Subtraction in Fourth Grade

November 16, 2011 | Posted in: Class Updates

Before the freak October snowstorm, we administered an addition and subtraction screening to the students to measure kids’ performance on these core skills.  Several kids had a tough time with the subtraction piece, and while I’ve spoken with those parents directly, I thought all parents might appreciate a quick explanation of the different kids of subtraction problems that we expect kids to master in fourth grade.  The list, as well as an explanatory video, is below:

  1. Subtraction without borrowing – the easy stuff!
  2. Simple borrowing – only one place value needs to have borrowing take place
  3. Compound borrowing – multiple place values need to have borrowing
  4. Subtracting across the zero – You cannot borrow from a 0, so you must move over one place value.
  5. Subtracting across two zeroes – Same idea, but a bit more complex.

The sad part: I made a mistake on the FIRST problem. Oops! Yes, I know 3-1=2, not 1. 🙂

Leave a Reply