By Janet H. Caldwell, Beth Kobett, and Karen Karp; Karen Karp, Volume Editor; Barbara J. Dougherty, Series Editor, Putting Essential Understanding into Practice Series

Do your students have the incorrect idea that addition “makes numbers bigger” and subtraction “makes numbers smaller”? Do they believe that subtraction is always “taking away”?

What tasks can you offer—what questions can you ask—to determine what your students know or don’t know—and move them forward in their thinking?

This book focuses on the specialized pedagogical content knowledge that you need to teach addition and subtraction effectively in prekindergarten–grade 2. The authors demonstrate how to use this multifaceted knowledge to address the big ideas and essential understandings that students must develop for success with these computations—not only in their current work, but also in higher-level mathematics and a myriad of real-world contexts.

Explore rich, research-based strategies and tasks that show how students are reasoning about and making sense of addition and subtraction. Use the opportunities that these and similar tasks provide to build on their understanding while identifying and correcting misunderstandings that may be keeping them from taking the next steps in learning.

You have essential understanding. It’s time to put it into practice in your teaching.

The Putting Essential Understanding into Practice Series moves NCTM’s Essential Understanding Series into the classroom. The new series details and explores best practices for teaching the essential ideas that students must grasp about fundamental topics in mathematics—topics that are challenging to learn and teach but are critical to the development of mathematical understanding. Classroom vignettes and samples of student work bring each topic to life, and questions for reader reaction open it up for hands-on exploration. Each volume underscores connections with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics while highlighting the knowledge of learners, curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessment that pedagogical content knowledge entails. Resources and tasks are available at nctm.org/more4U.

Maximize the potential of student-centered learning and teaching by putting essential understanding into practice.