Fact Families

Learning about fact families takes a lot of concentration!  We have been working hard at this important mathematical standard.  We are making a lot of progress.  Since this is a difficult concept, I want to include some resources in this post, as well as, share the ways we are practicing in class.  This would be a great concept to practice at home.   

The students are very solid in knowing how to put together an addition equation and writing the commutative property for addition.  For example, if you gave your child the numbers 3, 5, and 8, they are proficient at being able to see the equations 3+5=8 and 5+3=8.  However, making the two subtraction equations using those numbers is much more difficult.  A common mistake is just plugging the numbers in anywhere and making false equations like 3-5=8.  

I found this teaching video by the "Teacher Tipster" and thought it was a great way to explain how to write a fact family.  I used this method as soon as I had the chance.  Using color mixing to remember where the numbers in a fact family go made so much sense to the students. We are having a lot of success with this method. Please watch this video and see if your child can explain this method back.

   

After the light bulbs started turning on with the color mixing idea, we have been practicing fact families as many ways as possible. We have been doing many games on the interactive whiteboard and practicing writing fact families on our old fashion whiteboards. We have been taking quizzes using the ipads so I get instant feedback on how the children are understanding. I am finding that the students are getting stronger everyday but we still need some practice. Our class average score has been between 78-83%. I would like to get that up to 90%.  Another way we are practicing is with a Christmas math partner game.  The students toss two counters on Santa's beard and then write the fact family that would result from their toss.

Here is a fun website called Block Builder that helps practice fact families with an interactive game on the computer.  Also the app Fact Families is great for the ipad.  The app is $1.99.  Please work on this important concept at home.  You will notice that last week's homework was practicing fact families.  Thank you for your continued support!