Mental Math Grade 6 Teacher's Guide

Many of the thinking strategies supported by research and outlined in the
curriculum advocate for a variety of learning modalities.
For example:
• Visual (images for the addition doubles; hands on a clock for the
“times-five” facts)
• Auditory (silly sayings and rhymes: “6 times 6 means dirty tricks;
6 x 6 is 36")
• Patterns in Number (the product of an even number multiplied by 5 ends
in 0 and the tens digit is one less than the number being multiplied)
• Tactile (ten frames, base ten blocks)
• Helping Facts (8 x 9 = 72, so 7 x 9 is one less group of 9; 72 - 9 = 63)
Whatever differentiation you make it should be to facilitate the student’s
development in mental computation, and this differentiation should be
documented and examined periodically to be sure it is still necessary.
Combined Grade Classrooms
What you do in these situations may vary from one strategy to another.
Sometimes the students may be all doing the same strategy, sometimes
with the same size or type of number, sometimes with different numbers.
For example, in a combined grade 2-3 class, students might be working on
the “make ten” strategy for addition. The teacher would ask the grade 2
students questions such as 9 + 6 or 5 + 8, while the grade 3 students
would be given questions such as 25 + 8 or 39 + 6; the same strategy is
applied, but at different levels of difficulty.
Other times, you may decide to introduce different strategies at different
times on the first day, but conduct the reinforcements at the same time on
subsequent days using the appropriate exercises for each grade level.
It is important to remember that there will be students in the lower grade
who can master some, or all, the strategies expected for the higher grade,
and some students in the higher grade who will benefit from the
reinforcement of the strategies from the lower grade.
Mental Math – Grade 6 13