1. Connecting Academics & Parents
Academic seminars to sharpen skills and build understanding in
Basic Fact Fluency
Materials Needed:
Learning Progression Hand Out
Counters (two color counters, unit cubes, snap cubes, beans, etc.)
Construction Paper or Paper plate (for Cover It Up Activity)
Triangle Flash Cards (Copied Single sided)
Make a Ten Flash Cards (Copied Single sided)
Index Cards (for parents to make Could be… cards)
Digit 0-9 Cards
Games at Home Hand Out

2. Math may look different now.
There’s nothing better than seeing your kids SUCCEED
and there’s nothing worse than not being able to help them when they are struggling.
Share with parents that math may look different now. There’s nothing better than seeing your kids SUCCEED and there’s nothing worse than not being able to help them when they are struggling. This is research from Dr. Drew Westen, who is a professor at Emory University. Dr. Westen’s work was developed in collaboration with 100Kin 10.
Research from
Dr. Drew Westen, Emory professor,
and 100Kin10

3. Times change, technologies change, and knowledge changes about how to teach kids to apply what they know to real-life situations.
for joining in to learn more about how to help with math.
Thank you
Share that times change, technologies change, and knowledge changes too about how to teach kids to apply what they know to real-life situations. Thank parents for joining in to learn more about how to help with math.
Research from
Dr. Drew Westen, Emory professor,
and 100Kin10

4. Mathematics Florida Standards Focus
Grade 2
MAFS.2.OA.2.2 Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
Critical point:
This session will be focused on strategies parents can do at home to support their children with basic addition and subtraction fluency within 20.
Step by step directions:
Share the standard with parents. Emphasis the “By the end of grade 2” language. Students will progress through the stages toward fact mastery at varying rates, and the session will support parents in identifying ways to support their child based on his or her needs.

5. Learning Progression: Basic Fact Fluency
MAFS.K.OA.1.2
MAFS.K.OA.1.4
MAFS.K.OA.1.5
MAFS.1.OA.1.1
MAFS.1.OA.2.4
MAFS.1.OA.3.6
MAFS.2.OA.2.2
MAFS.3.NBT.1.2
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations… with unknowns in all positions
Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem
Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10
Find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number
Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10 using strategies
Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.
By end of grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
Fluently add and subtract within 1,000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction
Critical Point
Show how basic addition and subtraction fact fluency develops from earlier grades to future grades.
Step by step directions:
Have the parents refer to the full size page print out of the standards progression. (You will need to make copies to provide to parents prior to delivering session.)
Briefly discuss how beginning in Kindergarten, students begin their work toward fact fluency by representing addition and subtraction word problems and exploring ways to make ten from various starting points 1-9. This understanding continues to be developed in first grade with emphasis on the inverse relationship between the two operations and leads into second grade where the learning synthesizes, concluding with fact fluency.
Highlight how automaticity with related facts starts in K up to 5, then1st up to 10, and then up to 20 in grade 2.
Parents can access the full text of the standards at
There is more information on each standard that is not displayed due to space. All standards can be found at
Share the progression starting with kindergarten through 3rd grade. Let parents know, if their child is struggling with the current grade level content standard they can look at the previous learning for support.
Parents should have a full page copy of the progression(copy before training)
Copyright 2009

6. ENGAGE:
The second graders were trying to solve This Problem: Kevin said “I can solve this problem with subtraction.” Riley said “I think you are wrong Kevin you need to use addition.” Marcus thinks you should use doubles to solve this problem. Jordan believes you should use make a ten. Which students’ strategies will work? how do you know?
Coach Rudd has 15 balls for PE. Some are yellow and eight are red. How many balls are yellow?
Critical point:
This task is designed to orient parents to the way students actively engage with mathematics during instruction and to launch our conversation about supporting students develop basic fact fluency.
Step by step directions:
Briefly share with parents that most math lessons begin with a problem solving task where students are provided independent thinking/working time. This time is an important component of learning because each child has to make sense of the mathematics.
Share that we want to give the parents to experience what learning is like. CLICK ask parents to try the following task. (Be careful to only click once to reveal only the problem). Tell the parents this may be a typical task given to 2nd grades during basic fact instruction ask them to work to solve independently. Monitor parents to identify who use subtraction and who use addition. Is there someone doing it in their head? Ask probing questions to hear their thinking.
After giving parents about 30 seconds of work time, get their attention and explain that based on your assessment of their understanding during the first part of the task, you know they are ready for a greater challenge. CLICK to reveal the process question built around the initial engage problem. Provide parents 2 additional minutes to work on the task.
Monitor* parents and look for someone who proves Kevin’s strategy and Riley Strategy’s strategy to have shared under the elmo. (* If you have a parent prove Marcus’s & Jordan’s strategies, you could have them share as step 6- but parents may be less familiar with the strategies and will learn more later in the session) Facilitate a conversation using talk moves based on the first parent subtraction strategy. Pose questions such as “What does the 15 represent? What made you decide to separate 8 from 15?” After the subtraction strategy is shared, thank the parent and ask the parent to leave their thinking under elmo.
Now invite the parent you selected to share addition strategy. Facilitate a conversation using talk moves based on the first parent subtraction strategy. Pose questions such as “What does the 8 represent? What are you joining together?” Manipulate the two parent strategies so they are both showing under the elmo. Have parents talk with tablemates about what connections they see between the two strategies. How did Coach’s Rudd’s PE problem connect to both addition and subtraction. Listen in on conversations and find a group to share the connection aloud.
*Optional: have a parent prove Marcus and Jordan’s strategies. If questions or opinions emerge regarding these strategies, share with parents that as we work through the session additional time will be devoted to understanding the rationale and application of the strategies. (Caution on time, you want to conclude this sharing session after approximately 15 minutes have elapsed in the session)
Copyright 2009

7. B A C D E F G H J I Guess Who? Critical Point:
The goal of this slide is to build parent’s understanding of the various methods of representing the basic fact retrieval strategies. Step by step directions:
Invite parents to look at the strategies shown and guess which student (Kevin, Riley, Marcus, or Jacob) could have produced the work sample. Have parents discuss with tablemates.
Monitor groups as they discuss. Debrief whole group an explanation of one of the strategies that stimulated conversation or wondering among the group of parents.( Have snap cubes, two color counters and ten frames, and stackable counters on hand in case you need to guide parents through one of the pictured strategies)
Notes for Trainer to support discussions:
Kevin: Strategies D, F, & J could all be thought of as subtraction approaches to solving.
Riley: Strategies A,B,C, D,E,G, H, I, J could all be thought of as addition approaches to solving.
Marcus: Strategies B & E model doubles minus 1 and Strategies G & I model doubles plus 1
Jacob: Strategies A, C, & H model making a ten to add. Strategy F models subtracting back to a ten. H J I
Copyright 2009

8. Steps for Developing Fluency
1. Help children develop a strong understanding of the operations and of number relationships.
2. Develop efficient strategies for fact retrieval through practice.
3. Then provide drill in the use and selection of those strategies once they have been developed.
John Van de Walle Elementary and Middle School
Mathematics Teaching Developmentally
Page 15
Critical Point: Mastery of the basic facts is a developmental process, students move through phases starting with counting, then to reasoning strategies, and eventually automaticity. This session is focused on ways parents can support their child with mastering facts at home.
Step by step directions:
Share that Mastery of the basic facts is a developmental process. The slide displays 3 steps based on Van de Walle’s work that outline a plan for building fact fluency.
CLICK the 3rd step will turn red. Share the session will be focused on purposeful practice of facts to support mastery.
Copyright 2009

9. Narrow the Focus + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Critical Point: At first glance, it may seem that there are 100 basic addition facts for students to master. Parents will frustrate their children if they try to tackle them all at once. Step by step directions:
1. Explain- The goal is fluency which is more than pure memorization.
2. Parents should reflect with their child on which facts and strategies are mastered and which facts/strategies need to be worked on further.
3. The strategies can be used to group facts to focus on during a practice session.
4. Click through the next 6 slides* that highlight the various strategies students might use to retrieve the target facts. Color is used to represent each strategy. You can highlight how many facts could be retrieved using a variety of strategies.

10. Zero Property of Addition+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

11. Counting on 1 more + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

12. Counting on 2 more + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

13. Doubles + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 16 18
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

14. Near Doubles/Doubles +/- 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

15. Make a Ten + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
*See Trainer notes on Slide 6

16. 2. Develop efficient strategies for fact retrieval through practice.+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Critical Point: Essentially there are only two facts, 5 +3 & 6+3, that students need to recall without a named strategy. Some students may use a invented strategy derived from one of the known strategies to support retrieval until these facts become automatic.

17. 15 = 8 + ? ___ = __ = 8 ? + 8 = 15
Focus on part-part-whole structure within the basic facts.
part + part = whole 
whole – part = part 
part + ? = whole
WHOLE
PART
Critical Point: Addition and subtraction are inverse operations. Understanding the structure of joining two values (parts) together to get a sum/total (whole) supports students retrieve related subtraction facts where the structure the whole and one part is known.
Step by Step directions:
Connect what was shared by parents earlier about the relationship between addition and subtraction from engage.
Explain that the part, part, whole structure that exists in any set of related facts (fact family) allows the child to synthesize knowledge of one fact within four different contexts.
Research indicates developing strong recall of addition facts first is almost a prerequisite to learning the related subtraction fact. (For example I need to learn 6+3=9 in order to quickly retrieve the missing part when presented with 9-6=___)
Copyright 2009

18. Cover It Up! 12 Select a target number
There are 8 counters showing, so four are covered.
8 + 4 = 12
12-4= 8
Select a target number
Count out counters to represent the target number
Cover up some of the counters
Look at counters not covered to determine how many are covered up
Write/say an addition and subtraction fact that is represented by the model
Critical Point: Cover it up is a great game to play to support child understand the part part whole structure and rehearse facts.
Step by step directions:
There are 10 CLICKS. Each click reveals a step in the directions OR an Example to illustrate the directions. (It would be great to have counters and a cover up tool (construction paper, paper plate, etc.) Click through the animations and explain how to play Cover It Up.
Let the parents play the game.
Highlight that depending on where the child is in the developmental process, he/she may rely on physical counting the objects, counting on, or a more advanced strategy like doubles/near doubles or make a ten.
Copyright 2009

19. Triangle Flash Cards
Critical Point: As a child becomes more proficient with the cover it up game, parents may transition away from physical objects to count to abstract representations. Triangle Flash cards support learners mastering a set of related facts using the part part whole structure.
Step by step directions:
Introduce triangle flashcards and signal to parents the set provided for them in parent packet. (Be sure to copy this tool single sided so parents can cut out and use at home.)
There are 4 CLICKS. Each click covers up a different value to model how the one triangle flash card could be used to practice several related facts.
Emphasis the importance of strategy in the retrieval process for the child. Suggest parents ask “How did you know 8 joined with 5 is the same as 13?” The child might respond “I broke up five into 2 and 3 , 8 and 2 make 10 and then 3 more is 13.”
Copyright 2009

20. Strategy Focus: Near Doubles
1+1=2
2+2=4
3+3=6
4+4=8
5+5=10
6+6=12
7+7=14
8+8=16
9+9=18
6 + 7 = ?
= 13
14 – 1 = 13
Critical Point: There are many strategies students learn in K-2 curriculum to help them mentally retrieve facts. This slide is to ensure parents understand how the near doubles strategy works.
Step by step directions:
Share with parents that when practicing the basic facts at home, it is important to have a recall strategy in mind to support the child with retrieval. One of the recall strategies that tends to generate questions among parents is the near doubles (double +/- 1).
CLICK to reveal the equation. Think aloud the strategy “I know 6 and 7 are one away from each other on a number line CLICK, so I can figure out their sum by doubling either addend CLICK and then adjusting the sum by 1. CLICK”
It is important to share with parents that a child needs to have automaticity built with doubles in order to be successful with this strategy.
*NOTE to TRAINER: If the parent needs support with other strategies such as counting all, counting on, counting back, doubles, you might pull support pieces from the CAP sessions in grade 1 on basic fact strategies.

21. How Can I use… to solve… How can I use 5+5 to figure out 5+4?
How can I use double 8 to solve 8+9?
If you were solving 15 – 7= ?, how could you use double 7?
How Can I use… to solve…
Critical Point: Children need many opportunities to reason through a strategy and justify why something works. Parents can provide rehearsal time by posing a simple question to their child at anytime during daily life. (while driving in the car, walking through the grocery store, waiting in line at an amusement park, etc.)
Step by step directions:
Have parents partner up. Share that we use many talking structures in math class to support students with processing information. Explain that one parent will serve as Partner A and the other Partner B.
Share that Partner B will explain to Partner A there thinking about this question, CLICK. Have Partner A try restating back what they heard Partner A share.
CLICK and repeat structure with Partner A doing the thinking.
CLICK, ask parents to discuss third question and talk about what commonalities exist among all 3 questions. (Debrief whole group that the questions are targeting the process the thinking behind the recall answer that eventually will become automatic for the child.)

22. Strategy Focus: Make a Ten
Ways to
Make Ten
1+9=10
2+8=10
3+7=10
4+6=10
5+5=10
6+4=10
7+3=10
8+2=10
9+1=10
8 + 5 = ?
2 + 3
Critical Point: There are many strategies students learn in K-2 curriculum to help them mentally retrieve facts. This slide is to ensure parents understand how the make a ten strategy works.
Step by step directions:
Share with parents that when practicing the basic facts at home, it is important to have a recall strategy in mind to support the child with retrieval. One of the recall strategies that tends to generate questions among parents is the near doubles (double +/- 1).
CLICK to reveal the equation. Think aloud the strategy “I know 8 and 2 make 10, so I can break 5 up into 2 +3 CLICK to make the ten CLICK. Now the problem is simple 10 and 3 more. CLICK is 13.”
It is important to share with parents that a child needs to have automaticity built with ways to make 10 in order to be successful with this strategy.
10 + 3

23. Building Understanding with Make a Ten Strategy
Critical Point: Children need many opportunities to reason through a strategy and justify why something works. Parents can use make a ten flash cards with any concrete objects (beans, macaroni, coins, etc.) to let their child model how the strategy works.
Step by step directions:
Refer parents in their packet to the make a ten flash card resource.
Think aloud using the tool before you have the parents try. “First I model the addend 9 CLICK, Then I model the addend 8. CLICK If I break up eight into 1 and 7 I can make a ten. CLICK So = 17.”
Another approach to using this resource is explained on the front page of resource to discuss benefits of using it that way also.

24. Could Be, But It’s Not
Player 1 shows Player 2 the answer side only of a flashcard (cards must have basic fact on the front and answer only on the back).
Player 2 tries guessing the fact.
Player 1 gives one of the following responses after each guess:
Could be ……………… but it’s not!
Couldn’t be! What is the answer to your fact?
Could be ……………… and it is!
When the final response is given, Player 1 turns around the flashcard as he/she says, “and it is!”
Then the Players switch roles. 7 -3 4
Critical Point
To share a twist on traditional flashcards to reinforce facts after child has learned and practiced the fact strategies for targeted facts.
Step by Step Directions
There are 5 CLICKS to explain how the game works.
CLICK to reveal card showing 4. Play the game with parents. (When a parent responds with 7-3 then CLICK to reveal and say “Could be and it is!”
3. Share with parents that some flash cards only print the sum/difference small in the corner on the back and so they may need to create cards that have facts one side and the target number (2-20) on the back.
Trainer Note: If time and resources permit you may want to have parents create a set of these cards during the session.

25. Read My Mind
The sum is 7.
Her number is 2. Two plus what equals seven?
Her number is 5. What do I add to five to get seven? 5 2
Critical Point
To share a way to reinforce facts after students have learned and practiced the fact strategies.
Step by Step Directions
1.Each player has their own set of 0-9 cards. Without looking two players place a card on their forehead. CLICK A third player states the sum of the two cards. Each of the other two players tries to calculate the other part. . CLICK As soon as they have the answer, they shout it out. The first player to shout out the correct missing addend keeps both cards. Play to see who collects the most cards. Then switch roles and play again.
2. Let parents play a few rounds in triads.

26. Take it Home and Try It! Cover it Up Triangle Flash Cards
DO TRY THIS AT HOME!
Take it Home and Try It!
Warning: Implementing this engaging activity will result in an increase in motivation and long-lasting learning.
Cover it Up
Triangle Flash Cards
Make a Ten Flash Cards
Could Be, But It’s Not
Read My Mind
Critical Point: Highlight the games and activities hand-out for home learning fun.
Step by step directions:
1. These activities have been explored throughout the session.
Copyright 2009

27. Possible Delivery Models for CAP Sessions:
School Parent night K-5
Teacher’s or grade level’s own workshop
School invites parents to a curriculum night
Break-out sessions offered by grade level and content area
Teachers who attended TTT or watched voiceover TTT video deliver sessions
Teachers who attended TTT or watched voiceover TTT video deliver sessions to their own class of parents
Grade level can organize a workshop on needed content and have own parent night
Only shared at Train the Trainer session for delivery model options.

28. Tips for Success in Organizing CAP sessions:
Find a team of people to help with organizing the event
Send home bright colored half-sheet flyers and use parent link calls to notify parents
Have parents rsvp
Look for sponsorships from business partners/PTA to have snacks or a full meal for the parents
Consider baby-sitting options on-site
Consider time frames that meet the needs of your parents.
Morning session, at dismissal, evenings
Only shared at Train the Trainer session for delivery model options.