Kumon Grade 2 Subtraction

Workbook Educator’s Guide

Using Kumon Calculations Workbooks: General Guidance ............................................. 2

Daily Guide: Grade 2 Subtraction ......................................................................................... 4
Using Kumon Calculations Workbooks: General Guidance

Kumon Calculations Workbooks follow the Kumon Method, a proven learning system from
Japan that has helped millions of children worldwide develop math skills without frustration.
You can use Kumon Calculations Workbooks to introduce new math skills or to provide
additional support after/alongside another program. The table below shows benefits of each
approach.

Using Kumon Workbooks to teach Using Kumon Workbooks

a new skill for additional support
• Learn the new concept(s) using • Refine and deepen
an efficient and targeted understanding of the concept(s)
approach • Solidify mastery of math facts
• Avoid development of and gain procedural fluency
misconceptions • Identify and correct
• Progress toward mastery of the misconceptions
relevant math facts and • Improve your child's mental
procedures calculation abilities and their
• Improve your child’s mental ability to learn independently
calculation abilities and their
ability to learn independently

Please note that for the full benefit of the Kumon Method, including personalized learning
plans and individualized instruction, take the next step and contact a Kumon Learning Center
near you. Visit www.kumon.com for more information about our Learning Centers.

Important Steps
For all Kumon Calculations Workbooks, please use the following steps for best results.
Timing

• We recommend having your child complete about one

section (2 pages) a day. This should include the answer
check.

• Each daily session is about 15 to 30 minutes. If your child

is learning the skill for the first time, the learning session
will be closer to 30 minutes.

Sequencing

• Even if your child is reviewing material, have them start on

page 1 and work through the book page by page. Similarly,
they should always work problems on each page in order.
For best results, do not skip any content.

Kumon Workbooks are designed so the student “learns

through doing”; therefore, the sequence of pages and
 problems in each book is key to the instructional method
and effectiveness.
Checking Answers and Moving On
• Checking and correcting answers is an essential part of the
learning process. One approach is to have a parent or
teacher mark the child’s answers as either correct or
incorrect. Then have the child correct the wrong answers.

• You may choose to require a perfect score before your

child moves on the next section. If you use this approach,
you can repeat each section as many times as you wish by
erasing it and having your child redo it. Or, have your child
write answers on a separate sheet.
Encourage Self-Learning
• One hallmark of the Kumon Method is the emphasis on
learning through doing rather than passive absorption of
information. This is why there is minimal direct
explanation in the book; the understanding comes through
working problems in sequence.

• Support your child in the self-learning process by allowing

them to work independently on the problems, correct
their answers, and reflect on their errors. We encourage
you to ask questions to promote deeper engagement, but
resist the urge to “just explain” what they should learn
from the page.

For a daily plan and page-by-page guidance to support using Kumon Grade 2 Subtraction, see
the next page.
 KUMON Grade 2 Subtraction Workbook: Daily Guide
Using this guide
• This guide organizes the workbook into daily sessions of 2 pages each.
• Each daily session should last about 15 to 30 minutes.
• Fill in the Date column to keep track of your progress.

Book Educator Notes

Date PP. Description
Section
TOPIC: Review
1 2–3 Subtracting 1 to 3 This is the first page set for this workbook. Here your child will review subtracting
numbers 1, 2, and 3 from numbers up to 12. This review is important to help your
child practice mental calculation and prepare them for the more challenging
subtraction problems they will face later in this workbook. You and your child may
notice a pattern to the solutions in this page set. This section is designed to help
your child see the different ways subtraction problems can produce the same
solutions.

2 4_5 Subtracting 4 to 5 This page set focuses on subtracting 4 and 5 from numbers up to 14. This page set
provides your child more review of subtraction and practice with simple single-
digit problems to prepare them for subtraction with 2-digit and 3-digit numbers
later in this workbook. Subtraction of single digit numbers is the foundation for all
subtraction problems. It is important that your child can solve these problems
quickly and correctly before continuing in this book.

3 6–7 Review Here your child will continue to practice subtraction with single digit numbers. It is
important to have your child check their answers when they complete a page or
page set. This will give them two skills: the ability to self-correct any incorrect
answers and encourage them to try again until the can solve all the problems
correctly. This is the foundation for strong subtraction skills and independent
learning.

4 8–9
5 10–11
6 12–13 From Numbers up to 20 For this page set, your child will practice subtracting from larger numbers up to 20.
You can offer your child help if they need it by pointing out that they can use their
mental calculation skills from earlier pages to continue to solve these problems
correctly. They can also use the previous problems and solution pattern to help
them determine the correct answer if they have difficulty. For example, the first few
7 14–15 From Numbers up to 20 problems deal with subtracting 1 from a larger number. You can remind your child
that this is the same as counting one less than the number being subtracted from.
This hint applies to all of the problems in this section. The solution for 15 - 6 may
not be familiar to your child, but they can break the problem down into pieces
they are familiar with such as 10 - 6 = 4 and then add the missing 5 back to the
solution of that problem like this: 4 + 5 = 9. 9 then becomes the answer to 15 - 6.

Topic: 2-Digit Subtraction

8 16–17 2-Digit Subtraction In this section, your child will continue to solve 2-digit subtraction problems. They
will start with vertical subtraction in this section as well. Vertical subtraction is
typically easier for some children as it allows them to line up the numbers being
9 18–19 subtracted according to place vaule which helps them see the problem differently.
You can still have your child breakdown the problems and solve them as they did
in the earlier pages.

10 20–21 The 2-digit numbers in this page set can be difficult for your child to subtract from
using the menthod where they count backwards from the number being
subtracted. This is where breaking down the numbers can come in handy. For
example, 20 - 6 can be broken down into 10 + 10 - 6. This may be easier for your
child to solve as they have practice with problems like 10 - 6 which equals 4. Then
they can add 10 + 4, another mental calculation they should know and get 14,
which is the solution to 20 - 6.

11 22–23 The goal of practicing subtraction at this level is to help your child develop the
skills to solve 2-digit subtraction problems mentally. They can employ different
problem solving strategies to solve each problem.
 Book Educator Notes
Date PP. Description
Section
12 24-25 Knowledge of single-digit subtraction problems is important to solving 2-digit
problems as well. If your child can solve 9 - 4, they can apply that knowledge to
solve 19 - 4. Remind your child of this strategy as they make their way through this
workbook.

13 26-27 In this page set, your child should look for the pattern between the problems. The
problems on this page are designed to help your child find a pattern between
similar subtraction problems that can help them solve the problems more easily.
The goal is for your child to realize that 31 - 4 and 41 - 4 will produce similar
answers of 27 and 37 respectively.

14 28–29 These pages offer more practice with 2-digit by 2-digit subtraction problems. Here
you can point out and remind your child about "borrowing" or "regrouping" when
solving 2-digit by 2-digit subtraction problems. If the number being subtracted
from in the ones place is smaller than the second number your child will have to
borrow from the top number to solve the problem.
In subtraction, borrowing happens when you subtract one number that is greater
from another that is smaller. It is important that your child understand this method
of subtraction when completing these pages.

15 30–31 These pages offer continued practice with subtraction.

16 32–33
17 34–35
18 36–37 In this section your child will continue to practice 2-digit by 2-digit subtraction.
Remind your child to use the problem solving skills they developed earlier in this
workbook or learned in the classroom to help them solve any difficult problems. It
is important that your child knows how to breakdown the problems to make them
easier to solve and knows how to "borrow" from the number being subtracted
from in order to make the problem solvable.
19 38–39

20 40–41
21 42–43
22 44–45

Topic: 3-Digit Subtraction

23 46–47 This is the first section were your child will begin subtracting 2-digit numbers from
3-digit numbers. Have your child look at each problem on the page carefully and
see if they can spot the pattern. This page uses problems with 3-digit numbers and
2-digit numbers that end in "0." This is to help your child understand place value
and how to subtract from 3-digit numbers. For all of the problems on this page, a
"0" will be in the ones place of the solution. You can then encourage your child to
solve the first half of the numbers like a single-digit subtraction problem. For
example, the problem 120 - 30 can be solved like this: start in the "ones" column
and move the "0" down as 0 - 0 = 0. Then, look at the "hundreds" and "tens" place
numbers on top as one number and the number in the "tens" place on the bottom
as the number being subtracted from the top number. In this case the problem
becomes 12 - 3 which equals 9. Then move the 9 down to the "tens" place in the
answer line. The final solution of 120 - 30 is 90.

24 48–49 In this page set, the problems get harder. Your child will have to pay attention to
the numbers being subtracted from. Here you can remind your child to always
start on the right and work their way to the left of the number as they subtract.
They should first compare and subtract the numbers from the "ones" column and
then the "tens" column and then the "hundreds" column as needed.

25 50–51 It is good to remind your child that their understanding of 1-digit and 2-digit
subtraction can be applied to 3-digit subtraction as well. For example, the problem
139 -62 can be broken down into smaller easier to solve problems. Encourage your
child to start with the "ones" column and try 9 - 2 which equals 7. Have them write
7 in the "ones" place. Then have your child focus on the "tens" column 3 - 6. Your
child should know this is not solvable and know they should borrow from the
hundreds column. The problem then becomes 13 - 6. This is a problem your child
should be more familiar with solving from their practice earlier in this workbook.
You child can then solve 13 - 6 and place the answer in the "tens" column. The
answer then becomes 77.
 Book Educator Notes
Date PP. Description
Section
26 52–53 In this page set, your child will begin seeing problems where they have to borrow
from the "tens" place to subtract in the "ones" place. Have your child review the
explanation box on page 52 for a reminder of how to approach these problems.

27 54–55 Here your child will continue to practice subtracting 3-digit numbers.

28 56–57

29 58–59

30 60–61 Remind your child that, when they are subtracting, they should always move to the
left. Always start with the smallest values. If you have a 3-digit number such as 145
they will start subtracting values from the ones column first. Then they will move
to the tens and hundreds columns. If borrowing or regrouping is involved, they will
31 62–63 take the borrowed value and place it in the column to the right. So, if they are
32 64–65 subtracting numbers in the tens column and they needed to borrow a "1", they can
remove "1" from the hundreds column.
33 66–67

Topic: Subtraction

34 68–69 This page set has your child revisit subtracting single digits from 2-digit numbers
to prepare them for subtracting with larger numbers. It is always good to have
your child review basic subtraction equations to keep their mental math skills
sharp.

Topic: Subtraction of Tens

35 70–71 In this page set, your child will practice subtracting numbers by tens from larger
numbers. In subtraction, any number minus "0" is the same number. For these
problems your child can apply their knowledge of single digit subtraction because
the number in the ones column will always equal "0." If your child has trouble with
this concept of subtraction have them rewrite the problems in vertical form and
tell them to look at the numbers in the tens or hundreds columns first. If they can
subtract those two numbers and move the "0" in the ones column down they will
find the correct answer. For example, if your child can solve 4 -1 then they can
solve 40 - 10 by subtracting "1" from "4" and moving the "0" down. This gives
them the correct answer of "30."

36 72–73 The concept of subtracting by tens becomes more difficult in this page set as the
first number no longer ends in "0." However, your child should know that any
number minus "0" equals the same number. This will help them solve these
problems more easily. You can encourage your child to rewrite the problems
vertically so they can better see how the numbers line up and which numbers they
are subtracting from. For all the problems on this page, the number in the ones
column will be the same as the number they are subtracting from. For example, in
67 -60 the "7" will move down to the answer line as 7 - 0 = 7 and then 6 -6 in the
tens column becomes "0." This means the answer is "7."

Topic: Subtraction of Hundreds

37 74-75 For this section, your child can apply the same subtraction rules as subtracting by
tens. Remind your child that "0" minus any number equal that same number. It is
also good to remind your child to line up the place value columns when
subtracting numbers that end in "0." This will help them more easily solve
subtraction problems with larger numbers.

38 76-77 Your child will practice a mix of subtraction problems in this section. Some
39 78-79 problems will be 3-digit by 3-digit subtraction and some problems will be 3-digit
by 2-digt subtraction. Remind your child that it is important to line up the place
values of the numbers being subtracted in order to get the correct answer.

Topic: Subtraction of Thousands

40 80-81 In this section, your child will subtract numbers by thousands. They might be
intimidated by the large numbers, but you can remind them that subtracting by
thousands is similar to subtracting 1- and 2-digit numbers. Once they line up the
numbers by place value and move all the "0" down they can subtract the numbers
41 82-83 in the thousands and hundreds columns just like they would subtract a 2-digit
number.
 Book Educator Notes
Date PP. Description
Section
Topic: Three Numbers
42 84-85 Mixed Calculations This section has your child completing mixed calculation equations. While they
might be intimidated, you can remind your child that they have all the skills to
solve these problems correctly. When solving equations with three numbers and
mixed calculations prompt your child to solve the problems in parentheses first.
Then use the answer to finish the problem by adding to it or subtracting from it as
the equation requires.
If the problem does not contain parentheses and the calculation symbols are the
same, have your child work from left to right adding or subtracting the numbers in
pairs. If the problem has different calculation symbols instruct your child to
complete the addition problem first and then subtract from the sum of that
equation.
Although solving equations with three numbers can be challenging, your child has
gained all the skills needed to solve them correctly in this workbook. If your child
struggles, remind them of the problem solving skills they already practiced and
encourage them to apply those skills to these problems.

Topic: Review
43 86-87 This is the final section of problems in this workbook. Encourage your child to
apply the subtraction skills they have learned throughout this workbook to these
final problems. If your child has difficulty with any of the problems in this section,
have them revisit the corresponding sections in this workbook with similar
problems for more practice.

AK 88-97 Have your child refer to the Answer Key at the end of each page set to ensure they
found the correct answers. If any of there answers are wrong, encourage your child
to go back to that problem and try it again.