Are your students ready to become confident, flexible thinkers in math? Unit 10 of my First Grade MASTER Math Curriculum focuses on powerful mental math strategies that help students solve problems quickly and efficiently without always reaching for paper and pencil. This unit is built on the belief that students need to experience math in a variety of ways. Instead of memorizing facts in isolation, students learn how numbers work together. They develop strategies they can apply to addition and subtraction within 20 and beyond.
Students learn how to use doubles and doubles plus one, count on, find ten more and ten less, add 8 and 9 by making 10, decompose a two-digit number to make 10 and add, and solve subtraction problems by using addition. These strategies build true number sense and confidence. Like all MASTER Math units, this resource follows a structured rotation model to keep students engaged and learning with purpose.
MASTER stands for Manipulatives, Apply Skills, Small Group, Technology, Enrichment, and Review. Each lesson begins with a whole group mini lesson provided in SMART Notebook and PDF formats. After that, students rotate through meaningful math stations while you work with small groups. Here is what is included:
Manipulatives
Students practice counting on with task cards, adding with ones and tens using dry-erase mats, making 10 with ten frames and manipulatives, completing doubles and doubles plus one puzzles and sorts, solving subtraction using addition with three-way puzzles, and working with 10 more and 10 less puzzles. These hands-on activities help students truly understand each strategy.
Apply Skills
Students reinforce learning with engaging games such as Doubles Cover All, Adding 8 and 9 Bingo, Add to Subtract Gameboard, Doubles Bingo, Doubles Plus One Bingo, and a Ten More Ten Less Number Grid Game. Practice feels like play while building fluency.
Small Group Instruction
Eight structured lessons guide you through teaching doubles, making 10 to add 8 and 9, counting on, using addition to subtract, breaking apart numbers to add, and finding 10 more and 10 less. Small group time allows you to target misconceptions and build confidence.
Technology
This unit includes 10 Boom Learning activities and 8 Google Slides activities. Students practice mental math strategies in an interactive format, including 10 more and 10 less, changing subtraction to addition, adding 8 and 9, doubles and doubles plus one, and decomposing numbers to make 10.
Enrichment
For students ready to stretch their thinking, enrichment includes doubles and doubles plus one beyond 10, making 10 with larger numbers, counting on beyond 20, using addition to subtract beyond 20, breaking apart larger numbers, and exploring 100 more and 1000 more patterns.
Review & Assessment
Review activities connect mental math to previously learned skills, including missing addends and subtrahends, comparing numbers, identifying three-dimensional shapes, telling time, place value, adding and subtracting within 20, and balancing equations. Assessments, recording sheets, class progress tracking, and individual progress sheets are all included.
Teaching Mental Math Strategies Has Never Been Easier!
This Mental Math Strategies Unit contains 8 ready-to-print lesson plans plus 5 editable templates. Plus, there are 7 SMART Notebook warm-up lessons and 7 matching PDFs if you do not use SMART Notebook. Also included: I Can statements, standards alignment, binder covers, and rotation templates to make planning simple and organized.
To wrap it all up, students complete a Mental Math Strategy Craft, in which they create themselves and highlight their favorite strategy. It is the perfect culminating activity to celebrate flexible thinking in math.
If you want your students to move beyond memorization and truly understand how numbers work, this Mental Math Strategies MASTER Math Unit will help you build confident, strategic mathematicians.
You can also take a closer look at these other MASTER Math Units:
- Telling Time Activities – Unit 9
- True or False Equations – Unit 8
- Addition and Subtraction to 20 – Unit 7
- Comparing Two-Digit Numbers – Unit 6
- Place Value – Unit 5
- Geometry 2D and 3D Shapes – Unit 4
- Subtraction to 10 – Unit 3
- Addition to 10 – Unit 2
- Number Sense – Unit 1
