Activities for Teaching Doubles in Math
Doubles are taught in math classes in elementary schools, typically during first and second grade. Learning double math facts is an important step for elementary students because math is a cumulative subject. Math is easier to learn when students understand and know basic math facts. There are several common activities teachers use to teach doubles to students.
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Flash Cards
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Flash cards are a common way to learn all types of math facts, including doubles. Doubles are simply adding two like numbers, such as 1 plus 1. Flash cards are a fun way for children to learn math facts. Flash cards can also be sent home for students to practice on their own or with their parents.
Games
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Many teachers use the game Around the World for learning doubles. This is a flash card game that is played by one student standing and working his way around the room from desk to desk. He stands by one desk and the teacher shows the flash card. If he guesses the answer first, he moves to the next desk. If the student in the desk answers it first, the student who is standing sits down, and the seated student stands up and moves on to the next desk.
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Songs
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Many teachers use songs as activities to learn doubles. A common doubles song is this: 0 + 0 = 0 oh, 1 + 1 = 2 ooo, 2 + 2 = 4 more, 3 + 3 = 6 kicks, 4 + 4 = 8 that's great, 5 + 5 = 10 again, 6 + 6 = 12 that's swell, 7 + 7 = 14 let's lean, 8 + 8 = 16 really keen, 9 + 9 = 18 jellybean and 10 + 10 = 20 that's plenty. Another common song used to learn doubles is "The Ants Go Marching." This is done by dividing the room in half. When the first verse is sung, have one child from each side of the room walk to the front of the room together. This will show the double of one. Continue with each verse adding more children each time. Have the children count how many kids are in the front of the room after each verse.
Visuals
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A common activity to learn doubles is to assign a picture to each number from 1 to 10. One could be a ball, 2 could be legs on a person, 3 is sides of a triangle and so on. To learn doubles for each number, two pictures of the item are drawn. The child then adds up the items to find the double. For example, the number 3 is illustrated by drawing two triangles. The sides of both triangles are added up to find the double of 3.
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References
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