By the end of Kindergarten, students are required to fluently add and subtract within 5. Throughout the year, students have built conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction through joining and separating situations. They’ve also have ample experience working with Five and Ten Frames. These skills can be used to practice fluency with addition and subtraction within 5.
A Five frame is an excellent tool to use to build fluency with students on addition and subtraction within 5.
A quick game to play with students is “Five Frame Flash”
To play, simply flash a five frame to students for 3-5 seconds and have them come up with the number sentence of what they see. There may be more than one correct response.
For example, if you flash the image below, students might say, “Five” or, they might say, “Five and 0 is 5 or 0+5=5”
The colored dots on the cards can be changed to encourage identifying different addends. In this example, students might say, “Four and 1 is five, or 1+4=5”
Changing the addends helps students build fluency and understanding of the different combinations that can be made from the five frame. For example, students might see, “5-3=2 or 2+3=5”
Dots can also removed from the five frame so that students are working on number combinations that are less than 5.
Challenge your students when you have some free time in the classroom.
Or when you are waiting in the lunch line.
Or at dismissal!!!
There are plenty of opportunities to sneak in some extra time to build fluency with your students! Find a time that works for you and play Five Frame Flash to ensure your students leave kindergarten being able to fluently add and subtract within 5!!!