Building Mastery of Basic Math Facts Grades 1-4

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About this Learning Opportunity

Are you looking for a new approach to teach basic facts or do you simply want to improve on your
current approach? In this session we will cover key concepts that help students easily master basic facts,
all part of the Thinking Strategies series. This includes “chunking” facts into groups for ease of learning,
developing efficient thinking strategies for each chunk, and explaining John Van de Walle’s concept of
mastery. Participants will work in groups to engage, examine, and explore these concepts.
Why is this session relevant to teachers?
Why this is an important session: It provides an effective and straightforward approach to teaching
basic facts.
What will be the learning: Chunking facts, commutative or turnaround property of basic facts, thinking
strategies for basic facts, and John Van de Walle’s stages of building mastery.
Focus: Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.
Takeaway: Teachers will understand the theory behind basic fact mastery and will have approaches to
effectively build mastery in their classroom.
Alberta Curriculum Alignment: Grades 1 and 2 (addition and subtraction basic facts), Grades 3 and 4
(multiplication and division basic facts).

About the Facilitator

Sheri Christoffersen

Sheri Christoffersen has been a teacher for 19 years, teaching grades K-8. She believes in approaching math with passion, excitement and creativity. Sheri loves to inspire other educators and students to love math as much as she does. 

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