Graphic organizers do not just belong in English Language Arts. I have found great success with my students using graphic organizers for the different operations, starting with addition.

If you think about it, numbers are an arbitrary collection of marks that have been assigned value. Students must first recognize the number and its associated value. In order to add, they must do this for two numbers and count the assigned value together. That is quite the cognitive load required to add 2 numbers.

My experience has been students do really well with numbers within 10 that they can associate with their fingers. For numbers greater than 10, many students do not have enough experiences associating the greater value with those number.

This is where graphic organizers and visuals are essential to math instruction, especially for students who might be struggling and pacing guides often leave behind. They are struggling not because they are bad at math but rather because they have not yet had enough experiences with numbers. Graphic organizers and visuals will help lighten the cognitive load as they gain more experiences and discover the patterns and beauty of our number system.

This might look like using a set of double tens frames to add two addends greater than 10. Or, using an 100 chart to start adding 10 more to different 2 digit numbers. This will help illustrate patterns and the organization of our numbers before adding even more. A graphic organizer with actual-sized tens and ones provides students a visual to physically build and organize the different addends with classroom manipulatives. With enough practice, students can transition to drawing sticks and ones on the paper without the visual support.

Too many curriculum guides teach one method one day and another the next without allowing students enough time to grapple, practice, and internalize what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Graphic Organizers and Visuals are one method to allow for important additional practice in math, especially for students with learning disabilities.