Running head: FIRST GRADE SUBTRACTION LESSON 1

First Grade Subtraction Lesson

Jesee Thompson

College of Western Idaho

MATH 257 Math for Elementary Teachers 2

FIRST GRADE SUBTRACTION LESSON 2

First Grade Subtraction Lesson

I have chosen to work in the domain of Operations & Algebraic Thinking, focusing on

the standard to understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between

addition and subtraction. Addition tends to be an easier concept for students to understand,

therefore being able to relate addition and subtraction to each other will help students master the

subtraction concept. Mastering addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20 in first grade will

help establish a solid base as students progress into adding and subtracting larger numbers as

well as learning to multiply and divide in future grades.

Lesson

The lesson I have put together incorporates multiple strategies to help students gain a full

understanding of subtraction. Students will review fact families to relate addition and

subtraction, use manipulatives to create a visual and kinesthetic connection, and finally will

utilize a number line to solve a subtraction problem.

Materials

For this lesson each student will need a fact family work sheet, minimum of ten

manipulatives (we will be using M&Ms) each, a 0-10 number line, a toy frog, and a writing

instrument.

Part One

To start the lesson we will review fact families. Students will be given a fact family

worksheet and will then be asked to draw a picture that shows the addition of two single digit

numbers. Example: 7 + 3: they may draw 7 smiley faces in the first circle and then draw three

smiley faces in the second circle. In the third circle they would draw ten smiley faces to show

that 7+3=10. Next on the worksheet they will be asked to fill in the blanks to complete the
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addition part of the fact families; 7+3=10, 3+7=10. We will then work together as a class and

discuss how each fact family also has two subtraction pieces. We will reference back to the

pictures that we drew and will work backwards with to demonstrate that the two remaining facts

in our family are 10-3=7, and 10-7=3.

Part Two

The second part of our lesson will be beneficial to the students who have a more

kinesthetic learning style. In this portion of the lesson each student will be given two packages

of M&Ms. In order to more easily reinforce the idea of the fact families they will first be asked

to make a pile of 7 M&Ms and then add 3 M&Ms to that pile. Then I will ask how many

M&Ms they have in their pile now. Once we have established that they have 10 M&Ms, they

will then be asked to remove three of them, showing that 10-3=7. They will then be asked to

count out 10 more M&Ms and remove seven of them, this time showing that 10-7=3.

Part Three

In the third part of the lesson we will use a number line to demonstrate all of the facts

from the same fact family again. Students will be given a number line labeled from 0 to 10 and a

plastic frog that they can use to jump on the number line. Similar to the first two parts of the

lesson students will first show 7+3=10 and 3+7=10 since they are familiar and comfortable with

the addition. They will then be asked to use their number line and frogs to demonstrate 10-7=3

and 10-3=7.

Check For Understanding

After completing the three parts of the lesson, students will complete a final worksheet to

serve as a check for understanding. The worksheet will have three sets of problems and students

will be asked to complete each problem using a different method that we used during the lesson.
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By using the same numbers for each portion of the lesson, students will more easily be

able to see that regardless of what method you use, you will get the same answers. This allows

them to explore multiple methods and discover the one that works best for them and their

learning style. Using different numbers on the check for understanding will ensure that students

understand the concepts, and have not just memorized the numbers used in the lesson.
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References

Common Core State Standards Initiative (2017). Operations and Algebraic Thinking First Grade.

Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/OA/.