Subtraction: Booklet 1 - Parent/Teacher Guide

Subtraction: Booklet 1 – Parent/Teacher Guide from Pattern Press is a hands-on math curriculum guide designed to help parents and teachers introduce subtraction through meaningful stories, manipulatives, and discovery-based learning.

This 68-page stapled Parent/Teacher Guide accompanies the 40-page Student Workbook and presents a unique approach to beginning subtraction developed by Prof. Emeritus Michael Butler at the world renowned UCI Farm Elementary School. Instead of starting with memorized subtraction rules, students first explore subtraction through story-building activities using edible manipulatives and concrete objects. Children naturally move from physical experiences into recording their thinking with pictures, symbols, and standard subtraction equations.

The Patterns in Arithmetic series teaches mathematics through an inductive, concept-based approach that encourages students to discover patterns, relationships, and procedures through guided exploration. Parents and teachers are supported with lesson instructions, teaching techniques, games, and sample dialogues that model how to guide students toward deep mathematical understanding.

The Parent/Teacher Guide includes teaching instructions, games, sample dialogues, and the Answer Key. The Student Workbook provides worksheets and practice pages that reinforce concepts through hands-on exploration and visual learning.

Topics included in this guide:

• Student Evaluation
• Fishy Game and Story Problems
• Recording: Representational
• Recording: Representational with Number Sentences
• Teaching lessons and guided dialogues
• Answer Key
• Foreword by Professor Michael Butler
• Introduction and Farm School Math Notes
• Teaching Techniques and Arithmetic Conventions
• Math Journal and Sequence Guides
• Lesson Planning, Materials, and Resources

Core Learning Skills:

• Teaching subtraction through story-based and hands-on experiences
• Helping students connect concrete objects to written subtraction equations
• Building foundational subtraction understanding through exploration
• Supporting visual and representational mathematical thinking
• Developing number sense and flexible subtraction strategies
• Encouraging discovery and pattern recognition in early arithmetic
• Strengthening conceptual understanding before memorizing procedures
• Guiding parents and teachers through meaningful math conversations

Perfect for:

• Homeschool families teaching beginning subtraction
• Classroom teachers using hands-on math instruction
• Charter school curriculum programs
• Visual and tactile learners
• Early elementary subtraction lessons
• Parents and educators seeking concept-based math education