Where can you go when you have completed this unit? I think that giving students the opportunity to construct a set of word problems and solve them would be a great extension of this unit. Students will take pride in doing this. Teachers can even take all of the results and put them together in a workbook. The students can solve a set of problems for morning work.
It is also important to have students think about fact families with larger numbers. There are some complex CMT questions that would fit in nicely here.
Problem 1
If you are given that 34+48=82, which of the following statements relates to the given:
a) 82+32=48
b) 82-34=48
c) 35+47=82
d) 48-34=82
Students would need to not only find the answer but explain why that answer is correct and logical. Some students may immediately notice that the solutions a and d have incorrect totals. Other students may notice that answer b uses the same numbers as the given and is part of the same fact family.
You may even want to introduce three-digit number problems like this. One of my goals that I wish to achieve with my students is recognizing fact families. I want students to recognize fact families, whether they are single-digit, two-digit or even three-digit fact families. More importantly at the end of this unit students should really see the connection between addition and subtraction, no matter how big the numbers are.
