Build Fast Addition Fact Recall in 2nd Grade

At this stage addition stops being counting and starts being recall. The two strategies that carry the most weight are make-a-ten — turning 8 + 5 into 8 + 2 + 3 — and near-doubles, turning 6 + 7 into 6 + 6 + 1. A child still counting on from one for every sum has not yet built the number bonds those strategies stand on, and that, rather than the sums themselves, is what to practise.

Second grade is the written-method year. Column addition and subtraction arrive, then regrouping, and with them the first arithmetic that has a procedure to follow rather than a fact to recall. Children who still lack instant facts within 20 find this year disproportionately hard, because they are running a procedure and reconstructing facts at the same time.

2nd graders are expected to add two-digit numbers in columns, first without and then with regrouping, keeping facts within 20 automatic; after that comes two-digit column addition, then regrouping.

Watch for forgetting the carried digit once attention moves to the next column.