Course Syllabus

Mental Math is the greatest way of learning math facts because it teaches automaticity. Additionally, when you take the time to learn a variety of mental math strategies, you are equipped with the skills that you need to develop your own strategies and solve more complex math equations.

Counting On

Counting On is generally the first mental math strategy that should be learned, as it is the easiest. Chances are that some or many of you are already using this strategy without knowing it. Counting on means that you start with the biggest number in an equation, and then count up.

Doubles

Doubles are all around us; think of fingers and toes – 5+5, wheels on a car – 2+2, or the eggs in a carton – 6+6. When you know your doubles well, you should no longer have to think about the equation to solve it. Rather, the answer becomes automatic. This means you have developed automaticity. 

Doubles+1

This strategy is a natural progression from the doubles. It includes using a known fact and building on it. For example, in the equation 5+6, a student could think, “I know that 5+5 makes 10, and one more makes 11.” This strategy will likely require a bit more practice than the previous two, but it will be well worth it.

Making 10

The making ten strategy involves memorizing the number combinations that add to ten. This includes 7 and 3, 8 and 2, & 5 and 5. Again, it is important that you develop automaticity with regards to these facts so that when you see a combination, you quickly know that it is a making ten combination. Once you begin to use this strategy, “counting on” becomes unnecessary in some circumstances.

Counting Back

Counting back simply means starting with the minuend (the largest number) and counting back to figure out the difference. For example, in the equation 13-2, you would think, “13…12, 11″ to get an answer of 11. 

Building on Doubles & Subtracting with Doubles

Doubles are some of the easiest facts to remember for many students. When students have achieved mastery with addition doubles, they can use them to solve subtraction equations such as 12-6 or 18-9. Developing automaticity with these facts will cause them to be easily recognizable so that students simply know the fact rather than having to think about it.

Breaking 10