Fluency within 5: Shout-out to all the Kinders out there!

Building fluency within a particular range is SO much more than just "knowing your facts." Fluency with numbers is about understanding everything there is to know about numbers. It's just as important to be able to identify a number by what it is as to be able to identify a number by what it is not. When people ask me about my job and tell me that math is "black and white" or that math is a subject that doesn't NEED all these crazy strategies I can't help but smirk to myself.  On the contrary math IS all these "crazy strategies." Math is about understanding numbers and relationships among numbers. That's the part that keeps nerds like me fascinated :)

It is a Kindergarten standard to be fluent within 5, a 1st grade standard to be fluent within 10, and a 2nd grade standard to be fluent within 20. Essentially this means that within these ranges children should have opportunities to explore all of the different relationships among the numbers. I whole heartedly want every child to "just know" 2+2 is 4 (I promise!), but I also want them to know 2 + 1 + 1 is 4, and 5 - 1 is 4, and 4 + 0 is 4 too!

I titled this blog post fluency within 5 because we have a few ideas to help give your kiddos chances to explore all these combinations!
 **This first idea can be easily scaffolded to explore any combinations of numbers 1-12. Odd range, you say?! You'll understand why in a second! :)

Bet the range of 1-12 makes a little more sense now! Egg cartons!! These are great to fill with any sort of counters you have laying around. For this version I rolled a 0-5 dice, filled in the 4 that I rolled with one color and filled the rest of the egg-frame with another color to see the combination that made 5. Just something a little different to shake things up in your classroom. We obviously think it's an eggcelent idea! (Brittany is going to roll her eyes at that pun when she sees I wrote that...)

Can't get enough practice within 5?! Make sure you download our Valentine's Day Mystery Picture for FREE at our store! The puzzle focuses on addition and subtraction practice within 5.

Until next time,

Lindsey