Addition Strategies

At the beginning of the year in third grade we review addition strategies. My goal is not to make students use a particular strategy, but to give some common language to efficient strategies so that, in the future, we can discuss them using terminology we all know. I pose an addition problem, students solve, and I have several students share their strategies with the class. I tell them that there are many fast, smart strategies to use, but that they can use the strategies on this chart when they need to. I refer back to it when I am helping a student that is using a slow or ineffective strategy for the next few months.

Addition Strategies- many names are from Bridges math curriculum

I heard somewhere, I don't remember where, that we don't really memorize many addition facts even as adults. We just do a fast mental strategy. I doubted that at first, but I think it is true. Think about 8 + 6, for example. I don't have it memorized, but I think 8 + 2 = 10, then I add the 4 left in the 6 to =14. I do all that in less than 2 seconds. So repeating or drilling the fact over and over without having a fast strategy in place first may be a waste of my students' time.