How Can You Make Mundane Addition and Subtraction More Engaging?

In order to make addition and subtraction more engaging, there are several things you can do to help keep students attention.  Have students play games such as Close to 100, Close to 0, Close to 20, and other such games.  In addition to the games that are already available from many of the Math Solutions books by Marilyn Burns and other authors, I developed some card sorts to help keep students’ attention on solving problems.  I have developed a variety of card sorts to teach addition and subtraction within 100.  Students match a picture card of unifix or snap cubes to an equation.  To make a card sort more challenging, I like to include a card which doesn’t match any other card.  This helps target some misconceptions that develop around addition and subtraction.  If students solve card sorts in pairs, then this creates much students’ higher thinking as they evaluate each other’s decisions about where to place cards.  If you would like to try out one of the these card sorts, just click on the picture below to download a free sample of an addition card sort without regrouping.  This link will take you to TPT where you can download the preview file.