Fact Families!

Several generous teachers on the teacher.net first and second grade mailrings contributed to this list of favorite instructional ideas related to Fact Families.  Thanks!

Make Some Houses for Fact Families

You must see Fact Family Book from Tompkins Family at their website!  And here are some other ideas too....

After learning about related facts   (addition/subtraction), I introduce Fact Families as 3 numbers that are like family members. No one else (another number) can be in the family.  I draw a big 2 story house on board. In the attic I write the 3 numbers (such as 3, 5, 2). Together we think of the two addition sentences and two subtraction sentences that can be made with these numbers. We role play and practice with several number families. Kids write addition facts in two upper windows and subtraction facts in two lower windows.  After a few days of practice, kids make their own house from paper and markers. Makes great bulletin board display too.                                                                           Marci/1/NJ

We do the same activity. I like my kids to work in partners and then "present" their houses. A teacher on our hall made hers into a bulletin board display by adding a road and setting the houses along the road and called it Fact Family Alley.

Jeannie C

(ed. note:  Here's a great resource!   Make sure you use the links and see the cards!  ~ Marci)
I was involved in the fact family thread on the Investigations-CGI list, and I'm glad you've brought it up on the second grade list.
My contribution to the notion of fact families is a new area of Math Cats: hexagon-shaped Fact Family Cards, accompanied by a "house" (like a roof) which hides one or two numbers at a time, and numerous hands-on activities. One of those activities involves writing the 4 facts on a drawing of a house. (I think I'll lightly revise that activity to incorporate your window placement; I love your idea of putting the 4 facts in upper-story and lower-story windows.) I like students to use a lot of manipulatives while they are working with fact families, so they can experience the interconnectedness of the 4 facts with their eyes and their hands as they set up the problems.

You can extend the idea of fact families and the intimate relationship of addition/subtraction and multiplication/division by using the blank hexagon-shaped cards to make your own supplemental sets of cards with simple fractions or money or whatever!

I'm also hoping these cards can be used for meaningful individualized at-home practice and concept reinforcement, along with simple manipulatives, in lieu of math worksheets. You can staple a sheet into students' homework folders for them to note the date, number range of the sums, activities, and amount of time spent with the cards, to be initialed by a parent.

Fact Family Cards Activities At Math Cats

If you have ideas for me on extra activities I could add, please let me know!                                                                            ~ Wendy Petti
 
**Visit Math Cats homepage to see more great activites!

I cut out a basic house, which is glued to a piece of 12 x 18 inch white or light blue construction paper. Then each child gets a boy and a girl pattern cut from the Ellison machine. Each child is assigned a family. They write and correct the number sentences that go with it. (This will be glued onto the back of the paper.) If the family is 3, 7, 10, the name of the family is on the roof. Then using 2 different colors of the littles circle dot stickers they put these on the boy and the girl. (They're supposed to be buttons.) The boy might have 7 buttons and the girl 3 buttons or vice versa. Then I put a dot of velcro on the back of the boy and the girl and the corresponding pieces inside the house. To demonstrate: The boy can walk in first, then the girl and the number sentence would be 7+3. The girl could walk in first and the sentence would be 3+7. Both could be in the house and the girl leaves first, 10-3 etc. etc. I hope this makes sense. I put these into a huge book
for awhile. We use them to demonstrate.                       ~ Nancy Golubic

Dominos On Stage

I used paper dominoes that I enlarged and laminated. I hold up a domino and ask the kids to give me 2 addition and 1 subtraction sentence about it. They got very good at it.                ~ Keach1@aol.com   

I also use dominos as a way to teach fact families. I model getting the 2 numbers from the dots on either side of the domino and the sum from the total. My class loves getting out the dominos and having fact family races. To do this, two students grab 5 dominos, lay them up-side down, and at "GO" race to write down the fact families from the dominos. First one finished with the correct number sentences wins. We had a tournament (Fact Family Funfest) of all the fastest/slowest to find the winners.. Lots of fun and everyone won because they got lots of practice!                                                     ~   Alisha Stevens/2/AR

We used dominoes, too.  I gave each group of four, 1 domino, 1 chalk board and 1 piece of chalk. The first person wrote down an addition fact that went with the domino and passed the chalkboard to the right.
The next person wrote another addition fact and passed it on.
And so on for two subtraction facts.
We did one together first.
I could circulate and check on groups easily. Everytime the group
successfully completed their fact families they got another domino and
started over.
For doubles, the kids loved being smart enough to know there were only two facts in the family.                     ~ Mrs Trapp    

More Great Ideas

Marcia Goudie's Fact Family Slide Show:

You can send Marcia an email and she will send you a copy of this PowerPoint file

Marcia's Class Web Site

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Make a Triangle:
On the points of the triangle write the digits in the fact family:
ex. 2,3, 5.
On the triangle, have the child write the 2 addition and 2 subtraction facts for that family.
You could duplicate tons of triangles, with lines for the facts. Then you can "customize" each triangle!

Donna

Make a Heart:
The way I teach fact families is very similar. My mother, who teaches
first grade shared this idea with me. I draw a heart on the board. I
put the three numbers that are above the heart. I tell the kids that
these numbers make up a family. The large number is the dad, medium
size is the mom and the small number is the baby. They don't let anyone
else in their family- "stanger danger!" Then the kids come up with the
number sentences that correspond with the numbers.

Beth/OK/2

Use Link Cubes:
Partners work together to create fact families.
Each partner takes a number of link cubes (teacher designates number range, e.g. between 4 and 9) - each must choose a different color cube.
Put two sets of cubes together. Write a number sentence (e.g. 4+9=13)
Turn cube train around so partners write 9+4=13
Next partners write number they have altogether (13)
One partner takes back her/his cubes, and finishes number sentence (13-4=9)
Put cubes back and write final fact with other partner taking her/his cubes back (13-9=4)

Lanise
 

Make a Paper Family:
Last year we hit fact families about the time we were doing some paper cutting activities. I taught the children how to fold paper and cut it so that you get six people. The first listed the numbers, the next four "people" each had a fact written on it and the last was the child's name. The kids loved making them and it made a great math display for a table.

BB/Beirut
Barbara Bashour
American Community School
Beirut, Lebanon

Games For Practice

Inverse Relationship of Addition and Subtraction
Practice related facts, missing addends.

FunBrain Quiz Lab
There is at least one fact family quiz in the second grade list.
You have to join to use (free)

ed. note:  We need more games!