Author: Dr. Don

Why raise student goals for passing?

Posted on by Dr. Don

A parent asks:
Why does the teacher keep raising our daughter’s goal every time she does better on a test? She now has a higher goal than any other child in her class, and she can’t pass in one or two days like she used to. She is getting discouraged. Is this fair? Is this what you recommend?

Dr. Don answers:
Yes, this is what I recommend. I explain the recommendation on the Rocket Math FAQs page, item K, “What do I do about fast writers, slow writers, and do goals ever change?”

Your daughter’s teacher is following the directions which do say to raise student’s goals when they demonstrate the ability to write faster.  Two things tell me it is a good idea for the teacher to raise your daughter’s goal.
1) Before her goals was raised, your daughter was passing much faster than we would like.  Remember, the goal of Rocket Math is that students should know these facts by heart for the rest of their lives, so extra practice is a good deal.  Students who learn an operation in one semester (about 90 school days) are learning as fast as is necessary–and that is practicing for 3 to 4 days on each set of facts before passing. Tell your daughter that you don’t want her to pass until she has practiced for at least three days.  Help her to be patient and be willing to practice a bit longer.
2) Your daughter has demonstrated she can write faster than we initially thought.  We begin by setting individualized goals based on the writing speed test.  When students demonstrate the ability to write faster, we raise their goals.   The goal is to for students to practice until they know the facts instantly, without any hesitation.
If a student can write faster, but has lower goals, that student can be hesitant on some facts, and still pass.  This is not good, because they won’t get as much practice on those facts as they should have.  Eventually after passing several levels even though the new facts were not fully mastered, the student hits the wall.  They are too slow on a bunch of facts, and there are too many now to be learned.  (We can’t learn ten or more similar things at the same time.)  This is when students get stuck and can no longer move ahead.  This is not good.  To prevent this we need students to answer all the facts as fast as they can write.  That means if the student demonstrates the ability to write faster than we initially thought, the student should be expected to answer facts at a faster rate than we initially expected.  This varies by student, as some students can write much faster than others.
To ensure that students are answering fact questions as fast as their fingers can carry them, we encourage teachers to raise the goals closer to what students have actually done.  As long as students can still pass in fewer than six days, that is acceptable and better for them than passing every day.  Students who pass every day aren’t getting as much practice as we’d like.
Once students have goals over 40 however, the rules change.  More on that in another post.

Motivating by creating success

Posted on by Dr. Don

Cool rewards, such a getting to make a human Rocket ship on the playground (above), work best if students expect to succeed.

There is sometimes a chicken-and-egg problem with rewards for success. If students are not being successful, just offering new rewards won’t necessarily motivate them. Especially if they have come to the point where they don’t expect to succeed. Then a two-pronged approach to motivation is needed.

A very smart instructional coach and principal I know, recently decided that Rocket Math was not progressing the way it should in their school. Students weren’t passing frequently enough, weren’t excited, and weren’t getting motivated. These two instructional leaders realized that their teachers needed help to effectively motivate their students AND they knew the students needed to experience more success to get motivated. So rather than just offer rewards, they set up special practice sessions so students could get “two-a-day” practices for a week.

The principal and instructional coach made a special challenge week (all 1st-5th grades in this school do Rocket Math). During this week each class had a second ten-minute time during the day for Rocket Math. Immediately after their first practice session of the day, the instructional coach and principal checked the folders of any students who thought they passed, so that if they did, they would re-fill their folders with the next set, allowing them to move on immediately during the second session. Students who didn’t pass knew they had a second chance that same day. At Rocket Math we know that two practice sessions in one day is very powerful and leads to faster learning! The instructional coach and principal also held some extra enthusiastic “Rocket to the Office” practice sessions for selected students who needed the extra boost.

Prizes were announced at the start of the challenge week. The student in each class who passed the most levels during the week would get a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card. The teacher whose class passed the most levels in the week won lunch on the principal. And the class that won (by passing the most levels) got a special secret prize, which you can see above. The picture was posted in the school newsletter, on the school website, and the school’s closed Facebook page.

The brilliant thing about the challenge week was that the excitement of the prizes were reinforced by the extra practice sessions, boosting success at the same time as providing extra motivation. That is effective instructional leadership, par excellence.

Engage Students in Rocket Math during schedule gaps at test times

Filling testing-created gaps in your schedule.

Posted on by Dr. Don

Many schools are starting spring testing soon, and it wreaks havoc with the daily schedule. People outside education don’t really understand how much school schedules are disrupted by attempting to test everyone in the school on the available computers. Not to mention catching all the students who are absent during their assigned time. Disrupted schedules create small gaps in the schedule, which are hard to fill, even more so when not every student is present. Let me present an option to fill those small gaps–do Rocket Math! Here’s five reasons why you should.

1) By this time of the year, students know the Rocket Math routine, so it should not take more than ten to fifteen minutes to run, start to finish. So Rocket Math can fill small gaps.

2) Even if Rocket Math has been done once during the day, a second or even third session during the day will NOT harm students, it will actually help them progress faster. (As long as you have at least a half hour between sessions).

3) It is beneficial for the students in the room even when some students are out doing make-up testing. It won’t require you to re-teach a lesson.

4) In contrast to free reading or make work activities, which only fill time, students doing Rocket Math will be learning critical skills that are necessary for future success.

5) In contrast to the stress of the accountability tests, Rocket Math is something students know well and have success at. They know what they are doing and they see their growth. They know they are learning. This is a powerful antidote to the not-so-straightforward tasks, questions and expectations of the accountability tests.

I highly recommend keeping Rocket Math folders handy for filling those small gaps in the daily schedule caused by testing.

Making Math a Blast

Posted on by Dr. Don

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RocketMath has changed the way students learn math and in the amount of time they learn it. This worksheet-based curriculum brings learning back to paper and pencil. Teaching students two facts and their reverses on each worksheet allows kids to learn at their own pace without the pressure of time.
Only ten minutes a day are required for this curriculum and students practice with partners’ so they are not alone in their math journey. Once a student feels comfortable with their lesson they participate in a one minute assessment to see if they are ready to move on.
Whether studying on their own or with a tutor, RocketMath makes math simple. To subscribe find the right plan that fits for you.

Do CCSS expect math facts memorizing?

Posted on by Dr. Don

Yes!  Without question, CCSS expects students to know math facts “from memory.”  Students should not be counting on their fingers nor having to stop and think about basic math facts.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.OA.B.2 Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Worksheets alone will not get students to that place–it requires oral rehearsal of math facts until there are no hesitations.  That happens best with the kind of peer practice that Rocket Math is designed to provide.
Click here to see my basic math fact recommended benchmarks to use with Rocket Math to implement the Common Core.

How to tutor with Rocket Math

Posted on by Dr. Don

You can see this explained in our YouTube video here.

The first step in setting up a Rocket Math tutoring program is to make a folder for your student. Your Rocket Math subscription gives you access to our filing cabinet on the web. Open the Forms and Information drawer, look under Forms for Every Student and you’ll see the three forms you need. Print out the Rocket Chart and staple it on the front of a manila folder. Print out the Goal Sheet and staple it inside of the folder on the left. Print out the Individual Student Graph and staple it inside the folder on the right. Voila! You now have a student folder!

Next you must decide what operation you intend to teach to your student. Generally, begin with addition in first and second grade, and subtraction after addition is mastered. Starting in third grade multiplication has priority even if addition and subtraction are not mastered. Division comes after multiplication has been mastered.

Depending upon how well you know your math facts, it might be a good idea to make an answer key booklet. If you have two children working with each other, it is essential! You find a Practice Answers A-Z booklet under Answer Keys within each operation. Make the answer keys by printing out the PRACTICE ANSWERS A-Z booklet on a distinctive color of paper and stapling it into a packet.
Next, print out the writing speed test (found in the Forms and Information drawer under “Forms for Every student.”) Then on the first day, give this one-minute writing speed test. You are going to take the information of how many boxes completed from the writing speed test and transfer it to the goal sheet. On the goal sheet highlight the row with the student’s writing speed test results. That row gives you your student’s individualized goals for the 1-minute daily test.

Each day follow the same routine. Set up practice by getting out the student folder, which should have the right practice sheet for the day. Next, congratulate your student if they passed their previous set and let them color in the Rocket Chart for the level they passed. Now, you are ready to begin practicing. Have the student practice with you for two or three minutes followed by taking the one-minute timing. After the test, have the student fill in the date of this try on their Rocket Chart. Then evaluate to see if the student passed. If they had no errors and they met their individualized goal for the 1-minute timing (from the goal sheet) they passed. Then print the next lettered set from the website. If they didn’t pass, print the same sheet to practice again tomorrow.

Daily practice is what makes Rocket Math work. The daily practice is verbal practice, with the student reading the problems around the outside of the Rocket Math worksheet and then saying answers aloud from memory as they go for two to three minutes. By saying the whole fact and the answer aloud each time, the student strengthens their memory of the whole verbal chain. Eventually, they can’t help but remember it—just like a popular advertising slogan. The daily oral practice is what makes Rocket Math work, not the tests! The daily practice is corrected practice, and it is essential that the tutor either knows the answers or has the answer key packet on colored paper, and the packet is turned to the matching page. While the student is practicing, all hesitations or errors are immediately corrected by the tutor. Once a student has read the problem aloud they should have already thought of the answer, so no hesitation is allowed.

If the student hesitates or makes an error, the tutor follows a specific three-step correction or teaching procedure. (1) The tutor interrupts to state the problem and the correct answer, (2) the tutor has the student repeat the problem and the correct answer three times, (3) then the student backs up three problems on the worksheet to give it another try.

Four days a week the student and tutor follow the daily practice routine and do the daily one minute timing. Once a week the student should do the 2-minute timing. This monitors progress and the student should graph their weekly results on the individual student graph inside their folder. If this is trending upward it is proof that the student is learning.

Here are some interventions, for students who are stuck. Remember: these students don’t need anything different, they just need more practice! (1) Make sure the student is not stopping during the test to erase, or look at the clock, or count on fingers, etc. (2) Do another 2-3 minute practice session daily (or two!). This will help kids get “over the hump” if they are stuck! (3) Just make sure to have at least a 30-minute break between practice sessions. (4) Try having students orally practice the tests also! (Because the test facts are different than the practice facts.)

You can expect students to be able to pass each set within 2 to 5 days—if you’re doing everything right. It’s important that students start at the beginning of an operation and are practicing correctly by saying the whole problem and the answer every time. Tutors must be correcting hesitations as well as errors and individualized goals must be based on the Writing Speed Test. If students are taking longer than two to five days, make sure they get extra practice sessions daily. For more suggestions see our website.

Should second graders begin multiplication facts?

Posted on by Dr. Don

Jen writes:
Hi Don,
I am a 2nd grader teacher and LOVE the Rocket Math program. Currently my students are on the addition and subtractions tests. I have had a handful of students pass addition and subtraction, but instead of moving them on to multiplication, I started them on an addition challenge (much higher goals). Not sure if that was a good idea, I just didn’t feel they were ready for multiplication. Do you suggest that 2nd graders do Rocket Math multiplication? Thank you for any help!

Dr. Don answers:
Hi Jennifer,

We have a couple of new options. You can use the Add to 20 program for your second graders who have passed all the subtraction worksheets. That will reinforce the single digit facts but also extend to the Common Core expectations that students would be fluent with combinations like 11+7 and 13+4. The worksheets of the Add to 20 program are part of the Universal subscription. I plan to get Subtract from 20 done soon, and I will also add that to the Universal subscription. So if you want to address those Common Core objectives, those two programs are things you can assign to 2nd graders who finish basic 1s-9s subtraction.

We also have another program, Skip Counting, that is part of the Universal subscription. That teaches students the count-by series, such as counting by 4s (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, etc) to 40, and 9s to 90. The skill of skip counting is a great transition to multiplication because students are essentially learning successive addition when they are skip counting. So Skip Counting would be a great program for second graders after subtraction, especially good for helping them get ready for multiplication.

As far as when to start multiplication, it depends on your students’ concept development. Before beginning to memorize multiplication it is important that students understand the process of multiplication and what it means. If they have done skip counting, successive addition and/or drawn arrays then they probably understand multiplication. Ultimately the best test is whether, given unlimited time, but no help, those students can figure out any single digit multiplication fact, such as 7 x 9. [Don’t ask an easy one like 3 x 4, as they might have learned that by heart already.] If they can figure out any multiplication fact successfully, then they understand the concept. If they cannot figure it out, then they need more conceptual work before starting to memorize multiplication. So the answer about whether second graders are ready for multiplication facts is not necessarily the same for all students.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Posted on by Dr. Don

If you are seeing this in your school, you need Rocket Math!

Recently I gave my pre-service student teachers at Portland State University an assignment to do screening tests of basic skills in their placements. I was shocked to see how few of the screening tests showed students who were fluent with basic, single-digit math facts, where they could answer math facts as quickly as they could write. When children cannot answer math facts quickly and easily they are placed at a unnecessary disadvantage when it comes to doing math.

It is true that learning math facts takes time. No one can learn all of them in a matter of a few days or a week. It takes most students daily practice for months to learn all the facts in an operation. But when you consider that we require students to attend school five hours a day for years and years, it is pretty shocking to realize how many children do not have fluent mastery of math facts when they get to middle school. When the job can be done in ten minutes a day, and every child could become fluent in all four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by the end of fourth grade, why isn’t it?

Sometimes, teachers have been taught in their schools of education that helping children memorize things is somehow harmful. With that belief, teachers won’t try to do something systematic like Rocket Math. But after a year or two teaching, especially upper elementary grades, and struggling to teach higher math concepts to children who are interrupted by finger counting in the middle of every single computation, teachers learn that belief is simply wrong. Children are helped immensely by memorizing basic math facts. It enables them to have “number sense,” to easily appreciate the relationships among numerals, and to easily do computation.

Probably the main reason more students are not taught math facts, to the level they need, is that teachers are not aware of a tool that can help them do that. They don’t know that students enjoy doing learning math facts when it is done right. They don’t know that it can be done as a simple routine that takes ten minutes a day. They don’t know how easily students can master all of the facts. In short, they don’t know that Rocket Math exists. Someday a friend of theirs will tell them, because that is how Rocket Math spreads–by word-of-mouth.

If you read this, and you have never seen Rocket Math in action, you may be skeptical. Tell you what, write to me and if you need to see it in action to believe me, and don’t have a friend using Rocket Math, I’ll send you a free subscription to try it out.

Why not start with subtraction in 3rd grade?

Posted on by Dr. Don

Julie asks:

Hi Don, My staff has a question about which operation to start with. In our district, we have data that shows students are struggling with subtraction. We really want to put emphasis on getting the subtraction facts memorized. What are your thoughts about 3rd grade starting with subtraction in the beginning of the year and switching to multiplication the second half of the year regardless of having completed Z in subtraction? Thanks!

Dr. Don answers:

Dear Julie,
Your teachers are right that a lot of students may not be fluent with subtraction facts. There are several reasons for that. And yes, it would be possible to start with subtraction in 3rd grade and then switch to multiplication as students finish, or by mid-year at the latest. But I would not recommend it because you will then have a problem with not every child getting through multiplication in 3rd grade, which results in a similar problem in fourth grade. What would be better would be to get every second grader fluent in subtraction facts before 3rd grade.

Why? It is important to understand the problem before specifying the solution. Students have trouble learning subtraction facts primarily because they have not achieved automaticity in addition facts first. And why aren’t they automatic in addition facts? Usually because they didn’t start early enough and work on addition facts long enough in first grade to get to automaticity with addition facts.

A second reason students don’t master subtraction during grade 2, happens when the school doesn’t keep track of folders from first grade. If students have to start completely over with addition in second grade, they don’t have enough time (if they are a child who needs a bunch more time to learn facts) to get through both addition and subtraction. They go slowly through addition again, and don’t get into subtraction until well after the middle of the second grade. So the first push is to try to get everyone passing subtraction in 2nd grade.

What you don’t want to do is start over again in subtraction in third grade and struggle through that all year and then not have enough time to master multiplication in third grade. Because multiplication facts are so important, it would be better to do the reverse. Start with multiplication in third grade–because it has priority–and then for those who finish multiplication allow them to “go on” to subtraction. It is much better to start fourth grade strong in multiplication facts (even if you still count on your fingers for subtraction) than to be a fourth grader who is strong in subtraction, but unable to answer multiplication facts!

What does CCSS mean by “know from memory?”

Posted on by Dr. Don

Knowing from memory means not having to think about it.

Two of the best standards from the Common Core State Standards are on our home page:

By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers and

By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

These standards name the most important elementary math skills of all, because they are the foundation of all further work in mathematics.  But what does it mean to say students know math facts “from memory?”  It means that students don’t have to stop to figure it out.  Say for example a student is adding nine plus seven. A student can figure that out by thinking that because 9 is one more than 8 and 7 is one less than 8, the answer to 9+7 would be the same as 8+8, which is 16.  This is a smart strategy for figuring out the answer, but knowing it from memory means the student simply remembers the answer is 16.

So if second grade students know from memory the sums of all single digit numbers, they can answer any of those problems without hesitation, without having to stop and think about them.  That takes practice, to build up the neural connections, so that students remember the answers instantly without some intervening thought process.  That’s what Rocket Math is specifically designed to do.  Practicing figuring out the answer to facts is NOT the same thing as recalling them from memory.  So any practice procedure that allows students a long time to answer facts, allows hesitations, will not be very helpful in achieving that status of “knowing from memory.”

The peer practice procedures in Rocket Math require the “checker” to follow a “correction procedure” whenever there is a hesitation.  If the student has to stop even for a second to “think about it” they need more practice on that fact to commit it fully to memory.  The “correction procedure” provides that extra needed practice.  Having students complete worksheets on their own will NEVER eliminate that “stopping to figure it out.”  That is why the oral peer practice in Rocket Math is essential.  And that is why Rocket Math really will help students come to “know from memory” all sums of two one-digit numbers.