Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Math Fast Facts Challenge

From now until the end of October the 5th grade has begun a multiplication fast fact challenge. The standard is 50 out 50 multipication facts (1-12 times tables) under 2 minutes. We will be taking fast fact quizzes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Once the student has achieved this 3 times in a row they can move on to the next challenge - 50 out 50 division facts in less than 2 minutes. Last year we spent a lot of time building these reflexes up, it should just take a couple days of brushing off and refreshing these facts back up to speed. It is crucial that we master these basic facts right away since we are moving quickly into more complicated topics (like prime factorization) that assume a mastery of multiplication. If the students don't know their multiplication times table they will quickly fall behind. My two favorite math websites for parents and students to make their own worksheets and timed test plus loads of onlines games are http://mathfactcafe.com/at http://themathworksheetsite.com/. Parents and students please comment below and add your favorite websites, tricks, and tips.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi i tutor a grade 4 student who finds it extremly difficult to learn the timestable, she is also extremely reletant to learn it. but i found it easier to teach her to learn the doubles first, eg 1 X1, 2X2, 3X3, 4X4 so on.. and recognizing first of all whether the answer will be even or odd. we're still on this stage, im still getting her to learn the doubles. once she grasps the concept and able to remember these i plan to get her to recognise even/odd answers in other times table facts. i find this quite helpful with students who have trouble memoring the timestable. by the way i think this web blog is great, keep up with the good job :)