Objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to subtract single-digit whole numbers with ease and confidence.

Materials and Prep

Materials needed: Pencil, paper

No prior knowledge required, just come ready to have fun with subtraction!

Activities

• Subtraction Race: Set a timer for 1 minute and see how many subtraction problems you can solve correctly in that time.
• Subtraction Bingo: Create a 3x3 bingo grid with numbers 1-9 randomly placed. Call out subtraction problems and have the student mark the answers on the grid.
• Subtraction Story Problems: Create fun story problems involving subtraction, like "If you had 5 apples and ate 2, how many are left?"

Talking Points

• Subtraction means taking away: "Subtraction is like when you have a plate of cookies and you eat some, you are taking away from the total."
• Subtraction symbol: "The minus sign (-) is what we use in subtraction. It shows that we are taking away one number from another."
• Counting backwards: "When we subtract, we are counting backwards. For example, if we start at 7 and subtract 3, we count 6, 5, 4 to get the answer."
• Practice makes perfect: "The more we practice subtraction, the better we get at it. So let's keep practicing and have fun with it!"