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5 Subtraction Strategies to Help Students with Mental Maths
Learning subtraction can be tricky for students to learn. That is why subtraction mental math strategies can be so useful to students. Students can use a mental math strategy to find subtraction answers quickly and accurately.
At Wimbledon Day Nursery, one of the leading Nursery Schools in Wimbledon, we understand the importance of giving students different strategies to learn how to subtract numbers without frustration. Teaching young students different strategies to help them tackle a subtraction problem will not only boost their confidence in their math skills but also help them as they move on to more complicated math.
In the article, we explain 5 effective mental math strategies for subtraction that you can use with your students. We hope you find them helpful!
5 Mental Subtraction Strategies for Your Students
1. Make Ten
The “Make Ten” subtraction strategy uses the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction by reminding students that all subtraction problems can also be a missing addend problems.
2. Split Strategy
The split strategy is another popular subtraction mental strategy because it involves splitting one of the numbers in the problem! In this instance, students split the second, smaller number (the subtrahend) into expanded form.
3. Use a Hundred Chart
If you are teaching students to subtract two-digit numbers, then keep your “hundreds” charts handy in your classroom for this subtraction strategy!
If you need to subtract 57-29, find 53 on the chart. Since you understand that 29 has 2 ten’s and 9 ones, begin at 57 on the hundreds chart, then go backwards 2 tens which put you at 37. Now count back 9 ones, which gives you 28.
4. Use Doubles Facts
Here is another subtraction strategy that makes use of addition. This strategy plays off student memorization of facts on doubles – when a student recalls that 8 + 8 = 16, this can be used in reverse to determine that 16 – 8 = 8.
5. Adding Up
If the numbers are near one another chronologically, students can simply “count up” from the number being subtracted (subtrahend) to the whole (minuend). This strategy works best with numbers that are within 10 digits, such as 356 and 359 or 31 and 37.
Learning math can be fun if you give your students at Preschool in Wimbledon helpful strategies to help them learn math easier. If you’d like to learn more about Wimbledon Day Nursery Playschool in Wimbledon.