 Allison
Cummons
 Melanie Moss-Lenz
 Christina Finney

Please write your definition, key
words, or thoughts about fluency on
a post-it note.

Fluent students used the facts they have
memorized in flexible, mathematically rich,
and efficient ways to derive facts they do not
know. Finally, fluent students are able to
demonstrate effective thinking strategies that
involve decomposition and recomposition of
numbers and, as such, have had opportunities
to develop more advanced mathematical
understanding than their counterparts who
have been limited to rote memorization and
drilling of their basic facts. Fluency with Basic Addition Facts, NCTM
Fluency is often confused
with automaticity.



Math fact fluency refers to the ability to recall
the basic facts in all four operations accurately,
quickly, and effortlessly. When students
achieve automaticity with these facts, they have
attained a level of mastery that enables them to
retrieve them from long-term memory without
conscious effort or attention.
Through automaticity students free up their
working memory and can devote it to problem
solving and learning new concepts and skills.
D.C. Geary, Children’s Mathematical Development; Research and Practical Applications (1994)


Accuracy denotes the ability to
produce an accurate answer;
efficiency refers to the ability to
choose an appropriate, expedient
strategy for a specific computation
problem; and flexibility means the
ability to use number relationships
with ease in computation.
Sherry Parrish, Number Talks
Minds On ~ Hands On

Number Talks by Sherry Parrish

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays

Fluency Warm-Ups

Thursdays and Fridays
 Subitizing-
ability to see an amount of
objects and know how
many there are without
counting.
Flip 2
Deck of cards Ace (1) - 9
2 players- The first player flips 2 cards and adds or
multiplies the set together. The next player also
flips 2 cards and adds or multiplies these numbers
together. The player with the largest sum or
product gets the cards. The player with the most
cards wins.
Make 10
Deck of cards Ace (1) – 10
Each player gets half a deck. The players turn all of
their cards face up. The players put 2 cards together
that have a sum of ten. The only exception is the 10
card. Every card will have a partner that adds up to
ten.
Mystery Card
Deck of cards 2-10
3 players-Deal one card each, face down. When the dealer says “heads
up”, each player raises the card to his or her forehead. The dealer
states the sum or the product of the 2 cards. Each player has to
determine the value of the card being held to his or her forehead by
looking at the other person’s card.
Red or Black
Deck of cards Ace (1) – 10
Players divide the cards evenly between themselves and place one
card face up in the middle. The first player places their card next to
the card in the middle. If it is a black card the cards are added
together. If it is a red card, subtract the number from the previous
total.
Add It or Multiply It
Players each have a die. They roll their die and then
take turns multiplying or adding the numbers
together. This can be done with double dice(die
within a die). Players add the numbers on the double
die and then multiply the sums together.
Double It
Players take turns rolling a die while the other player
doubles the number on the die. This can also be done
using 2 dice at a time for doubling greater numbers
than 6.
Target Number
Use a multi-sided die to roll a target number. One player
will roll the target number and the other player will roll a
regular die and then try to find the missing addend. A
fixed target number can also be used like 10.
Number Word Symbol
Dice, number cards, number words
Players will roll one die or two dice. They take turns
finding the number and the word that goes with each
dice.
Number
Word
Symbol
Flippin’ Dominoes
Set of double six or double 9 dominoes.
Players work in groups of 2 or 3. Place dominoes face down in the
middle of the group. Players take turns flipping over the dominoes
and adding or multiplying the 2 sides of the domino. Each player
must listen to the answer of the other player to see if they agree.
Play continues until all of the dominoes are turned over.
Ten Facts
Set of double 9 dominoes.
Players work in groups of 3 or 4. Place dominoes face up in the
middle of the group. Players work as fast as they can to find as
many ten facts as they can. After a set amount of time have students
share their facts.
Pyramid Dominoes
Set of double 6 dominoes
Players will form a pyramid using five dominoes for the
base and one less for each layer. The sum or difference of
the dots on each domino used for the base must be equal
to five. The layer above the base must have dominoes
whose sum or difference equals four, and so on, so that
the top layer consists of a single domino whose dots add
up to or can be subtracted to equal one.
Fact Families
Set of double 6 or double 9 dominoes. White Boards and
markers or recording sheet.
Players will take turns drawing a domino and then
writing a fact family to go with the domino. You can use
addition/subtraction or multiplication/division fact
families.