Hi latchmere-mum
Thank you for posting your question. This comes up a lot when children are finding progression in maths a challenge. The following are the next steps that you can work on with your child to get to strong mental arithmetic skills. Encourage your child to use the number bonds to work out the sums rather than counting wherever possible.
1. Ensure there is a strong sense of place value.
e.g. 24 is 20 + 4 or 2 tens and 4 ones. 356 is 300 + 50 + 6 or 3 hundreds, 5 tens and 6 ones.
Check your child understands that 356 + 300 = 3 hundreds + 3 hundereds to get 6 hundreds and 56.
2. Learn subtractions within 10 off by heart.
e.g. 3 + 5 = 8 7 - 4 = 3
3. Practise adding within 20 first.
e.g. 17 + 2 = 19
method to use - add the ones together = 9 and then add back the 10 = 17
4. Practise adding over 20 next. (2 digit + 1 digit)
e.g. 16 + 5 = 21
method to use - add the ones together to get 11 and then add back the 10 = 21
5. Practise subtraction within 20. Easy
e.g. 17 - 4 = 13
method to use - subtract the ones to get 3 and then add back the 10 = 13.
alternative method to use - subtract the 4 from the 10 to get 6 and then add back to the 7 = 13.
6. Practise subtraction within 20. Hard
e.g. 17 - 8 = 9
method to use - subtract the 8 from the 7. there are only 7 ones to take away so you need to borrow 1 one from the 10 = 9.
alternative method to use - subtract the 8 from the 10, using number bonds this leaves 2, then add the 2 back to the 7 ones = 9.
7. Pracitse steps 3 - 6 with numbers greater than 20. (2 digit and 1 digit).
8. Only progress if steps 1-7 are easy for your child.
9. Practise adding over 20 (2 digit + 2 digit).
e.g. 21 + 15 = 36
method to use - add the ones 5 + 1 = 6 and then add the tens 20 + 10 = 30 , 30 + 6 = 36
alternative method to use - add the tens first, then the ones.
10. Practise adding over 20 (2 digit + 2 digit).
e.g. 23 + 38 = 61
method to use - add the ones 3 + 8 = 11 then add the tens 20 + 30 = 50. next add back the 11 to the 50 which you can either breakdown further to 10 + 50 = 60 + 1 = 61 or just know that 50 + 11 = 61
alternative method to use - add the tens first.
11. Practice subtraction over 20 ( 2 digit - 2 digit). Easy
e.g. 45 - 21 = 24
method to use - subtract the ones 5 - 1 = 4 and then the tens 40 - 20 = 20, then 4 + 20 = 24
alternative method to use - ignore the ones in the second digit. 45 - 20 = 25 then 25 - 1 = 24
12. Practise subtraction over 20 (2 digit - 2 digit). Hard
e.g. 35 - 26 = 9
method to use - ignore the ones in the second digit 35 - 20 = 15, then 15 - 6 = 9
alternative method to use - count up. 26 to 30 is 4, add 5 to 35 = 9
At every step use counters, beads or any thing else to make the sums concrete and stay at that level for as long as your child needs. If your child finds it hard to retain the working out in their heads, encourage them to use fingers as 'holders' for this information.
I hope this helps
Chenali@level-up-kids
