Lovin’ Those Math Facts (with freebies)

February 9, 2013

Happy Saturday! So glad this week is over. I had my unannounced visit this week and I think it went pretty well. I’ll find out soon when I do my post-conference. This was actually the first time that I wasn’t nervous at all. I just had a feeling that I would be observed on Wednesday and I was. There are some terrible lessons in our math series so I was glad that this was a day of review where I could just do my own thing.

My kiddos are working hard on getting faster on our math facts. This is our grade level focus for this 9 weeks and we have been working on it everyday in my class. Our goal is for the kids to get 20 or more math facts done in a minute and a half.  I do a 25 question timed test everyday for practice and we graph the previous days’ results.

Grab a copy by clicking on the image above.

I copied this graph on colored paper and the kids keep it in their desks. They love to see if they have grown from the day before. One of my kids said it was her favorite part of the day.

My teammate Heather had a great idea to have the kids write our goal on the back of their paper. When I was making practice tests, I went ahead and typed it on the test. I also put astericks beside number 20 so they would know that this is where they need to get to with a quick glance.

Grab 10 free math timed tests by clicking on the link above.

When I give the math facts assessments from my district, I have noticed that some of my kids put the astericks on their page.

Math facts are so important for kids to know quickly and I’ve noticed more of my kids quit using their fingers on these tests. We play “Around the World” for quick practice when we have a few extra minutes. In this game, 2 students face off and whoever knows the fact quickest moves on to the next person.

What games do you play or activities do you use to help students practice their math facts?

9 Comments on “Lovin’ Those Math Facts (with freebies)

  1. Thanks for the freebie. We do time tests once a week, but maybe I need to do it more often. I love graphing the results! 🙂

    We play Around the World too! We love games to practice facts. We play Beat the Calculator, BAM!, and I just purchased a Rock, Paper, Scissors fact game from TpT!

    Katie
    Smiles from 2nd Grade

  2. We use a program from Otter Creek called Rocket Math. First we assess students to see how many numbers they can write in one minute. Then that tells us the goal to set for them to answer math facts in one minute. The order they learn the facts is organized so they only Lear three new facts with each level. Most of them are doing forty problems in one minute fifteen seconds. First they practice orally with a partner, so they are seeing the problems on the answer key and they are hearing it too. Then they switch and the other partner practices. Then we do the test…everyday! Everyday! Our third grade teachers tell us their math times work so much better when the kids can quickly recall those math facts.
    Patty
    2ndinline.blogspot.com

  3. I made a center for the students to practice their math facts. I used the little heart containers from the dollar store and put facts inside them. The students had to solve the problem. I was thinking of putting a timer in the center so student could compete against each other.

    gradeschoolsuzy.blogspot.com

  4. In our county, we have a math computer program called Math Facts in a Flash. (begins with 1st grade) The students must answer 40 problems correctly in 1 minute to go to the next level. (addition with 0, addition with 1, etc.) Then it goes to subtraction. The kids love it! Every child goes to the computer daily to work on it.
    susanlulu@yahoo.com

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