Fourth and fifth grade teachers- do you ever see your students, when executing a long division problem, borrow when subtracting 12 - 7? And then after the borrowing (or trading, or whatever you call it in your area), they still have 12 - 7 and they don't even notice that they got nowhere with all of that work? It pains me every time!
I believe the problem in both of these situations is that students have no number sense. They are not looking at and thinking about the quantities of what they are subtracting and considering what strategy to use on the numbers involved.
Anchor charts can help as well as time and attention. Though I am sure you are over and done with teaching subtraction strategies this late in the year, as an interventionist, I still have to! And if fluency is suffering maybe you can't not hit this again!
Check out the product I made for help in these situations. It is a mega-pack of 10 subtraction strategy mini-lesson mini-posters, practice, flashcards, assessments, and even some games. There is a student interview sheet to see what strategies students need or are using, as well as a student data notebook graph.
If your district has done away with dreaded timed tests, these shorter fluency practice pages can be timed for how long students take to complete, with students trying to beat their previous score. If your district still mandates timed tests (like mine!) these will bridge the gap between the impossible and the possible with gradually increasing rigor.
I hope you find it useful. Stay tuned for posts/pics of the launch in my classroom.
See it in my TPT store here>>http://bit.ly/1OGaDO3
Happy subtracting!
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