Same Math › Grades 4–6 › The standard algorithm
When do kids learn the standard algorithm?
The standard algorithm is the stacked method most parents learned: line up the numbers, work right to left, regroup. It's still taught. It just arrives after the strategies that explain it.
- Add each column from the right. Regroup when a column reaches 10.
- The small 1s are tens and hundreds being regrouped.
- 347 + 285 = 632
Why schools teach it
It comes last, not never
Common Core expects fluency with the standard algorithm for adding and subtracting by 4th grade (4.NBT.B.4), for multiplying by 5th grade (5.NBT.B.5), and for long division by 6th grade (6.NS.B.2). Before that, kids use methods like partial sums, the area model and partial quotients.
Those earlier methods aren't instead of the standard algorithm. They show why it works, so when kids regroup they know they're moving a ten, not "carrying a 1."
At the kitchen table
What to say, and what to skip
Say this
What's this little 1 really worth?
In the tens column it's a ten, not a one.Can you check it with the method you used before?
Which column do you start with?
The ones, on the right.Use the class word: regroup.
Skip this
- Teaching it early because it's faster.It is faster, but showing it before the class does often confuses kids.
Carry the one.
Classes say regroup, because it describes what's happening.The other methods are a waste of time.
They're what make the standard method make sense.
See it in action
Subtracting 503 − 247 with regrouping
Ones: 3 − 7 doesn't work, and there are no tens to regroup
Regroup 1 hundred into 10 tensRegroup 1 ten into 10 ones
13 − 7 = 6Finish the tens and hundreds
9 − 4 = 5, 4 − 2 = 2: 256
Zeros in the top number are where most regrouping mistakes happen. Base-ten blocks help.
Free practice sheet
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Parents also ask
Do schools still teach the standard algorithm?
Yes. Common Core names it in 4th grade (adding and subtracting), 5th grade (multiplying) and 6th grade (dividing).
Why not teach it first?
Without the earlier methods, kids follow steps without knowing why, and make place-value mistakes.
Can I show my child the way I learned?
Once the class has taught it, yes. Before that, check with the teacher.
What's the difference between carry and regroup?
Same move. Regroup says what's really happening: ten ones become one ten.