Math Facts

[niccig]

Program or App? We do worksheets at home for addition and subtraction.
I know gator's mum :wavey:had a math program, but I think it started at grade 3. DS is in grade 2. He understands the math concepts, but is slow with his math facts, still counts on his fingers etc. I need to help him get faster.

Thanks,
Nicci

[smilequeen]

My boys really like Math Blaster.

I'll be watching this though. My oldest does really well just practicing worksheets but DS2 will probably need something more. He's so visual.

[karstmama]

consider playing games like backgammon and cribbage, where counting pretty quickly is a big part of the game. hey, it can only help, right?

i love cribbage & never get to play.

[Cuckoomamma]

Frog Juice...a great card game from Gamewright. There's no need for learning to be boring :-)

Timed computer games can induce anxiety. A child needs to be relaxed in order to begin to "see" math mentally. You could get the math facts in just by drilling, but you're looking for a deeper understanding. That understanding makes them figure out their own version of mental math and gives them speed.

[infocrazy]

DS is in grade 2. He understands the math concepts, but is slow with his math facts, still counts on his fingers etc. I need to help him get faster.

Watching this thread! You completely described DS1. We have been trying to drill them...but DS2 has a head for numbers and has been faster than DS1!!!! Not going over well. DS2 isn't calculating most of them just memorizing, but DS1 is still calculating NOT memorizing so he isn't scoring well in math facts.

[egoldber]

Is there a specific need for him to be faster now? He will get faster with practice. Older DD knew the concepts but counted on her fingers and used tricks for a long time, at least until 4th grade.

Is the teacher requesting this? Because otherwise he will get faster with repetition and practice.

[Jupiter]

As a math teacher who has dealt with many types of students. Don't push speed. Kids don't need to do it fast, they need to be accurate. Also you don't want to create anxiety as math anxiety is so prevalent. Make it fun and let me be successful, speed will come in time.

[infocrazy]

Is there a specific need for him to be faster now? He will get faster with practice. Older DD knew the concepts but counted on her fingers and used tricks for a long time, at least until 4th grade.

Is the teacher requesting this? Because otherwise he will get faster with repetition and practice.

Not OP, but for our 2nd grade DS, yes. He needs to do 50 problems in 3 minutes. He scored at below grade level even though he "knows" them, he just needs to calculate some of them still. What typically happens is that he does a few very quickly, then gets to one he doesn't know straight off and takes a long time to calculate and is slow to go quick again. He has 100% accuracy, but doesn't meet the time requirement.

[egoldber]

What happens if he doesn't meet the requirement? Isn't this something they should be working on over the year?

ETA: FWIW, my older DD NEVER met the requirement for speed for multiplication facts in 3rd grade. Some kids are simply not fast.

[Jupiter]

He has 100% accuracy, but doesn't meet the time requirement.

These time requirements are stupid, there is no correlation between speed of doing basic calculations and mathematical ability. When my child gets to this point in school, trust me I will not be quiet about it.

[kijip]

I was really concerned about Ts speed. It was not great. At all. But he scores off the chart for qualitative reasoning and at the top of the charts for math achievement. I was very concerned about speed and gave him lots of extra practice. Until I basically killed his interest in math. I realized I was on the wrong track and backed off speed. Suddenly this year, his speed and math fact memorization clicked in- right at the 4th grade by age mark. Unless they will hold him back a grade for not meeting the time drill, I would just let it be. Give him extra, fun practice but don't make it a chore. This age is when the seeds of math hate set in.

[kristac]

xtramath.org is a site DS1's school uses.

For math apps we like
Mathmateer Free
Math Evolve
Squeebles Addition & Subtraction
Marble Math Jr
Motion Math Hungry Fish

[hellokitty]

DS2 is in a multi-age classroom and first and second graders this yr. This is an experimental classroom in our district. In order to try to make more independently geared toward different math levels, they have been using a curriculum called, "Rocket Math." It isn't very complicated, just a sheet of math facts and the kids and teacher set a goal for how many problems each student can finish solving within 2 min. Once they reach a certain goal, they introduce a more difficult sheet of math facts. DS2 has really thrived off of this curriculum and he tends to be a perfectionist type, but the idea of setting these personal goals seems to work well for him. I really wish DS1 would have had a chance to use it. The two teachers have been so impressed with it, saying that even students who are slow, still continue to make progress, that they are doing a presentation to our school board in a few wks. I'm thinking that they are going to present it, in order to consider switching the early elementary math curriculum to rocket math.

Anyway, IDK if you can find rocket math in a homeschool version or not. However, it is a way to help kids become quicker at math w/o as much pressure.

[sntm]

We use Xtra Math also. DS actually enjoys it and likes the competition with himself. He's gotten a lot faster.

[o_mom]

Mine like this game: http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-math-lines/index.html

DS2 played this over the summer and really improved on his timed tests.

I do have to say, that having taught and tutored higher math subjects for years, there is a need to be able to quickly do calculations in your head by the time they get to middle/high school. IME, students who did not have nearly instant recall of math facts would invariably have difficulty following the process in a higher math problem. They were using all of their processing trying to count up/down and would lose their higher-level train of thought. However, in 1st/2nd grade, accuracy should be first, then building speed.

One thing to look at is his writing speed. Our school also uses the 'Rocket Math' mentioned above. The thing I like best about it is that they start with a writing test. This measures how fast they can write a series of digits. That is then used to set their 'goal' for the timed tests. DS1 writes slowly and usually has a goal around 25-30 (it was 15 at one point), but others in his class have 40 as the goal.

[inmypjs]

I recommend City Creek Press products: www.citycreek.com. They use stories to help with recall of the facts. Many kids who struggle with rote memorization do well with this.

I also don't think speed is that important, especially if it creates anxiety.

Something to keep in mind is that how quickly facts and information are recalled and verbalized often has to do with working memory and processing speed. Simply practicing math facts won't improve that. Other kids of cognitive exercises sometimes do though. There's lots more to say about that, but I think it's just important to realize that the basis of some of this speed stuff is neurological, and can't always be helped by repetitive practice.

[94bruin]

Another Xtramath user here (based on an earlier recommendation.) DD1 doesn't struggle with math, so this website helped her with her math facts speed. I gave her a little reward at the end as an extra incentive.

Actually, I just learned at her conference last week that they aiming for 100% accuracy 50 questions 3 minutes by the end of the school year as well. Xtramath definitely helped her increase her speed - she was still counting on fingers at the end of first grade, but on her recent addition test she got 98% and subtraction she got 70%.