We are family! (... fact families that is)

"We are family! Brothers and sisters are we. We are family; get up everybody and sing!" Don't you just love that song by the Pointer Sisters? If I was brilliant I would turn it into a song about fact families. But, alas, I am not brilliant, so instead I have a few fact family games to share with you.

In math my firsties are learning about the relationship between addition and subtraction. Even though my math program (Envision) doesn't teach fact families for awhile, I like to introduce them now. It just makes sense to me.

So I made up a simple game called "Fact Family Toss". To play this game you need two dice and a piece of paper for each child. The child tosses both dice, adds the number together and then writes out four equations (a fact family) using the three numbers (both dice numbers and the sum). I have students start out with the typical dice with numbers 1-6, but later add in a variety of dice: ten sided dice, twelve sided dice, dice made from wooden cubes that I have written numbers on ...

Then there is also, "Domino Fact Families". Same idea. The child chooses a domino, adds the two numbers together and then creates a fact family using those three numbers.

For a much cuter fact family game, go to the First Grade Fever blog. Christie has posted French Fry Fact Families. Yes, it is as cute as it sounds and it is free!

"We are fact families! Sums and differences are we! We are fact families; get up everybody and sing!" Hmmm ... just doesn't work!