Teaching any new math topic to primary students can be a little tricky! I know firsthand that sometimes students struggle to grasp a new skill, especially in math. This used to come up a lot for me when teaching doubles and doubles plus one addition facts. My students just had a hard time wrapping their brains around this one! That is until I found the perfect blend of activities to teach doubles facts with ease! Curious how we tackle this topic in my classroom? Come along as I share my favorite activities for teaching doubles facts!
Introduce Doubles Facts In A Fun Way!
When starting off any new lesson, it's important to make sure that you “set the stage” so to speak, and grab your students' interest. In the primary classroom, I have found that there is one no-fail way to instantly do that. . . Songs!
I love using songs in the classroom and especially when teaching a new topic. Using songs will help students remember the ins and outs of whatever new skill you are teaching. There is something special about the way the rhythm, music, and words all work together in the learning process.
When introducing doubles facts to my students, I love using a fun song to start out the lesson. The song we use is sung to the tune of “The Addams Family” and my kiddos just love it! They gladly sing along and snap as we learn all about doubles facts. I like to project the lyrics for everyone to see. We run through the song together a few times until everyone is singing along.
Typically, I will pop the lyrics up on the screen once a day while we are focusing on this skill and we sing together. The students love this! I also have some printable worksheets my kiddos use to further reinforce the song and help them remember doubles facts. I like to have students stick a copy of these worksheets in their math journals as well as their homework folders for reference!
Worksheets, Centers & Games For Doubles Facts
Once my students have a pretty good understanding of doubles facts, it's time to jump into some practice! I love to use a variety of printable worksheets, centers, and games for practice to help them practice this new skill in multiple ways. I have found that using a blend of activities helps keep this topic engaging so that we can practice a lot without it getting boring!
No Prep Worksheets
When we first start out with doubles, I especially love to use worksheets during small groups so that I can make sure my students are getting the hang of it. The worksheets we use include basic facts practice pages, color by code activities, fill in the missing number, and matching activities. As we work on this new topic, we will often revisit worksheets more than once. We may try them together first in small groups and then do them again during centers or independent practice later in the week.
Center Games
In addition to using the worksheets during centers, I like to make sure to include a game or two as well. My students love “Spinner Games” and they work great for doubles!
Students will use a paperclip and pencil to make a spinner on their paper to spin for a number. From there, they write the doubles fact for the number they spun and then solve the equation. This is a fantastic center game to get plenty of repetitive practice in and promotes independence in students. This game also makes a great activity to send home for homework!
Digital Activities
Students LOVE digital activities and I love how easy they are to use in the classroom. Boom Cards are a great way to get lots of doubles practice in without having to prep center activities.
The Boom Cards we use for doubles are so much fun. We play as a whole group and then I add them to our math centers too.
Typically, I will utilize the same deck of Boom Cards multiple times throughout the week to give students the opportunity for extra practice in different formats.
For example, we might play as a whole group at the beginning of the week, then use the same deck for centers mid-week and finally use them as an “early finisher” game towards the end of the week.
Students always find digital activities super engaging and they work especially well for helping to master a new skill!
Write The Room
I always love to include a “write the room” activity in our lessons when we first start practicing doubles facts. Write the room is a great way to get restless kiddos up and moving and learning. This is a great activity to use towards the end of the week or in the afternoon when your students need a change of pace.
I like to run this activity as a class, so that I can circulate and observe students solving equations. I hang the cards around the room, provide each kiddo with a clipboard & recording sheet and send them on their way to find and solve. Kiddos love walking around and searching for each card on their list. It's also a good idea to do a partner swap afterward to check for accuracy. This will give your kiddos even more practice with doubles facts!
Keep The Practice Going At Home!
As teachers, we all know that students need lots of practice for new skills to really stick.
For this reason, I love sending home tools and activities to keep the practice going. I will often send home some of the worksheets we used as extra practice, but I also love to give my students flashcards to encourage fact fluency.
To help my students really absorb this information, I like to make flashcards in small groups with the students.
Typically, I will make copies of doubles facts flashcards and ask students to cut their own set apart. Then we will go through each fact together, and solve and write the answer on the back of the card. This way, students can independently practice doubles facts at home and then check their answers!
Start Teaching Doubles Facts In Your Classroom
I hope you enjoyed seeing how we work on doubles in first grade. Teaching a brand new math skill doesn't have to be hard or overwhelming when you use a variety of fun strategies! For my classroom, I have found that using a blend of small group activities, worksheets, centers, and a fun song always seems to do the trick!
There are lots of fun ways to teach doubles, but if you're interested in any of the activities I mentioned, they can all be found in my Doubles Facts Activities Resource and my Digital Doubles Facts Bundle! Happy Adding!
Save These Ideas For Later
Don't forget to save these ideas to your favorite classroom Pinterest board for when you're ready to dive into doubles facts with your students!
