Year 2 Subtraction, Bar Modelling and Number Lines
An exciting development in teaching maths in the UK is bar modelling. Bar models are pictorial representations of number problems and act as a half-way house between using concrete representations (e.g. solid cubes) and working in the abstract. Bar models can be applied to subtraction and are an excellent way to help children in Year 2 visualise the calculation.
This way of working has become very popular in UK schools over the last couple of years, picking up from the success shown by children in Singapore. In the early stages it is a good idea to keep the bars proportional but this is not entirely necessary and for our very latest worksheets we have included a mixture of examples, many of which are proportional but some are less so.
Subtraction really takes off in Year 2 as the knowledge and skills gained in Year 1 are extended to larger numbers and written methods of subtraction are also introduced. We have a great selection of pages to help, including over 40 new pages using bar modelling.
Number lines are a more traditional aid to subtraction as children use them to count forwards or backwards on the way to learning facts ‘off by heart’.