Multi-Digit Addition & Subtraction

Dear Families,

Your child is building fluency with adding and subtracting numbers up to 10,000! These skills are used constantly in daily life - from managing money to measuring and comparing. The activities below make practice fun and meaningful.

Why This Matters for the FAST Test

The Florida FAST assessment tests whether students can accurately and efficiently add and subtract multi-digit numbers. Students need to recognize when to regroup (sometimes called "carrying" or "borrowing") and should be able to estimate answers to check their work. These problems appear in word problem format too!

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Activity 1: Receipt Challenge

Practice addition and subtraction with real numbers

Save receipts from stores, restaurants, or online orders.
Cover the total with your finger and have your child add items together.
Use rounded prices to estimate first: "About how much will this be?"
Then calculate the exact total and compare to the estimate.
Challenge: If you paid with $20, how much change should you get?

Tip:

Start with receipts that have 2-3 items, then work up to longer ones. Ignore cents at first - use whole dollar amounts.

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Activity 2: Road Trip Math

Use car trips to practice with large numbers

Before a car trip, note the odometer reading.
After the trip, note it again. Ask: "How many miles did we drive?"
Look up distances between cities. "It's 356 miles to Grandma's. We've driven 189 miles. How many more miles to go?"
Track weekly mileage: "We drove 245 miles this week and 189 miles last week. What's the total?"
Compare: "Which trip was longer? By how many miles?"

Tip:

Use a road atlas or maps app to find distances. This connects math to geography too!

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Activity 3: Game Night Score Keeper

Practice with board games and video games

Play any game that involves points (Scrabble, card games, video games).
Have your child be the "official score keeper."
After each round: "You had 256 points and earned 147 more. What's your new total?"
Track differences: "You have 845 points. I have 678. Who's winning? By how much?"
At the end: "What was the final difference between our scores?"

Key Strategy:

Teach your child to always ESTIMATE first! Before calculating, ask "About how much do you think it will be?" This helps them catch mistakes if their answer is way off.

Questions to Ask Your Child

"Before you calculate, can you estimate what the answer will be close to?"
"Do you need to regroup for this problem? How do you know?"
"You got 534. Does that seem like a reasonable answer? Why?"
"How could you check your subtraction answer?"
"What happens when you have a zero in the tens place and need to regroup?"
"Can you explain why 10 ones equals 1 ten?"

Resumen en Espanol

Suma y resta de numeros grandes: Su hijo esta aprendiendo a sumar y restar numeros hasta 10,000 con fluidez. Esto incluye "reagrupar" (cambiar 10 unidades por 1 decena, o 10 decenas por 1 centena).

Actividades en casa:

Recibos: Sume los precios y calcule el cambio.
Viajes en carro: Calcule distancias con el odometro.
Juegos: Deje que su hijo lleve la puntuacion.

Importante: Siempre pida que ESTIME primero, antes de calcular. Esto ayuda a verificar respuestas.

Home Activity: Addition & Subtraction