2nd Grade Math Facts: Addition and Subtraction
I thought my son was pretty good at his addition and subtraction math facts. We used math fact triangles as part of his math homework, and he plays math apps (when forced between no screen time and math app screen time). We worked on math all summer with Rising 2nd Grade Daily Math Problems assigned by his school.
His teacher was excited to introduce a free program called XtraMath. It tracks what problems your child gets correct and serves up the facts you need to work on. You need to get the facts correct within 3 seconds per problem to pass. It turns out that he had more to learn in order to get his math facts 100% correct within 3 seconds per problem. We never limited the time before and that made a huge difference.
At first, my son was fine with XtraMath but he’s better at addition than subtraction. After 6 days of subtraction, he still had about half his math facts to go. I thought that was pretty good but then the XtraMath sessions got tortuous with him. He simply found it painful. He refused to focus. Used his toes or a toy to hit the key. Held the key down too long so the next problem was wrong.
The issue is it’s basically online flashcards. Nothing fun about that. I wish there were modules to give the fact problems in a gaming style. Or, math games tracked what problems are incorrect and correct and served up problems accordingly. XtraMath, the race the teacher mode, has a nice feature that repeats any problem that is incorrect thus helping to reinforce that math fact.
XtraMath reports back to parents and teacher with what days your child used the site.
The green boxes show the facts my son knows. Yellow are facts he usually gets correct (within 3 seconds) and grey are the facts he needs to master. We see this chart with the fact each time we log in.
This chart shows my son’s progress over time for just subtraction math facts.
Today, we switched to a free web subtraction shooting game called Minus Mission. My son needed a change of pace. Here are more great games on free websites to try if you need to change it up:
- Minus Mission Shooting (you know the answer and have to shoot down the problem)
- Island Chase Subtraction (subtraction racing game against other kids)
- Sailboat Subtraction (tug of war against another team using subtraction facts and the “muscle”)
- Alien Munch (you can choose the fact families 1-12)
- Flying High (design your own plane to fly through the correct answer. Choose the fact family you want to work on.)
How about you? What are you using to learn 2nd grade math facts for addition and subtraction? Thank you for sharing!
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Mia,
A child in the second-grade should be able to give at least 40 correct answers to simple addition facts (like 6 + 8 + ?).
Many kids think there are “thousands” of such facts to memorize, but in reality, if one skips the one-plusses, and the “zero plusses”, which are no brainers, and forget also the “9-plusses” which conform to an easy formula, then there are only about thirty to remember. And subtraction is just addition backwards (10 minus 3 = 7 + ? = 10), and children won’t have any trouble with math or science thereafter.
Similarly, if kids in K-1 learn to write the alphabet at a minimum rate of 40 letters per minute (easily attainable with a little daily practice), there will be NO reading problems in our schools.
For a three-page MS Word file showing research that this is true, email Bob at rovarose@aol.com
By Bob R. From my LinkedIn Group Teachers Networking Group
Thanks Bob,
I agree that kids should be able to do 50 math fact problems in 2 minutes with less than 2 mistakes. I do notice that you have to keep reinforcing it though. My kids were able to do it in 2nd grade but lost their speed and accuracy by 5th grade.
This website, XtraMath, was assigned by our 2nd grade teacher. It’s great for tracking his correct and incorrect answers and serving up the ones he needs to reinforce. It does get painful to do it everyday, even though it takes us about 5 minutes or so per day.
I am finding that if we mix up the math fact games, everyone wins. He learns, I feel good, and he’s not fighting it. We are almost done with subtraction facts. If you do it every day or so, it seems to take a month or so. It’s also much better drill practice than fact triangles which we used previously.
Thanks for your comment and research offer.
Mia,
Yes, I agree that practicing (some would say “drilling”) to the point of fluency of the knowledge obtained is critical to good education, and it’s unfortunately missing in our schools of today.
The reason fluency in addition facts is so important is that addition is also part of long division and long addition. Most American adults are better at multiplication facts than they are at addition facts. (Apparently because you can’t multiply by counting fingers) And once kids have the nack of “learning to fluency”, then all other parts of math and science are assured.
It seems to me, though, that reading problems are the most common ones among failing younger students, and that’s what makes me so enthusiastic about our finding that reading problems can be avoided by instilling measurable fluency in writing the letters of the alphabet.
By Bob Rose
Thanks for sharing all of these resources! I’ll have to see if Emma likes any of these games.
Her teacher piloted a math program that she says is the first time she’s seen kids “get” subtraction – apparently understanding addition but not subtraction is a common problem.
Hi MaryAnne,
My kids seem to find subtraction the most challenging to memorize and retain. As I was doing the Xtra Math with my son, my 5th grade daughter told me she forgot most of her subtraction facts and has to count on her fingers. Not good, right? And she was able to do 50 problems in 2 minutes with less than 1 mistake for subtraction in first grade! I didn’t realize that we have to keep reviewing for YEARS! Ugh!
Ya know, I love this app so much, but Fen gets all stressed out when she does it, so we stopped. I think I might add it back into our math repertoire, though. It seems really effective. A little stress is probably a powerful tool to help her remember her multiplication facts.
Hi Jeanette,
My son totally gets stressed from Xtra Math, during the 3 second per problem, beat the teacher challenge. I just let him wiggle around and take his time when he misses it … the clock stops when you miss it until you hit the correct answer it shows. And I tell him it doesn’t matter how you do, just keep trying. It’s been 21 days of subtraction with tears, reluctance and unhappiness at doing this program but he’s at 85% today for subtraction which hopefully means one or two more weeks.
I think multiplication will be more fun for him. He likes it much better.
Wow, you have some fabulous resources on your website, Mia!
Thanks so much Joanna!
Thanks so much for your info via Twitter. I actually used Xtra Math all last year with my struggling 5th and 6th graders as a before school program.. I especially liked it for multiplication and division facts. It seemed to really help most of them move forward quickly.
Hi Christine,
Glad to know that it works for 5th and 6th grade too! My little son gets so stressed out during the Beat The Teacher part because you only get 3 seconds. It’s good practice but he needs to have it mixed up with more fun math app games. I like how it tracks his progress.
Hi Mia,
You might want to also check out my second grade area on my web site. I have also aligned it to the National Core Curriculum. It will definitely be worth your time to check out. It’s my retirement project.
Thanks Julia,
Yes, will be happy to! Thanks for the heads up! Sounds like a rewarding retirement project that will keep you very busy!