The Big Scary Math Problem and a Freebie

Blank stares and little panic filled the room as I presented the class with a mental math problem. The big, scary math problem before them: 

20+13+17+20= _____

This was tricky for most of my students because they are used to seeing two, two-digit numbers written vertically on the majority of their practice pages. 

Several students were able to persevere,  figure out the sum and share strategies for finding the answer. Light bulbs started coming on as others listened to their approach.

Following our double digit with and without regrouping addition unit, I decided to tackle 2.NBT.6.

Number and Operations in Base Ten (6): Add up to four two-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and properties of operations

I had a hard time finding resources for this so I made a few of my own!

Here's a freebie for you to help your students master this standard. The first page is blank so you can use it to write in additional problems of your own.

There are several practice pages included, each with different problems.

As we worked through the problem and talked about various strategies like the commutative property and looking for "friendly" numbers, the kiddos saw that the big, scary problem wasn't so bad after all! Still, we will need some additional practice with this skill! Hopefully this method will help with our mental math fluency as well!

Hope you can use this with your second graders, firsties that need a challenge or third graders needing extra reinforcement!

Have a wonderful rest of the week! I love four day weeks! :)