NC.K.OA.5

Unpacking Clarification

This standard calls for students to demonstrate fluency in addition and subtraction with all numbers 5 or less. Students who are fluent display accuracy (correct answer), efficiency (a reasonable amount of steps in about 3-5 seconds without resorting to counting), and flexibility (using strategies such as the commutative property) (Kling & Bay-Williams, 2020).

In kindergarten, fluency with addition and subtraction combinations within 5 and the work with this standard intersects work where students decompose numbers (NC.K.OA.3) and conceptually subitize to look at multiple ways to quickly count and decompose a set into two groups (NC.K.OA.6). In order to fluently add and subtract, children must first be able to see subparts within a number (inclusion) and be able to decompose 5 in multiple ways. 

Fluency is best developed through multiple experiences with combinations of numbers within 5 focused on the concepts embedded in NC.K.OA.3 and NC.K.OA.6. When developing students’ fluency, flashcards and other activities such as the repetitive writing of number bonds and equations are not as effective as math games and activities that promote students’ work with the relationships between numbers (Kling & Bay-Williams, 2020). As students use concrete objects and drawings to explore these relationships, they discover all of the pairs or “partners” that compose a number. Through these experiences, students discover number relationships and begin to internalize addition/subtraction facts and develop fluency. 

Fluency should be assessed by giving students the opportunity to orally answer questions given to them by the teacher.

Possible Activating Strategies

Teacher Resources

• Tools for NC Teachers

  • Cluster 7 - Lessons

• Math Expressions - (Barnes and Hearne)

• Motivation Math

• Think Up! Math

• Eureka Math/Engage NY Resources

  • Embarc Online (Eureka Math) 

    • GK M4

      • GK M4 Topic A: Compositions and Decompositions of 2, 3, 4, and 5

  • Standards Alignment

  • Zearn Math - Online Support Practice for Eureka Math (Requires free account)

• North Carolina Collaborative for Mathematics Learning - Kindergarten Instructional Framework

• NCDPI Resources

  • Math Games Kindergarten

  • Kindergarten Math Assessment Practice Prompts

    • Counting & Cardinality

    • Operations & Algebraic Thinking

    • Numbers & Operations in Base Ten

    • Measurement & Data

    • Geometry