Instant assessment for basic math fact fluency: Ask ’em!

Teachers and parents often ask, “How do I know if my children need to study math facts?” Here’s an instant math assessment you can do to test them for math fact fluency. Ask a student a “hard one” such as, “What’s 9 times 7?” or if they are in first or second grade, “What’s 8 plus 9?” If they start counting on their fingers or hesitate while puzzling it out, they do not have “math fact fluency.” They need a program of systematic math facts practice until they know them all “by memory,” as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) say.

Math fact fluency means instant recall

A student thinks through an equation by recalling their math facts.Some teachers and schools teach “tricks” for remembering facts that are supposed to help children. However, they should at most be a temporary crutch. Such techniques need to be replaced with instant recall. The student shown here is using the commonly-taught “doubles plus one” trick for figuring out the answer to, “What’s 8 plus 9?” This is not fluency. He needs practice in math facts so they become “automatic” in recall. If he is still having to do this in fourth or fifth grade, he’ll find math work slow-going and drudgery. He’ll also find it hard to follow a math lesson when he has to stop and puzzle out simple facts like this.

Math fact fluency makes math easy

Students who know the math facts instantly can fly through their math assignments. They enjoy the exercise and feel good about their math abilities. On the other hand, students who have to count on their fingers, or use a number line or a times tables chart to do their math assignments come to hate math. It is so-o-o-o-o slow. I’m sad to say that when I taught elementary and middle school remedial students I knew they hated math because they had to puzzle out most of the facts. What else could I do but assign lots of math fact practice that they hated?

In graduate school, I learned how to design a math facts practice program in a way that every student can succeed in memorizing the facts. I put a paper-and-pencil program together back in the ‘90s and have been sharing it with people ever since. I called it Mastering Math facts, but everyone else just called it Rocket Math. That became its official name in 2007.

Teachers have been successfully using my nearly secret curriculum with wild success for decades. Oddly enough, students actually enjoy the Rocket Math Worksheet program. They enjoy the paired practice with a partner, and can actually see themselves learning and getting better.

Two students participating in one of Rocket Math's math fluency programs

How to assess students in math

Before you start Rocket Math’s Online Game or Worksheet Program, it’s a good idea to find out which operations your student needs to practice most. Rocket Math offers a few tests to identify where your student should start their Rocket Math journey.

 

Writing Speed Test

Many students aren’t able to write the answers to 40 problems in one minute, which is normal and doesn’t affect their math fact knowledge. Before administering the Operation Pretests, evaluate your student’s writing speed to make sure the results reflect your student’s true proficiency, and that they are not held back by their writing speed. 

Get the One-Minute Rocket Math Writing Speed Test.

 

Operation Pretests

Once your student has completed the Writing Speed Test, give them a pretest in one or more of the four basic operations. 

 

Evaluate Results 

For students in 3rd grade and above, test multiplication first and then division. If students struggle with either of those two operations, they should start learning those operations. For 3rd graders and above who don’t struggle with multiplication and division, test addition and subtraction to assess any weakness. For students in 1st and 2nd grade, test addition first and then subtraction. 

Evaluate your student’s results based on their individual writing speed with the Evaluation Chart for Pretests. Use their writing speed to determine if their performance on the Pretest is weak and shows a real need for work on math facts, or is good but could use some help, or strong and no practice is needed. 

Free Online Game subscription as long as you need to decide

There is no reason for students to be bogged down and discouraged by math, especially by lack of math fact fluency. This doesn’t need to happen to children. Every student is capable of memorizing basic math facts with a little effort and a carefully sequenced curriculum, like the Rocket Math Worksheet Program.

Or if a paper-and-pencil curriculum like the Rocket Math Worksheet Program involves standing at the copy machine, is not what you are looking for, Rocket Math is now online. The Online Game app starts with a complimentary initial subscription of 14 days. You can learn more about it at that link. Or you can just go ahead and register an account and start it on this link

 

Send an email to me at don at rocketmath.com and I’ll extend the complimentary subscription as long as you need to decide.** If you need one to ten seats it is a whopping $4.50 a seat for a year. Twenty or more seats are $2.50 each for the year and per-seat prices go down from there. Really there’s no reason to leave kids counting on their fingers.

Struggling with math: Rocket Math Online Game corrections prevent it in the first place.

 

Teachers often worry about what they need to do to find out what problems their struggling students will be struggling with in the Rocket Math Online Game. The answer is to see exactly how all the help that students need is built into the game. Your students have been taught and remediated BEFORE you can even know about it.  All errors or hesitations are corrected immediately.  The answer is given and then taken away, so the student has to remember it.  Then the student has to enter the answer.  Then the problem is presented again.  Then if answered correctly, the student gets an intervening problem and then gets to answer the missed problem again.  That is repeated once more before the student back to the regular sequence of facts.  View this 30-second video to see exactly how game corrections work.

 

Make the best use of the Online Game by watching these short videos

Part 1: First steps in making best use of the Online Game

Part 1 covers the first steps that a teacher needs to know how to do.

After students are set up in the Rocket Math Online Game these are things a teacher should know about how to do, in order to make the best use of the Online Game. This video explains several key features of the Online Game and how to manage those from the teacher dashboard. Includes information on how to:

  • log into your account,
  • get HELP and FAQs,
  • report glitches,
  • print the Parent Letter,
  • print the Color in Rocket Chart,
  • enable Learning Track alerts,
  • change Learning Tracks, and
  • change Teacher Mgrs. 

Part 2: Fluency data from the 1-minute tests races

Part 2 explains how to collect fluency data from the 1-minute tests races.

To make the best use of the Rocket Math Online Game the teacher should collect data from the scheduled 1-minute races (after Sets A, i, R, & Z), as students work through the A to Z curriculum. Collecting this data can prove that students are improving their fluency.  It can be used to document progress in IEPs or other learning plans.  Teachers should also assign 1-minute races to measure fluency progress on a regular basis.

Part 3: Is the game speed too fast?

Part 3 examines whether the game speed is really too fast, and how to modify it.
Many students do not realize they can remember math facts instead of figuring them out over and over. The Rocket Math Online Game purposely goes too fast to figure out answers. Instead answers must be recalled, so they have to be memorized. Once students begin remembering the answers, they can go fast and they really enjoy math much more. The Online Game is designed to help make that happen. How to use the game’s “Difficulty Score” to tell which students really do need more than 3 seconds to answer.

Part 4: Motivating your students to make best use of the Online Game

Part 4 Covers several ways of motivating students.

Teachers should support the work of learning math facts by recognizing students as they work through the A to Z levels of the Rocket Math Online Game. Providing students with the Color in Rocket Chart is the first step. Publicly awarding Learning Track Certificates when students finish is another. The Toughness Certificate is another form of recognition. Another way of motivating the practice necessary to learn this vital skill, is by keeping the length of time that students can play shorter than they want it to be. Ultimately the teacher’s attitude about how important this work is will make the difference in motivating students.

Part 5 Motivating your students to make the best use of the Online Game

Teachers should support the work of learning math facts by recognizing students as they work through the A to Z levels of the Rocket Math Online Game. Providing students with the Color in Rocket Chart is the first step. Publicly awarding Learning Track Certificates when students finish is another. The Toughness Certificate is another form of recognition. Keeping the length of time that students can play shorter than they want it to be, is another way of motivating the practice necessary to learn this vital skill. Ultimately the teacher’s attitude about how important this work is will make the difference in motivating students.

Learning Math by Fact Family vs One Operation at a Time

A Fact Family is an innovative way to group the learning of math facts. Some people are die-hard advocates of this way to learn facts. Yet students successfully learned math facts for decades without ever considering them as being composed of families. This blog discusses the pros and cons of learning with fact families. 

 

 What is a Fact Family

 

A fact family is a set of four math facts made with the same three numbers. The numbers 2, 3, and 5 can make a family of four facts: 2+3=5, 3+2=5, 5−3=2, 5−2=3. The numbers 2, 3, and 6 can make a different fact family: 2×3=6, 3×2=6, 6÷2=3, 6÷3=2.  

 

Why are Fact Families Important?

 

Fact families help children see that adding and subtracting are the opposite of each other. Multiplication and Division fact families do the same. Learning fact families may help students develop more flexibility in their number sense.   

 

Benefits of Thoroughly Learning a Single Operation at a Time

 

Rocket Math Addition Fact Family worksheet for students.

When it comes to memorizing math facts, students traditionally learn one operation at a time. They memorize only the Addition facts, typically in first grade. Not until later do students learn the concept of Subtraction, and then they begin memorizing Subtraction facts, usually in second grade. With Rocket Math, students will master Addition facts much better than most first graders. Students using Rocket Math will know Addition facts instantly without having to stop and think about them. When students have mastered Addition facts, an unusual thing happens when introduced to Subtraction. Students instantly recognize that the Subtraction facts are the opposite of those Addition facts they know so well, usually without even being told. This recognition does not typically happen in second grade with students who haven’t truly mastered Addition facts.  Therefore teachers think they need to teach in fact families to get students to recognize the reciprocal nature of Addition and Subtraction.   

 

Which Way is Better?

 

Only if students thoroughly master Addition facts, can they quickly recognize the reciprocal nature of Subtraction. Students find it easier when memorizing facts, to stick with Addition, rather than switching back and forth between adding and subtracting as is required by learning in fact families. They tend to memorize faster in single operations than they do in fact families.  However, if students memorize in fact families, they will learn the reciprocal nature of the fact families right from the beginning. They may learn it more thoroughly. That may help them develop more flexibility in their number sense. So that’s not a bad thing.

 

How to Learn Math with Fact Families and Single Operations

 

Teacher's directions worksheet for addition and subtraction fact families.Rocket Math offers separate Addition and Subtraction sequences, as well as fact family sequences. Both the Online Game and Worksheet Program provides these. If teachers (or their regular math curriculum) are wedded to fact families, they are available to use. Usually, the first fact families learned are Addition and Subtraction Fact Families through 10, then Fact Families from 11.  

 

I would recommend beginning with learning the operations separately: learning Addition facts (1s to 9s) first, followed by Subtraction facts (1s to 9s). For some students, this may be all they have time to learn.  If students have time, use Fact Families as a review. If the student has time, it would be beneficial and relatively easy for them to do Fact Families (+,-) to 10 and then Fact Families (+,-) from 11 afterward. Students will learn the facts more thoroughly, and the reciprocal nature of Addition and Subtraction will be deeply ingrained. This is quite simple in the Online Game, as it only involves switching the student to another Learning Track, and doesn’t require a new filing crate, as in the Worksheet Program.  

 

Using Rocket Math to Teach Single Operations & Fact Families

 

Rocket Math offers separate Addition and Subtraction sequences, as well as fact family sequences through the Online Game and the Worksheet Program. For teachers looking to teach Addition and Subtraction math fact families, Rocket Math offers two sequences of Fact Families; the first, Fact Families to10 and the second, Fact Families from 11. For teachers looking to teach in separate operations, Rocket Math offers separate sequences for learning Addition facts (1s to 9s) first, followed by Subtraction facts (1s to 9s). If the operations are learned separately, fact families can be used as a review. 

 

 

Factors and Primes: Learn in Rocket Math Online Game

Learn three keys to knowing how to find factors and primes

We have added Factors and Primes to the Online Game. Learning Track #15 Factors & Primes is a dream come true for Dr. Don.  Many middle grades students find that factoring and finding the GCF (Greatest Common Factor) is quite difficult.  This learning track will make it easy.  It accomplishes three key learning objectives at the same time.

factors and primes game screens(1) Recognizing the Primes.

Instead of just working on numbers with factors this Learning Track includes many prime numbers such as 7 in the illustration above.  When a number is prime, the student is shown 1 x the number and asked “What’s next?” Then the student is to answer with the check mark indicating that number only has 1 and itself as factors–there are no more. These prime numbers appear again and again, giving the student lots of practice in remembering the primes and in remembering their key characteristic.

(2) Learning factors in order. 

The game displays the factors with the lowest factor on the left and put them in order by that factor.  (see the Factors of 12 above). The factors are always in this order, so students learn them in order.  Notice that the last factors of 12 ends with 3 on the left and 4 on the right.  The factors on the right go up from there up to 12.  The key to knowing there are no more factors is when the next number down (in this case 4) is already showing in the list going up on the right.  By seeing the factors always in this order, student can more easily learn them. 

(3) Knowing when you’re done

Sometimes we require students to indicate that all the factors have been listed. The Online Game will show all the factors and ask, “What’s next?”  Students will know that there are no more factors because they have learned them in order.  Students will then put a check mark to say this is the complete list. When figuring GCF it is essential to know when you have listed all the factors.   

16 Learning Tracks in the Online Game

1. Addition                       5. Fact Families (+, -) to 10           9. Multiplication 10s-11s-12s
2. Subtraction                 6. Fact Families (+, -) from 11     10.  Division 10s-11s-12s
3. Multiplication             7. Add to 20, example 13+6        11.  Fact Families (x, ÷) to 20 
4. Division                        8. Subtract from 20, 18-5            12 Fact Families (x, ÷) from 21      13. Identifying Fractions                                                 
14. Equivalent Fractions                   15. Primes & Factors              16. Fraction & Decimal Equivalents

 

Test drive the game as a student, right NOW!

If you go to https://play.rocketmath.com          Use a login below to try any of the Learning Tracks for yourself.
Username Pass code Account # Learning Track
Test1 1212 11000 Addition (slowest speed)
Test2 1212 11000 Subtraction (slow speed)
Test3 1212 11000 Multiplication
Test4 1212 11000 Division (fast speed)
Test5 1212 11000 Fact Families (+,-) to 10
Test6 1212 11000 Fact Families (+,-) From 11
Test7 1212 11000 Add to 20
Test8 1212 11000 Subtract from 20
Test9 1212 11000 Mult 10s, 11s, 12s
Test10 1212 11000 Div 10s, 11s, 12s
Test11 1212 11000 Fact Families (x, ÷) to 20
Test12 1212 11000 Fact Families (x, ÷) From 21
Test13 1212 11000 Identify Fractions
Test14 1212 11000 Equivalent Fractions
Test15 1212 11000 Factors & Primes
Test16 1212 11000 Fraction & Decimal Equivalents

Sign up for a free trial of the Online Game today!

6 Effective Math Teaching Strategies for any Classroom

These effective math teaching strategies will help your students be more successful in learning math in your classroom. These are not the “cool, pedagogically-correct things” you can brag about in the teacher’s lounge or your master’s program classes, but they will improve math for the kids.

Memorizing is a key effective math teaching strategy for all classrooms.1. Help Students Memorize Math Facts

Once students know how to count out or figure out math facts, they are ready to begin memorizing the facts. After they memorize math facts, students can do math assignments quickly and learn math easily. It’s cruel to make them continue to figure out facts over and over again for months or years. Find and use a systematic method of memorizing math facts, so they have this tool at hand. There’s no magic bullet. Whatever you use needs to be systematic because it has to build gradually as students learn more and more of the facts. Any fact is easy to learn, but there are a lot of them, so that takes time.

Helping your students memorize math facts is like buying math power tools for them. It makes everything go quicker and much better. More gets done. Attitudes will improve. You don’t have to use Rocket Math, but you should use something! You will change their trajectory in and attitude about math for years to come. Learn more about why memorization is one of the essential math teaching strategies.

A student works through 52 minus 28, with math teaching strategies subtraction learning computation.2. Ensure Math Facts are Mastered Before Starting Computation

Kids love to go fast. They hate the drudgery of having to count out facts or look multiplication facts up in a table. Once they know facts instantly, they can rip through math computation–and enjoy math because they love to go fast.

Not knowing math facts interferes with learning computation.

Here’s another surprise. Memorizing math facts makes learning multi-digit computation easier. Students who’ve memorized math facts are not distracted by having to stop and figure out what is 14 minus 9. They know it, without having to stop and think about it. They can give more of their attention to the details of the computation process and learn them better and easier than before. Try getting all your students fluent on the operation and then teach computation AFTER they have acquired fluency. You will be astonished at how quickly they learn. Read more about how math fact memorization supports computation.

Effective math teaching strategies should help students from becoming frustrated and instead have fun learning math.3. Teach Computation Procedures With Consistent Language

Learning the procedures to do computational math processes is just like learning to follow a recipe. Eventually, you learn the key ingredients and can do it without looking and can do variations. But in the beginning, you need the written recipe to follow. You also need to do it the same way a few times to learn it. Winging it and teaching math “improv style” will only frustrate students.

Use a script or a process chart to keep the instructions consistent.

No one can remember exactly the way you said it yesterday or last week, which is why you need a script or a process chart on the wall so you can show the students that you are doing it the same way as last time. Repetition helps, but only if you’re repeating the same steps in the same order with the same wording. 

Students will become flexible in their understanding at their own rate and in their own time. You just keep being consistent, and eventually, all the students will have mastered the procedure. I know that “thinking flexibly” is very much in fashion, but your students will thank you for providing them mastery of this one method of solving this type of problem. Flexibility can come later. Read more about how consistent language is key to teaching computation procedures.

A road sign with signs pointing "this way" and and "this way" in opposite directions.4. Teach One Method and Only One Method at a Time

To solve a given type of problem, do NOT follow the advice to teach multiple solutions at one time. Teach only one way to go at a time, until that is learned, before introducing variations.  Multiple solution paths will confuse all but the most advanced students in your room. Just teach them one procedure that will work every time with that type of problem. Your students will thank you for it.

It’s far better to know only one way to get there than to get lost every time!

Learning math procedures is no different than learning how to get to someone’s house (before GPS). You want to go the same way every time, until you have learned it. If you go a different way every time you’ll just be confused. You can learn another way later, once you can get there reliably using one route, but before that, you cannot learn another route, because you’ll mix up steps from each route. Read more about why teaching one procedure at a time is one of the effective math teaching strategies.

Two illustration of two lines, one explaining what parallel lines look like and the other what perpendicular looks like. 5. Separate the Introduction of Similar Concepts

The classic example is teaching parallel and perpendicular on the same day. The two concepts have to do with the orientation of lines, and the new vocabulary terms for them are similar. So teaching them at the same time means some or many students will have the two terms confused for a long time. That is known as a chronic confusion–possibly permanent. They will know that the orientation of lines is one of those two terms, but will be confused about which is which.

An illustration showing the differences between parallel, perpendicular, and crossing.

Parallel vs. Perpendicular

For example: For this picture, you would ask the students.

A “Are the two lines in item A parallel or not parallel?”   Ans: Not parallel.

B “Are the two lines in item B parallel or not parallel?”   Ans: Parallel.

C “Are the two lines in item C parallel or not parallel?”   Ans: Not parallel.

After a couple of weeks of this kind of practice, you could introduce perpendicular. Again teach it on its own and then contrast perpendicularly with non-examples until the vocabulary is clear.

Probably do that for a couple of weeks. Only then can you combine both terms in the same lesson.

Numerator vs. Denominators

Other examples abound in math. Teaching numerator and denominator in the same lesson is common. Teaching the terms proper fractions and improper fractions on the same day is another example. Acute and obtuse angles are yet another pair of chronically confusing concepts that are introduced simultaneously. Separate them in time, and you’ll be amazed at how much better students can learn these concepts. Learn more about how to successfully teach similar concepts separately

6. Teach  New Concepts Using Common Sense Names

Here’s an example of the problem. A brachistochrone (pictured here) is a curve between two points along which a body can move under gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve. Introducing this concept and the term brachistochrone at the same time would cause students difficulty learning it.

When Instruction is not working

If you watch instruction where the term and the concept have been taught simultaneously, confusion ensues when the teacher uses the term. Sometimes the teacher will notice students looking confused and give a thumbnail definition or example of the term, and the students will then remember. However, the teacher should then realize that the concept was not connected to the new vocabulary term. 

Students can quickly understand and use new concepts and ideas in math if they don’t have to learn a new word for it. Using a common sense term, the idea or concept can be applied to real-world problems almost immediately. Students can later quite easily learn proper vocabulary terms for concepts they understand and recognize. Here’s an example. 

The “shortest time curve.”

I would call a brachistochrone the “shortest time curve.”**  Instruction would proceed with the, “Do you remember that ‘shortest time curve’ we talked about last week?”  Students would easily be able to remember it. Instruction would go like this: “So ‘the shortest time curve’ has some other cool properties. What’s the primary thing we know about the ‘shortest time curve’?”  Students would easily be able to answer this question.

Then after students have worked with the concept of “the shortest time curve” for a couple of weeks, you can add the vocabulary term to it. “By the way, the proper mathematical name for “the shortest time curve” is called a brachistochrone. Isn’t that cool?”  Read more on how to teach new math concepts with common sense names.

**Actually, that’s what brachistochrone means in Greek: brakhistos, meaning shortest and khronos meaning time.

 

Learn More Effective Math Teaching Strategies with Rocket Math

Rocket Math Online Game and Rocket Math Worksheets Program are math teaching strategies that will work for any classroom. Use the Pre-Test worksheets to understand how fast your students can answer math facts and what level they are at. The Rocket Math Online Game will help students succeed in math by creating a fun and enjoyable way for them to learn.

 

 

Why can’t you extend play time over ten minutes?

Students can only play for ten minutes and then they get the session completed screen.  The game will not let them play anymore.  Please encourage them to show you this screen to prove they completed the session.

Why no more than ten minutes?

Slamming through these facts at the rate of 3 seconds apiece (or less as they go faster) is very INTENSE.   Students will do this game for a couple of hours at a time if you let them.  But, here’s the problem.  They will only do it for a couple of days, and then they will just wear out.  They just won’t want to do it anymore. We don’t want them to lose their enthusiasm, so……. we don’t let them continue for more than ten minutes. 

Battery down feature

After completing a session, if they try to log back on too soon they get this “Battery Down” screen. This is a feature not a bug! We say the battery is down and will need at least 20 minutes to “recharge.” The countdown timer shows the amount of time left until the student’s break is over.  The student has to take at least a 20 minute break.  We want them to do a little practice a couple of times a day, but spaced out over several weeks to complete a learning track (an operation).  The longer the time it takes for them to get through a learning track, (the longer this is spaced out) the longer they will retain the information.  And they need to know these facts for a lifetime!  So a little bit each day is far better than sitting down for long periods of time until they are sick of it.


We purposely planned for your students to end a session anxious to play again.

Yes, they may complain that they have to stop, but that ensures that they will want to come back again later.  You want them to end their sessions wanting to play more.  That’s how you can get them to play and practice, time after time, day after day until they reach Level Z.  That’s how we win and that’s how they win! before the forced break.

Remember, you want them to practice at home also, which they won’t do if they are getting sick of it.  You want them to practice the whole time they are assigned to do it–and they won’t do that if they aren’t motivated to keep going.

Change Rocket Math Online Game speed–You can do it, but should you?

 

The rapid speed required to answer our Online Game is a feature, not a bug.

You can change how fast the student has to answer, but you probably should not.  The main goal of Rocket Math is for students to commit facts to memory, to be able to answer them instantly, from recall. That is called “automaticity.”  It is the point of Rocket Math.

Recall is instantaneous, but “figuring out” is not.

The fast pace (3 seconds to input an answer) means students don’t have time to count on their fingers or to “figure out” a fact–they just have to remember it.  If they don’t remember, then the game gives them a LOT of practice on only a couple of facts, until they do remember them. That is exactly the point of the game. The game gives more practice through having students start parts over when they are not able to answer quickly.

We want them to stop having to “figure out” facts and just remember the answer.   If the students are not used to “recalling” facts they will think that the game is just “too fast” for them.  If they keep playing and learning, after a bunch of repetitions, they will be able to remember the fact.   These days students are NOT asked to memorize anywhere else. Today’s students are unaccustomed to having to repeat things over and over to commit them to memory.  Almost everyone can do it, but it takes more practice than many students are used to doing. Consider the Toughness Certificate [located in the Online Game’s main navigation bar] for those who can overcome their frustration at having to start over.

The danger in slowing the game down for most students.  If you let students play at the slower speeds they may never use “recall” and instead may figure out the facts over and over.  Until I realized the difference, I allowed my students to take their time to figure out facts.  Many of my students never committed facts to memory all year long!  If, as we do in Rocket Math, you only ask them to remember two facts and their reverses at a time, everyone can remember two facts.  It takes just a few minutes to realize that they can, in fact, remember that answer instantaneously.  Once they use recall, they remember the answer in less than a second, and then three seconds to input it, is quite doable.  If you slow down the game speed, they may NEVER realize they can remember the fact, instead of figuring it out each time.

Only if their difficulty score is over 3.0 do they need an adjustment made.  Their difficulty score, shown on the Review Progress screen [Top of Main Navigation bar] tells you whether or not the game is too fast for them.

  • We expect students have to start over at least once per phase, which gives them a difficulty score of 1.0.  Even having to start over, on average, twice per phase is not too much–giving a difficulty score of 2.0.
  • [If you sort your class based on their difficulty scores you can see a display like the one in this picture.]
  • Any difficulty score under 3.0 means the student has to start over on average fewer than 3 times for each part passed.  That is not too difficult.  Students may not be accustomed to repeating anything, but it is not a real burden. On the other hand, you may find some students have difficulty scores under 1.0 and Rocket Math is very easy for them.
  • Only students with difficulty scores over 3.0 should be considered for a speed change–and then only if you know they require some kind of accommodation.  On the other hand, students with difficulty scores under 0.1 should be challenged to take on the Faster speed!

 

Here’s where you can make the change.  Go to the green “Individual Action” button at the right end of each student’s row. Click on “Change Game Speed.”  The popup gives you the choices of  Fast, Normal, Slow and Slowest.

The options for speed are:

  • Normal, at 3 seconds to answer (double that for two digit answers)
  • Slow, at 4.5 seconds to answer per digit
  • Slowest, at 6 seconds to answer per digit
  • Fast, at 2.25 seconds to answer per digit

Here you can see different students showing different speeds of play.

Identifying Fractions: Creating fluent mathematicians

Fractions are unnecessarily hard for students to understand.  The reason?  Not enough practice in identifying a wide enough variety and ways of displaying them.  Rocket Math has introduced a great solution as part of the Universal Level Worksheet subscription–a new program called Identifying Fractions.

Identifying Fractions: Not just proper fractions anymore.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Identifying Fractions program is that it is not limited to showing proper fractions.  Right from the beginning of Set A, students are introduced to improper fractions and mixed numbers.  They are taught the fundamental understanding that the bottom number tells you how many parts each whole is divided into.  At the same time, if the whole is not divided into parts, then we represent it as a whole number.  Finally, the top number tells how many parts are shaded (or used) regardless of whether that is more than 1 whole or less than one whole.  Identifying fractions that include improper fractions and mixed numbers from the beginning ensures that students really understand fractions and don’t accidentally acquire the misrule that fractions are always less than one.

Identifying Fractions: Learn to speak their names also

Without a lot of oral practice, students do not always know how to say the names of fractions.  Identifying fractions introduces three fractions in each set and includes the words for how to say them.  In the example here, one half, three halves, and one and one half are at the top of the page. Students only practice this as part of the first set. This way, orally practicing with a partner means saying the names of the fractions. These names are students can see at the top of the page.  Students are not asked to say any fractions they haven’t seen written out first.

The fractions that students become familiar with include, halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, and twelfths.  They see improper fractions and mixed numbers with every denominator.

Identifying Fractions: It’s not the shape that matters

When students don’t have a lot of practice with identifying fractions, they may not see different shapes being divided into the same number of parts.  In Identifying Fractions we make a point of showing each fraction with at least three different shapes.  In this example, you see thirds in a circle, in a cube shape, and as upright rectangles making a larger rectangle.  All of those are equally “thirds” because each whole figure divides into three parts.  So there are three different shapes for halves, fourths, fifths, and sixths.

By the time students are introduced to eighths, tenths, and twelfths, they have already learned the rule that the shape doesn’t matter.

When you introduce students to eighths, tenths, and twelfths, we don’t want to slow them down by having to laboriously count the number of parts in each figure.  As you can see to the left, the worksheet displays eighths as two sets of four rectangles on top of each other.  This display, makes it easy to identify eighths quickly. Tenths are consistently two columns of five blocks with little numbers in them. (I know it’s a little weird, but it works to make them easily identifiable.) Twelfths are always in three sets of four rectangles on each other.  Students should notice these conventions so they can quickly identify the number of parts in those figures without having to count them.

Identifying Fractions:  Advanced students can fit in during Rocket Math routine

Identifying Fractions follows the standard Rocket Math routine.  Each student practices orally with the partner for a couple of minutes.  Then the two switch roles.  Finally, everyone takes a 1 minute Daily Test.  Pair a student in Identifying Fractions with any student in any other Rocket Math program as long as the student has an answer key to hand to their checker. Hopefully, you remembered to print the answers on colored paper.

Unlike other Rocket Math programs, the test and the practice items are the same.  Of course, the students have a page without the answers while their checker holds the answer key. Students practice by saying aloud to their partners the fractions shown in the test.  Then they take the test on those same items but write the answer.

Identifying fractions has its own writing speed test. The writing speed test will make sure your student’s goals are unique to their writing speed. By the time students complete Set Z in this program, they will have a strong understanding of fractions that will be fluent.  There are even 2-minute timings you can give every week or two for them to chart their progress as they get faster.  This is a great program for students of any grade from second grade on up who have finished the basics for their grade level.  It will really put them in good shape when dealing with fractions in later years.

Visit our Evidence of Effectiveness page to learn more.

 

Fact Families (+ & -) for 1st and 2nd grade

Learn Fact Families to fluency with Rocket Math!

Fact Families Part Two  11 to 18 (add & subtract).  A fact family includes both addition and subtraction facts. This program is Part 2 of Fact Families, coming after Fact Families 1 to 10. You can see to the left the 18 examples of fact families taught in this program starting with Set A; 11-2, 11-9, 9+2, & 2+9.  The sheet shows the sequence of learning facts in the new Rocket Math  program Fact Families Part Two 11 to 18 (+, -).  Each set that students learn from A to R adds just one fact family to be learned, so it isn’t too hard to remember.  (That’s the Rocket Math secret ingredient!) 

Learning math facts in families, is gaining in popularity these days.  Logic suggests that this would be an easier way to learn.  However, the research is not definitive that this is easier or a faster way to learn facts than separating the operations and learning all addition facts first and then learning all subtraction facts.  But learning in fact families is a viable option, and I wanted to have it available for Rocket Math customers.

Part Two is a Best fit for second grade.  These facts come after the facts in 1 to 10, typically learned in first grade, so these are best for second grade.  The 25 fact families in 1s through 10s facts are just enough for one Rocket Math program.  It is a good and sufficient accomplishment for first grade.  With the 11 to 18 in Par Two for second grade there will be a lot of review.  In fact sets S through Z are all review. I have heard that some first grades prefer to keep the numbers small but to learn both addition and subtraction–so this program accomplishes that.

I added Fact Families Part Two 11 to 18 (+, -) to the Universal subscription in August of 2018 bringing the total number of programs in the Universal subscription to 19 (the basic four operations and 15 more!).  As always, new programs are added to the Universal subscription without additional cost as soon as they are available.

I most sincerely want students to be successful and to enjoy (as much as possible) the necessary chore of learning math facts to automaticity. Please give me feedback when you use this new program, Fact Families 11 to 18 (+, -),  as to how it goes for the students.