I have been steadily working all summer long on my new fourth grade math units, and I LOVE my new Addition and Subtraction Unit. I have three finished, and I’ve started my fourth unit. You can read about the Place Value and Rounding Unit here. I haven’t written about the Multiplication Unit yet, but I will soon! In this post, I want to highlight the second unit, which is the Addition and Subtraction Unit. The Addition and Subtraction Unit is a bit different from my other math units, so I wanted to be sure to explain the differences. You can find the complete unit on TpT.
I think the most exciting difference is that I made TWO VERSIONS of the unit! I promised that I wouldn’t quit making third grade products, so I made a different version of the fourth grade activities just for third grade! The numbers in the fourth grade version are primarily 4-digit, 5-digit, and 6-digit numbers. The numbers in the third grade version are primarily 3-digit numbers.
Since many of us are required to turn in our lesson plans, I included formal lesson plans, just like in the other math units. Unlike my other units, I grouped the lesson plans together. I did this to make printing all of the addition and subtraction activities easier. This will allow you to print a range of pages, rather than one page at a time.
As I began to work on this second 4th Grade Math Unit, I knew that I wanted something a bit different from my typical math units. The content of this unit is a bit more procedural than in the other 3rd and 4th grade units, as students will be applying the algorithm to add and subtract large numbers. Since addition and subtraction has been conceptually taught in kindergarten through third grades, I did not include highly conceptual or manipulative based lessons. Instead, I created a series of ten tasks that were engaging and had an emphasis on application and problem solving.
I plan to spend two weeks on this unit, so I have created one task for each of the ten days. During the mini lesson, I will go over basic computation (beginning with addition and moving on toward subtraction). During the mini lesson, I will make note of any student struggling with the computation taught during class, and I will meet with those students in small groups of students during independent work time. As I meet with small groups, I will gradually remove students from the small group as they show understanding and confidence of the material.
I have also included a general pacing guide, but this is just a suggestion. If you see students are more than ready to move to the next level, simply skip ahead to those larger numbers. I love leaving a few extra days to work on subtraction across zeroes, which is always challenging for students.
Having two options will make it so much easier to differentiate for your students by using the 3rd grade version in your fourth grade class or the fourth grade version in your third grade class!
I love that everything is in a real world, problem solving context. I think that naturally raises the rigor and engagement at the same time. I also love that they all have an amusement park theme, because it helps tie it all together.
You can distribute the pages one at a time, in any order. You can also create a booklet by printing the cover page and all of the pages you’d like for your students to complete. There are ten activities the third grade version and ten activities in the fourth grade version. I’ve also included several basic practice pages for you to use as needed.
I think this is going to be a lot of fun for my students and me!
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