Hillsborough County Public Schools Elementary Mathematics Parent Connection Grade 2 – Unit 3: Basic Facts and Relationships In this unit your child will work to build an understanding of basic facts in the following sequence. 1. Develop a strong understanding of the operations and of number relationships.(Van de Walle, 2004)  This study of basic facts starts with understanding how addition and subtraction are related. o Basic facts refer to addition or subtraction sentences where both parts are less than 10. For example, 9 + 4 = 13 or 13 -9 = 4. In each of these problems the parts are 9 and 4, the whole is 13. part + part = whole whole – part = part part + ? = whole 2.  3. “Develop efficient strategies for fact retrieval through practice. (Van de Walle, 2004) Strategies your child will learn:  Count On by 1, 2 or 3 Given a problem like 6 + 3, the students may start at 6 and count on 3 to arrive at the sum of 9.  Doubles 7 + 7 =14  Doubles +1 or Doubles - 1 Given a problem like 6 + 7 the student will think, “I know 6+6 = 12 so add 1 to get 13 = 6 + 7.  Make a 10 to add. Given 7 + 4. I know 7 + 3 = 10 and 1 more is 11. Practice in the use and selection of those strategies once they have been developed. (Van de Walle, 2004)  Students will apply strategies in a variety of different problem solving situations, including problems with repeated equal groups. Students are NOT learning multiplication at this time, rather building an understanding of repeated addition, which will support future learning. Research from John A. Van de Walle (2004) states that prematurely drilling children on their basic facts solely by memorization such as timed test and flash cards before the child has had the opportunity to understand the meaning of the operation will hinder their ability to retain the facts in long term memory and apply the concepts later in more rigorous situations. Check out the “Parent Quick Smarts” video by clicking on the QR code or the Internet link provided. Other Helpful Links: Students will need to apply basic fact strategies in all addition and subtraction situations: http://goo.gl/8l5zUs Games to practice fluency http://youtu.be/2DeAu28E8JU   Addition http://goo.gl/M88wa Subtraction http://goo.gl/CIXvF Sample tasks your child should be able to work through by the end of the unit: Write a story problem that could match the number sentence. ? – 8 = 9. Then draw a model to show how to solve it. Possible student response. “Some children were on the playground. 8 children left and went to the media center. Now 9 children are on the playground. How many children were on the playground at the start?” Kelly had a bag of 13 jelly beans. 6 are red and the rest are blue. How many jelly beans are blue? a. Explain how you can solve this problem using the make a 10 strategy. b. Explain how you can solve this problem using a doubles strategy?