Planning GuideGrade 1
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Basic Facts to 18

Strand: Number
Outcome: 10

Step 3: Plan for Instruction

Guiding Questions

  • What learning opportunities and experiences should I provide to promote learning of the outcomes and permit students to demonstrate their learning?
  • What teaching strategies and resources should I use?
  • How will I meet the diverse learning needs of my students?

A. Assessing Prior Knowledge and Skills

Before introducing new material, consider ways to assess and build on students' knowledge and skills related to numbers. For example:

  • Ask students to count on to 10 from a number you give them between 1 and 10.
  • Ask students to count back to 1 from a number you give them between 1 and 10.
  • Show students a set of between 1 and 10 objects for three seconds and then cover the set, asking students to tell you how many were in the set. Ask them to explain how they knew this.
  • Have interlocking cubes available to students. Ask students to show you eight cubes and then have them write the numeral for that quantity. Repeat with other numbers.

As you do these kinds of activities, it is important to have students verbalize their thinking whenever possible.

If a student appears to have difficulty with these tasks, consider further individual assessment, such as a structured interview, to determine the student's level of skill and understanding.

Sample Structured Interview: Assessing Prior Knowledge and Skills  Word Document

B. Choosing Instructional Strategies

Consider the following strategies when planning lessons.

  • Students need to be provided with opportunities to develop their own strategies for determining a given sum or difference.
  • Students will invent strategies for solving problems that include making doubles, making 10, using compensation and using known facts.
  • Students should be asked to employ as many representations as possible for determining sums and differences, including physically acting out, drawing pictures, verbally explaining their ideas, using concrete materials and writing number sentences.
  • For students to learn basic facts, they need time to understand the operation and invent their strategies rather than memorizing.
  • Learning addition and subtraction facts can be facilitated by having students solve word problems with familiar contexts.
  • Encourage students to create their own word problems. They can write these down or dictate them to a scribe.

C. Choosing Learning Activities

Learning Activities are examples of activities that could be used to develop student understanding of the concepts identified in Step 1.

Sample Learning Activities
Teaching Number Download Activities  Word