Take Away From the Teens

Subtraction can be difficult for some students to master.  I find each year that I need to do a subtraction focus intervention group.  The good thing about this (other than the math itself) is that there are a lot of games that can be used for subtraction practice.

 

This game is called Teen Take Away.  In this game you put a card with the number 10 in the middle and make a deck of 1-5 and another of 6-9.  Put the 1-5 card with the ten to make your teen number and then subtraction the 6-9 card.  You could extend this to use larger numbers also.

It's a great way to also talk about how addition is related to subtraction.  Ask questions such as, "How could you turn this into an addition problem?"  I like to have them just play the game first and then add in a recording sheet.  You can also use a recording sheet that has them write both an addition and subtraction equation and then have a discussion on them.

This game could also be played with dice.  So many choices to practice subtraction!