Practicing First Grade Math Activities and Skills is Essential

These 1st grade math problems develop the foundation for all the subsequent work of arithmetic in elementary school... which forms the foundation for algebra... which in turn is the foundation for the rest of high school math!

Therefore, knowing the math facts to 20, backwards and forwards, is ESSENTIAL for success at this point and in future years.

FREE 1st Grade Math Problems Worksheets!
Please print our free first grade math activities worksheets to practice addition and subtraction skills with your child:

Addition Worksheets:


• +1 through +5 added to 1-10



• +6 through +10 added to 1-10



• +1 through +9 added to 11-20





Subtraction Worksheets:



• -1 through -5 subtracted from 1-10



• -6 through -10 subtracted from 11-15



• -11 through -19 (plus subtraction practice for all the 1-20 fact family!)

If you don't already have it, you will have to download the Adobe Acrobat reader to view and print the worksheets.

Boost 1st Grade Addition Skills	Boost 1st Grade Subtraction Skills	Memorize the Math Facts	Practice Skills on the Computer

Peruse more Addition and Subtraction activities on Amazon.com

The key to developing basic math skills is incremental development. What we mean by that is developing one skill thoroughly, backwards and forwards, before moving on to the next skill on which it depends.

Much of the muddle and failure of the current American Math Education system is due to the incredible number of topics covered in each school year, inevitably resulting in students moving on to higher skills and concepts without mastering the prerequisite and foundational skills.

What you should do is have your child work through each of these 1st grade math problems worksheet in order (even if he or she is in a higher grade), completing one at each practice session. He should do and re-do each sheet until it’s automatic. That is, until he can work through it as fast as he can write! Then move on to the next sheet.

The intent is that the child should feel the first grade math activities he’s doing are easy. That feeling of ease and comfort is a manifestation of automaticity, the full integration of a given skill, which is the foundation for confident and successful future development, and is the antidote to Math Anxiety.

Just Like Playing Ball
The way you’re working with your child on basic math skills is much like the way you would work with him on developing an athletic skill. If you were playing catch at a given distance, you would stay at that distance until he could do it confidently and happily before stepping further back or starting to throw the ball harder. That’s what we’re doing here, with these fun first grade math activities.

Similarly, with a young child, you can’t really imagine jumping into a full game of baseball. How would that be possible? You will work on small skills in isolation or one or two rules at a time.

That’s just what we’re doing with our math skills, we need to learn the separate technical skills of the math facts in the early years, by doing lots and lots of 1st grade math practice, before being able to play “the game of math” when you’re older.

Best of luck on using our free math problems worksheets! Please contact us if you have any questions or comments or need help.

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