1st Grade · Math · 1.OA.A.1, 1.OA.C.6, 1.OA.D.7
Subtraction Lesson Plan for 1st Grade
A ready-to-teach subtraction lesson for 1st Grade, built around subtraction facts to 20, two-digit subtraction, fact families, word problems. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.
Approximately 45 minutes
Learning objective
- Subtract by crossing out pictured objects to find remainders
- Count remaining objects after crossing out the subtracted amount
- Connect crossing-out pictures to writing subtraction equations
Materials
- Subtract within 20 (no borrowing) - Bike
- Subtracting in columns - 2-digit numbers (no borrowing) - Cat Shades
- Subtract by crossing out objects
- Subtract by drawing & crossing out
- Solve subtraction word problems with objects
- Select the subtraction sentence
- Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples
Lesson steps
1. Warm up together (5 min)
Open with a quick count-around or number talk that touches subtraction. Ask students where they have seen subtraction outside of math class. You are listening for who already has the vocabulary and who does not, so keep it light and let several students answer.
2. Model it (I do) (10 min)
Work two examples of subtraction on the board, thinking out loud the whole way. Say the quiet parts: what you notice first, which step you do next, and why. Deliberately make one small error on the second example and let the class catch it.
3. Practice together (we do) (10 min)
Work three more problems as a class. Ask a different student to supply each step rather than the whole answer. If a step stalls, drop back to concrete objects or a drawing before moving on.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Subtract within 20 (no borrowing) - Bike". Students work independently while you circulate. Note who is fluent, who is counting on fingers, and who has not started, because that grouping drives tomorrow's small group.
5. Close the loop (5 min)
Pull the class back. Ask one student to explain a problem they got right and one to name something that is still confusing. End on the confusion, not the success, so students learn that naming a gap is normal.
Check for understanding
Collect the practice pages and sort them into three piles: fluent, developing, and not yet. Any student in the third pile needs subtraction retaught in a small group before the class moves on.
Differentiation
Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild subtraction with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.
Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own subtraction problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand subtraction.
Skills covered in this lesson
Subtract by crossing out objects · Subtract by drawing & crossing out · Solve subtraction word problems with objects · Select the subtraction sentence · Write subtraction sentences · Subtract using number lines · Subtraction sentences and number lines · Subtract within 0-10 · Subtract by counting back · Subtract by counting up · Missing minuend or subtrahend (within 10) · Subtract within 1-20
