So, I've always done some sort of math fact drill... but not as consistently as I should have. My school uses Everyday Math, which is a program that I do love, but we all know that it lacks in basic fact practice. My kids play the games and have really good strategies for figuring out their facts... but to just instantly know them, well... that's a goal of mine every summer and I always end up just doing the same thing I did (or didn't!) do the year before.
BUT... at the conference I was at last week, I met a teacher from another district who was correcting math fact drill pages and it intrigued me... so I mustered up my courage to start a conversation with her about how she organizes math fact drill and she shared a website with me where you can generate your own math fact practice sheets. Here's the link! I did my own hunting and found this site too... which I like the look of the printables better.
Anyway, after talking with her, I have a new resolve to be consistent in how I do math fact drill. So, the new plan for next year is to develop a set of these sheets that increase in sum starting with a sheet that has sums from 0-8, then going up to sums of 10, and gradually ending around sums of 15. I'm going to do sheets with 40 problems and give my kids 2 minutes. That's three seconds a problem. I plan to do it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They will each have a data folder and inside the folder, will be the file above and I'll go through prior to each test and slip in the page they need next. In order to move on to the next level (or sum set), they will have to get 3 in a row 100% correct for whatever sum they are on.
So, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the drill and Tuesday and Thursday will be some other sort of memory work like me flashing up a shape for 2 seconds and then asking questions about the shape... or flashing up a group of objects and asking them to tell me how many were in the group.
I hope that makes sense. I think this document will be perfect alongside the learning targets tracker I posted last time!
When I got my Master's degree, I did a project where students set goals for and graphed their own oral reading fluency progress and it was very powerful to put that responsibility into their hands. I'm hopeful that having them be involved in their math facts will prove to be equally exciting and fruitful!
Thanks for the great idea and the worksheet site. I am moving from first to second this year and also use Everyday Math. I have seen the lack of basic fact practice.
ReplyDeleteI think overall no matter what resource you use math facts are just not there for our students. When I was little it was drill and kill but they have gotten away from that! and with technology of computers kids just don't know their math facts. I like this idea and think I will be doing it to!!
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