ABSTRACT
Fluency with basic facts is multifaceted, including accuracy, flexibility, efficiency, and automaticity. Subtraction is where the skill of being flexible in our thinking comes to the forefront because it is the numbers that lead towards using one strategy over another. Students need to fully understand all of the meanings of subtraction so that they can choose which method will work for them in each situation. Play Subtract 0 Bingo with the whole class. An important foundational understanding relating to subtraction is that subtraction problems can be thought of as missing addend problems. If students can flexibly compose and decompose numbers, then they will easily be able to work with subtraction. Subtraction within 10 is a foundational set of skills. Activities should be designed so that students can build conceptual understanding through work with concrete materials, then continue the work using pictorial representations and, finally, work on abstract practice.
