Subtraction Poem

Hello!

When it comes to subtracting numbers, it may be a little confusing for young ones. For my class of 7-8 years old, I used this wonderful subtraction poem to help them understand the concept better.
It also made my lesson interesting and enjoyable.

The poem goes like this:

Now, the first rule is for subtraction without borrowing. 

Write a problem on the board and the rule beside it. Ask your class to look only at the ones/units place to be able to apply the rule. You can circle/highlight the units place as done in the picture.

Ask them if the digit in units place is more on the 'top' (point at the digit) or on the 'floor' (point at it). Then let them repeat the rule together and tell them that they don't have to 'stop' and they can subtract 6 from 8 (as in the picture).

The second rule is for subtraction with borrowing. This might take some time.

Have another subtraction question on the board. Write the second rule beside it and ask them to check only the units place. You could question them if the unit on the 'floor' (point it out) is more or less than the unit on the 'top' (again, point it). In the above case, 8 is more than 2 hence the rule applies. Tell them that since there is more on the 'floor' they will have to go next door and borrow 10 (1 ten) more.

Kids should understand that we are borrowing 1 ten or 10 and not 1 or a unit.
Once you borrow 10 more the tens place loses one ten and hence 6 tens become 5 tens whereas the units place gets 1 ten hence 2 becomes 12 (1 ten + 2 units OR 10 + 2).

The third rule is the simplest of all!!

Write another subtraction question with the same digits in the units place for both 'top' and 'floor'. Ask them to read aloud the rule and check if it applies to the question you have written. In case of the above example, both the units place have 3 and hence 0 is the game (3 take away 3 is 0).

With the help of the Subtraction Poem, teaching subtraction with borrowing became very simple for me. Kids recited the rules while doing the problems and the steps became pretty clear.

The strategy worked wonders for us and I hope it does for you as well! 😃