Book Description
The purpose of this study was to determine if systematic addition and subtraction practice, through daily minilessons, would increase first and second graders' computational fluency. One multiage, first and second grade math class was involved in this study. The students were given an addition pretest and a subtraction pretest prior to the implementation of the treatment of the study. An eight week timeline was established in which students engaged in concrete, symbolic, and abstract math activities involving specific strategies for addition and subtraction. At the end of each treatment week, students completed worksheets which focused on the specific strategies practice that week. Half of the worksheet contained addition facts, and the other half contained subtraction facts. Observational notes were kept as students worked on the worksheets each week. A posttest for addition and a posttest for subtraction were given at the end of the treatment period. The addition and subtraction posttests were the same documents used for the pretest. The addition and subtraction posttests were the same documents used for the pretests. The research data supported the hypotheses that students would improve computational fluency in both addition and subtraction facts when they practiced daily. Overall, the majority of first and second grade students showed growth in both addition and subtraction facts.