organizing | Rocket Math

Are you ready for summer?

Posted on May 16, 2016May 28, 2019 by Dr. Don

Preparing now can insure that students will maintain their Rocket Math learning over the summer.

(1) The simplest and most important thing you can do to get ready for summer is to save those Rocket Math folders at the end of the year. The folders can then be given to the next year’s teacher, so he or she knows where the student left off. Given special practice techniques at the start of fall (outlined below), students do NOT have to go back or start an operation all over again the next year. Some students take months to get where they are in an operation, and it is a terrible waste of their time to start them over. Especially if they have new faster writing speed goals, now they really have to work hard to master each set and it may take them quite a while.

(2) Make sure to take a few days to re-teach your students how to correct and when to correct (errors and hesitations). Teach this by modeling errors and hesitations and have students be your checker and model how to correct for the other students to see. Keep working with that student until you get perfect corrections even on hesitations. Then “rinse and repeat” with another student. Do this teaching and modeling for ten minutes each day for the first week or so.

(3) Start students practicing on the last set completed (passed) the previous year but for the first five practice sessions, practice on that set in a special way. First practice in partners around the outside for two or three minutes. But then, instead of taking a written test, have students practice in pairs orally with the test (inside the box), for two minutes. Practice the same way as around the outside. Have the student read each problem aloud and answer it from memory. The checker will need to have the test answer key. Practice for two to three minutes and then switch roles. This practice will provide the necessary review of all the facts learned so far, and will bring them right back up to speed.

(4) After a week of oral practice sessions with the test, then allow students to take the written test. Evaluate students based on their writing speed goals from last year (don’t re-test and raise them). Arrange for extra oral practice on the test for anyone who doesn’t pass. In the extra practice, make sure they orally practice the test in the center as well. Keep up the extra practice, on that same set until they pass. They should get there in a few days. They already learned this, they are just bringing it back. They haven’t forgotten it, the connection just needs a little strengthening.

(5) If students finished an operation before leaving, you can start them on the next operation appropriate for their grade. Second graders who have finished addition, for example, would start with subtraction (1s – 9s), and then go on to Subtract from 20, then Skip Counting. Third graders need to be taught the concept of multiplication first, but then should begin multiplication, regardless of what they completed earlier. Multiplication is so critical for future success in math you cannot let any child in your room (if you are in 3rd grade or above) leave it without learning those multiplication facts. Best thing you can do for their math careers.

Now that you know what to do–enjoy the summer!

Can you avoid summer losses with Rocket Math?

Posted on April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 by

Take up where they left off before the summer!

Don’t think students have to start over in Rocket Math. They have learned the facts so well that with careful review they can take up where they left off!

There is a way to start off the year on the same set on which students left off at the end of last school year (providing you know where that was). You do need to do a slightly different procedure at the start of the year, however.

Notice on the Set L sheet above that only five of the facts on the One-Minute Test are new–the rest are review from the previous sets. That means that practice around the outside will help with the new facts, but won’t review those older facts from previous set. If you test the students on any set after the summer they might not pass because they need a little review of those older facts.

Here’s the way to beat the summer forgetting:
For the first week of school have the students add another practice session with the One-Minute Test each day. Give them the test answer keys, give them 2 to 3 minutes with their partner to orally practice the test problems with the same correction procedure as usual. Hint: have them take the sheets home and practice with a responsible sibling or a parent as well. A week to ten days of this extra review of the test problems and they will be successfully passing levels in Rocket Math–starting right from where they left off in June!

Can all 2nd graders finish subtraction?

Posted on April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 by

Julie writes,

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, Julie

Dear Julie,

Multiplication facts are VERY important and you want to be sure that all third graders have enough time to master them. The best solution would be to get all your second graders through subtraction during the second grade year. Here are some suggestions to get better results–where more students develop automaticity in subtraction facts in second grade.

1) Start Rocket Writing for Numerals in the second half of Kindergarten, so that students leave K able to write numerals quickly.

2) Start Rocket Math Addition in the first month of first grade (because most all students) are able to write numerals fast enough. If you have a few who are below 18 boxes in a minute–give them extra work on Rocket Writing for Numerals to get them up to speed and into Rocket Math Addition before the end of October.

3) Monitor closely students who don’t pass an operation in six days and make sure they are getting a bonus practice session each day at school or encourage their parents to practice with them at home. Some few students will need extra help to practice twice or three times a day to make progress as fast as others.

4) Save folders from grade to grade (over the summer) so that students don’t have to start an operation over from the beginning (just continue on from where they left off) and so can finish an operation in a timely manner.

5) If students get stuck for more than a week, and definitely when they come back from the summer in the middle of an operation, have them practice the test problems orally as well as the outside problems. If they are only practicing the outside, and they are slow or have forgotten some of the cumulative review problems in the test, they need to practice the test problems (as well as the newer problems on the outside) to bring them up to speed.

I think that continuing a student in subtraction at the beginning of 3rd grade from where they left off in 2nd grade is an OK policy, but it is far better to have as a clear goal to get students through subtraction during 2nd grade. Hope this helps. -Don

Engage Students in Rocket Math during schedule gaps at test times

Filling testing-created gaps in your schedule.

Posted on March 28, 2016March 22, 2017 by

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.

How to tutor with Rocket Math

Posted on March 17, 2016March 29, 2016 by

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 March 11, 2016March 29, 2016 by

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.

Why not start with subtraction in 3rd grade?

Posted on March 4, 2016March 29, 2016 by

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!

How do you complete the Individual Student graph?

Posted on February 2, 2016March 29, 2016 by

Here are four examples of how to complete the vertical axis on the Individual Student Graph.

Amy writes:
I have a question about the Individual Student graph form. Can you send me example of a completed graph? I understand marking 10 points lower but the 0…5…..0…5….0…5 axis confused me.

Dr. Don answers:

Amy,
Here are some examples of how you would fill out the vertical axis of the Individual Student Graph depending on what the student’s starting score was on the Two-Minute Timings. The form says, “Set starting point of vertical axis at the nearest ten below the student’s first 2-minute timing (e.g., if first timing is 37, begin graph at 30, etc.).”

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these four examples should make the procedure clearer. Thanks for asking for examples–which is often the best way to explain/teach something!

How can you choose the best Ed Apps for your students?

Posted on January 15, 2016September 9, 2019 by

An interview with Karen Mahon, Ed.D. CEO and founder of Balefire Labs, scientifically rigorous Ed app reviewers.

Dr. Don asks: What is the difference between the best and the average educational apps?

Karen Mahon: We see many apps that say that they are “educational” but it seems like they just have educational content without any deliberate instructional design in the apps. Just packing an app with a bunch of ABCs and 123s doesn’t make it a good app. The best apps use methods that have been proven effective by scientific research, including adapting levels of difficulty and a mastery-based approach. Another feature that separates the average apps from the best apps is that the best apps include performance reports that are sufficiently detailed such that teachers can tell what a student has or has not learned by using the app and can even determine which skills need additional intervention. We call these “actionable” data.

Dr. Don asks: Why do you think schools need help picking the best apps?

Karen Mahon: The biggest reason schools need help is time. There are tens of thousands of learning apps and games in the app stores. Not only do teachers not have time to comb through the available apps, but they often don’t have time to preview an individual app long enough to see the full range of what the app teaches and how its curriculum progresses. Saving money is a secondary consideration. Our teachers like to know that an app is worthwhile before spending money on it, but they tell us that their bigger issue is time. By us giving teachers and schools the “short list” of the best apps to use in the classroom, they can focus on what really requires their attention: integrating apps into their curriculum.

Dr. Don asks: How does Balefire Labs evaluate educational apps?

Karen Mahon: We have a rubric of 12 research-based criteria that describe the best practices of instructional design and usability design. These criteria delineate the features and functions that have been shown to make instruction effective and easy to use. Because we have an objective set of criteria, we can evaluate each and every app in the same way. This allows teachers and parents to compare apps with each other directly, selecting the strongest ones for their kids. Our teachers and parents find that our approach is more objective and transparent than other app review services on the market today.

Dr. Don asks: What made you pick the Rocket Math apps for the Best of 2015?

Karen Mahon: Put simply, the two Rocket Math apps were among the 16 highest rated apps of the year, according to our rubric. We reviewed more than 1,200 learning games and apps in 2015. Oftentimes when awards are given it’s kind of a mystery how they were decided. In our case there’s no mystery. The 16 apps that received awards were the ones that met the most of our criteria and scored the highest ratings.