Wednesday, September 10, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky -- Basic Facts

Welcome back to our Wednesday linky--What are the other kids doing?  It's a linky dedicated to sharing independent practice activities that you use with your students that make it possible for you to meet with small guided math groups.  Many teachers call them math centers or workstations--whatever you call them, these activities are designed to engage students in meaningful practice away from the teacher. For details about linking up, click here! We'd love for you to join in the sharing!

Today's topic-----basic facts!

There are oodles and oodles of ways to independently practice basic facts, and we have probably used an oodle of them. :0)  We would like to share a PHENOMENAL basic facts resource for teachers, some free stuff, and a couple of apps/websites.

First up is a resource that is a MUST-HAVE for anyone teaching basic addition and subtraction facts---Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction: Strategies, Activities, and Interventions to Move Students Beyond Memorization by Susan O'Connell and John SanGiovanni. It is worth money--TENFOLD!! Not to mention, a multiplication and division version is available as well.


Each year, I pretest students, as their knowledge of basic addition and subtraction facts is wide-spread--this never changes.  Once I have formed groups based on student's needs, it's time to begin meeting with guided math groups and providing independent practice opportunities for students that are differentiated.  O'Connell and SanGiovanni's book helps a teacher accomplish all of these goals.

A CD is included that contains assessments, tools (from dot cards to ten frames and number lines), parent letters, activity sheets to accompany literature suggestions, reflection sheets, and tons of games and activities.  AND its editable!!  I edited all of the games to include a list of materials, changed the font, and changed up some of the directions to meet my kids' needs.  EASY!

Here are just a few of the games provided on the CD that I have edited for my students...


Woohoo! You can enter to win a copy of Mastering Basic Addition and Subtraction Facts OR Mastering Basic Multiplication and Division Facts!

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Organizing independent practice workstations/games for easy student access is a must.  To learn how I organize workstations, click here!



 Enjoy a few of my basic fact freebies, too! Download here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1w1VapXOL_c0Y4akZGT3A2R1E/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1w1VapXOL_YUl1YUFwTlctcDQ/view?usp=sharing

Courntney and I both use apps on the iPad and some great websites for practicing basic facts as well.  Here are a couple Courtney's kids like:


I use a wonderful number bond program that I purchased on CD years ago, but it is also available as an app. Both addition/subtraction and multiplication/division versions are available at Crystal Springs Books.  

http://www.crystalspringsbooks.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=number+bonds


Another great resource is gregtangmath.com! He is the author of Grapes of Math and many more math picture books for kids.  My kids love Math Limbo!

http://gregtangmath.com/games

We would love for you to link up or share your basic fact independent practice ideas in a comment!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky Rescheduled

Unfortunately, we will need to reschedule today's What are the other kids doing? linky that was to post today.  We will discuss basic facts next Wednesday and have revamped the schedule of remaining linkies a bit.  We apologize for any inconvenience and hope, if you were planning to link up today, that you will return to link up next week.

http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/p/what-are-other-kids-doing-wednesday.html

Please see the revised schedule below:

September 10th -- Basic Facts
September 17th -- Reading & Writing About Math
September 24th - Task Cards
October 1st - Anything Goes

We hope to see you back here next Wednesday!