Mental Math Strategies you NEED to teach in 1st and 2nd Grade // mental math for kids

In first and second grade we need to teach our students mental math strategies to help them solve problems quickly and build their number sense! In this video I share my 4 favorite mental math strategies to teach in first and second grade.

If you happen to use any of these ideas at home or in your classroom, leave a comment below and let me know how they go! :) Also, if you share any of the games from Susan's Sunday Spotlight, please tag me on Instagram @susanjonesteaching so I can see!! You can also use the hashtag: #susanssundayspotlight

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Susan Jones

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[wakuyanow]

I'm 53 years old. I don't think I was ever taught this in school. In school, I always lined up numbers vertically and did calculations. To me, mathematics was never understandable beyond knowning when to use a formula or a format to get the right answer. Only in the past couple of years have I learned a bit about what you are talking about here. On quiet days now, I sometimes try to add or subtract numbers in my head. I try to find relationships between numbers, borrowing from one number to add to another. With this video, I learned that you can add or subtract totally unrelated numbers to an equation to make it easier to calculate. Well, of course you can. I can see that now. Why couldn't I see that before? I think my 53 years is proof that I never would have thought of it on my own. My own fear of math blinded me and kept me from even trying to understand. I enjoyed this video. Thank you.

[johnhansenglishforgermans]

I am 74 and this the first time that I have ever seen such a clear understandable explanation on how to do mental arithmetic.Thank You.

[Collectingillusions]

Just as a parent, I am trying to find the joy and appreciation in the math to hopefully inspire my daughter to become fluent in math. I realized the only way to do that was to relearn algebra, geometry, and I never realized how much CONCEPTS MATTER to both kids and adults to retain information.

Math was my worse subject in school and I fully believed it hard for myself but me, the kid left behind in school with undiagnosed ADHD can do the math now and I work physics equations for fun/hobby. It’s weird how accepting not being good at math is.

[jeanhamrick]

I have a kindergartener who does a lot of mental math. This gives me more ideas on how to talk it out with him. We are learning place value and multiplication. Started money work as well.

[kirstysavic]

Awesome for math phobics and adults who didn’t get a full education or who have been away from math for a one time

[violettiplady]

the way sums are written is completely different to 20+ years ago. Im homeschooling and I find this very interesting. I want to teach my daughter to be able to understand and break down numbers, so thank you.

[ShogunMathNinja]

I recently found your site and love it. You are a great explainer, Susan.

I just wanted to point out that the Compensation and Constant Difference "adjustments" for addition and subtraction can all be streamlined to be simpler to understand while also being mathematically correct and matching the language students will learn in middle school. They all follow the same "zero it out" rule you mentioned.

For your part 2 Compensation problem of 37 + 58, you correctly added a 3 and subtracted a 3 (+ 3 and - 3 combine to make zero, as you noted) keeping the same sum as the original problem. When you solve 64 - 28, you can follow the same rule: introduce two amounts that combine to make zero. The trick is to realize that in a subtraction problem, the second number (the subtrahend) is a negative number (less than zero) and must be treated that way, even in primary grades. Since you wanted to make the negative 28 a negative 30 (getting more negative) you have to combine it with a negative 2 (- 28 - 2 = - 30). Because you use a negative 2 with the - 28 (to make it smaller), use a positive 2 (add 2) with the 64 to get 66. 66 - 30 = 36. Understanding this distinction actually makes the rules for these problems easier to remember, because there is only one rule! It is always the same.

During the Constant Difference problem of 61 - 27, you are really subtracting 3 from the - 27 to get - 30. Then when you add 3 to the 61, you are repeating the same language as in the earlier two problems: whatever you do to one part of the expression, do the opposite thing (same number, other sign) to the other part.

Here is where this difference becomes clear. Starting at 14:40, you explain that you want to add 3 to make the 27 a 30. Then, you write out 61 + 3 - 27 + 3. Plugging this into a calculator gives 40, which is 6 larger than the correct answer of 34. Why? When you calculated - 27 + 3 = - 30, it should have been - 27 + 3 = - 24. A difference of 6.

Showing the negative numbers on an open number line on the floor makes this easier for students to understand. To go from - 27 to - 30, they have to continue walking to the left, farther away from zero, getting more negative (in the direction of "Negativeville"), thus - 27 - 3 = - 30. It's the same idea as in addition: to add 61 + 3, they start on + 61 and walk right, farther from zero, getting more positive (we usually say "larger"), in the direction of "Positive Town", to get to + 64. To combine + 64 and - 30, (a/k/a "subtracting" 64 - 30), they start on + 64 and go left, in the negative direction, 30 steps to reach + 34. Plus, they think it is very cool to learn about negative numbers!

[betsycollins]

Thank you! I love how you make these strategies explicit. I’m going to include this in my number talks with my first graders!

[DuduEwa]

This was great, I've solved math like this since I can remember and I never knew it had a name/terms other than mental math. Thanks ❤

[venetia]

Thank you for explaining this, at school we were taught not to do mental maths and to write everything down instead so I just realised now that I’ve been over complicating it by using a mix of the two techniques in my head when I could have just gone for one

[aviyahayirahsisterssquad]

Thank you!!! I'm doing envision math with my children and this really helped me understand. The math I am accustomed to uses much different strategies. Now I can try and help them solidify their understanding. I also have a child going into third grade and I see you only teach til second, Can you recommend a channel or resource to help this home school mom manuever through the next grade please🙏🏽

[Kokhav]

This is helping me doing math more fast in grade 2. Thanks alot

[tiaradickson]

I’m so happy to see this happening in my country
😂❤

[artivarma]

One of your best videos! Thank you for showing us the mental math strategies!

[ericabrossard]

Great Video. I love the way you boke down the stratagies.

[tiaradickson]

I’m so happy you found it useful for your work in this subreddit I really enjoy the work and love your videos on the art side but the fact is you can get the most of your own stuff from a shop that ❤
❤😂😊

[AnnaE]

Thanks for explaining this. As a parent my child comes home with homework that lacks examples for the problems. Thanks for explain going this, it was very clear; this gives me confidence in helping him with his work now. Also, I’ve always done subtraction by adding, so it was great to learn what that processed is called. Take care, Anna.

[tholakarimohanchand]

I’m grade two and I do three digit addition

[adesolaadebowale]

Thank you Susan for making learning easy..

[idahohoosier]

OMG. NO WAY I CAN TEACH THIS TO MY JUST 6 YR OLD GRANDDAUGHTER. After watching this, guess I'll give up so I don't confuse her. I'm learning disabled a d I could just cry.
Blessings, julie