Why is fluency important?
Math fact fluency in the early years forms the foundation that children need to complete more complex mathematical work later on. The ability to accurately and quickly recall addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts without using too much brain power is essential because our working memory can only hold up to 7 new things at a time. When we help children move these math facts from their working memory into their long-term memory where they can be effortlessly retrieved, students can use their working memory for more complex tasks.
What are the basic addition and subtraction facts children need to master by the end of Year 2?
There are basic fact strategies related to numbers to 20 that children work on at different stages from Reception to Year 2.
They are:
Count on 1, 2, 3
Facts of 10 (e.g., 1 and 9 make 10, 2 and 8 make ten and so on)
Doubles (For example, double 4 is 8)
Near Doubles
Bridge 10
Use a rule (what to do when adding to a 0)
These also have a related subtraction strategy.
Would you like to know how you can help at home?
Salute is a fun and flexible fluency game. The beauty of salute is that it can be adapted to suit a range of skills and ability levels.
Listed below is an outline on how salute can be played to support building fluency with doubles.
How to play:
Players split a deck of cards (normal playing cards or Uno cards) in half after removing any cards that are not needed for that particular game. In this case only cards 1-9 are needed. The cards are placed in a pile face down in front of each player.
Facing each other, players call ‘SALUTE’ and place their card on their forehead, being careful in the process not to look at the card they have.
Player 1 will look at player 2s card and say “Double your number is ___”. For example, “Double your number is 12”.
Player 2 will then use this information and respond with “Half of ____ is _____”. For example, “Half of 12 is 6”. They then look at their card to see if they are right.
Roles are switched with player 2 now giving the statement “Double your number is___” to player 1.
Repeat the process from steps 2-5 until the game finishes
