Number Bonds Game with Manipulatives

Here's a quick way to work with young math students using manipulatives and make a little game out of adding and subtracting small numbers.

Multiplication Online Drill

Just a quick note today to mention a super effective online drill for math facts. My 9-year old is using it for multiplication these days. It's one of the Math-U-See online resources.

It's super easy to use and can be calibrated to drill only the required facts, or do the whole shabang!

Each drill does 20 questions, and times the student.  I have my 9-year old do the drill 5 times before he starts his math for the day.  He records his score and time.  

Multiplication Fun

There's nothing like a little fun inserted into your school day.  I have found that without question, anything that requires drill and retention is easily and best accomplished in a game setting.

My boys enjoy using the computer for their school work when they get the opportunity, and for my 4th Grader, Timez Attack is just the answer!

There are "skins" available to change the game setting, and they do add some special fun to the game.  The free version uses a dungeon setting and that might be just fine for your student.

Personally, I recommend the "Rental" of the Standard game, unless you have younger children that you plan to use it with, in which case go for the "Buy" version so you can use it forever.

It's $25 for the year to rent the standard edition, but after a year, your child will be a whiz at Math facts!  You can also use it for more than one child concurrently.  We tried the free version, but one thing for sure, kids love variety and so for me, it was well worth the cost for the extra levels.   And, the Retention feature is more fully developed in the rental version, from a teaching perspective, that's always a bonus.

This game is highly entertaining, and in our house you can frequently find another child watching over the shoulder of the student who is playing.  This has the side benefit of having older children refresh their facts or giving younger children a "leg up" on math facts for when their turn comes!

Mulitplication

We're learning multiplication this year.  One of the things that works best by drill is learning the math facts.  There's a website called IXL that has tons of online educational resources for every grade level.  They have multiplication drills for every stage of learning.  The first one is writing multiplication sentences from a picture.  Check it out here.

Kids really do love technology and (at my house anyway) they think that it's a special treat if they can do their school work on a computer or tablet.

Here's the full table of contents of math drills available for multiplication.

• Multiplication - facts to 12
• Multiplication word problems - facts to 12
• Missing factors - facts to 12
• Missing factors - facts to 12 - word problems
• Squares up to 20
• Multiplication patterns over increasing place values
• Multiply numbers ending in zeroes
• Multiply a one-digit number by a larger number
• Multiply a one-digit number by a larger number - word problems
• Multiply three or more numbers
• Multiply three or more numbers - word problems
• Multiplication input/output tables

Online Math Curriculum Supplements

I have found a couple of websites that I frequent for math enrichment.

They are from 2 text book companies which publish online support materials.

The first one is Houghton Mifflin Math.  I use the table of contents from the leveled practice link to pinpoint appropriate material to support the concepts that we are working on.   For example, if I'm helping my 5 year old with adding by counting on then unit 6 from grade 1 reinforces that concept.

By selecting the leveled practice link, we are able to view all the lessons in the unit and the type of worksheet to generate (practice, reteach, homework, problem solving and English learners.)   The reteach is helpful if I'm looking for another way of explaining a concept (since Houghton Mifflin is not my primary math curriculum.)  The .pdf files that support these units are quick and to the point.   Click one circle from the 2 sections to view a worksheet.

Another good math resource is the Harcourt online games which correlate to their math program.  These are a nice treat, or a good way to keep one child active while working one on one with another.  The games are simple but fun for kids.

The Life of Fred

Wow!  Can this really be a math book?

Yes, it is.  And it is an easy reading, self-teaching one at that!

Does your child have a quirky sense of humor?  If they have already mastered their multiplication and division facts, then Life of Fred, Fractions is the book for you!

This is a book that puts applied math into perspective.

Fred needs to know something.  It involves math.  We learn the math along with Fred.   Then the silly story continues!  I've heard some people call the book wordy (at first glance it doesn't really look like a math book at all.) But the wordiness tells the story and  it's the story that makes the math so real and causes the book to be engaging!  

The style of the book is engaging, as it uses different fonts to create a conversation between the author and the reader, and still another one to tell what Fred is thinking.

There is a lot of opportunity to practice the skills learned in the "your turn to play" section  and also in the "bridges."

We LOVE Fred!

Fractions is the first in a series of books that goes all the way to calculus and statistics.  The books are written by Stanley Schmidt, a Ph.D. who taught both high school and college math.  (Man, do I ever wish he had been one of my teachers!)

Check out Life of Fred.  It is available from the publisher, Polka Dot Publishing, for $19, shipping included!