Things You'll Need:
- Math manipulative's such as dried beans, game markers or store bought manipulative's like teddy bear counters.
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Step 1
Gather your manipulative's. Math manipulative's can be anything from teddy bear counters to dried beans to game markers. It really doesn't matter what you use, but manipulative's are important to help the student see what he is actually doing. In addition to manipulatives, you should also buy flash cards.
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Step 2
Before a student ever sees a problem like 5-2 = ?, he should be exposed to simple "some, some went away" word problems. An example would be: Five teddy bears were playing at the park. Two mommies came and took their teddy bears home. How many teddy bears are still at the park?" You would teach this by having a designated space that represents the park in the story and having the child put five teddy bears on the space. Then you simply act out the story. Doing this first will make the transition to subtraction tables seem very easily.
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Step 3
Introduce a set of facts one at a time. For example, any number minus zero always equals zero. You can usually introduce this along with the idea of "one less". For example, you might ask the student, "What is one less than 10." If the student is having trouble with the concept, you would pull out your manipulatives, count out 10 and then take away one. Repeating the process over and over again for a student that isn't quite getting it, might seem slow, but it is important. Repeat the idea of "one less" until the student is completely comfortable with the concept and can find the answer easily. At this point, you can also teach "two less" by using the same technique.
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Step 4
You can continue teaching the rest of the math facts using the manipulative's to count out the answer. Every time you subtract by a new number, have the child do problems just subtracting that one number before you begin to mix other problems in. In this way, he or she may begin to see patterns between the answers.
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Step 5
The old adage that practice makes perfect is certainly true here. Pull out your flash cards and continue to go over the basic facts with your student. Point out that subtraction is the opposite of addition by showing that adding the difference to one of the numbers in the problem equals the other number in the problem. You can also start teaching fact families. These are simply equations expressing the relationships between numbers. For example, the number sentences for the fact family for 6, 7 and 13 are as follows:6 + 7 =13 7+6=13 13-7=6 13-6=7If your student seems reluctant, go slowly. Teach each concept thoroughly and make it as fun as possible. It's okay if your student is dependent on the manipulatives for awhile. Eventually, he will gain confidence and things will start to click.
