By year 4 expectations are rising as children’s understanding and knowledge increases. The Primary Framework for Mathematics suggests that children should be able to read, write and understand the following words:
Take away
subtract
how many are left?
how much less?
difference between,
how much more?
how many more to make?
decrease,
inverse
and the minus sign (–)
They should know that:
Subtraction is the same as taking away, finding the difference between and complementary addition.
Subtraction is non-commutative.
When a larger number is subtracted from a smaller number, the answer is negative.
Subtracting a number from another makes it smaller.
Subtracting zero makes no difference to a number.
Subtraction is the inverse of addition.
They should have good mental strategies for solving subtraction problems with simple numbers.
These two free maths worksheets can be used as a check to see whether some of these fundamentals have been understood.
Free Y4 maths worksheets: Understand subtraction and its relationship to addition (pg 1)
Free Y4 maths worksheets: Understand subtraction and its relationship to addition (pg 2)