Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction, and Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division. She served as editor of Heinemann's popular Math Process Standards series and also wrote the bestselling Now I Get It. Sue is a nationally known speaker and education consultant who directs Quality Teacher Development, an organization committed to providing outstanding math professional development for schools and districts across the country. Watch an introductory Math in Practice webinar, hosted by Sue. Click here to watch Sue talk about the links between reading and math. Connect with Sue on Twitter: @SueOConnellMath

John SanGiovanni is an elementary mathematics supervisor in Howard County, Maryland, where he oversees mathematics curriculum, digital learning, assessment, and professional development. He is the coauthor of the bestselling Putting the Practices Into Action and the Mastering the Basic Math Facts series. John is an adjunct instructor and coordinator of the Elementary Mathematics Instructional Leader graduate program at McDaniel College, as well as a national consultant for curriculum and professional development. A frequent speaker at national conferences, John also currently serves on the Board of Directors for NCTM. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnSanGiovanni