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re: computation skills practice
Posted:
Mar 28, 1999 5:04 PM
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I have had several parents complain that their children still do not
know their multiplication tables, even at this late date in the year.
I know many parents are working at home with their kids using flash
cards, which I think is fine. I have addressed this concern about
memorizing multiplication facts in two ways. First, we play Trip
Around the World, a flash card game, using multiplication and division
facts. The students go crazy over that game and beg to play it.
Second, the special education teacher in our building, who is in my
math class for half of every period, is beginning to do Mad Minutes
with the kids. This is only for student use, not for a formal grade,
and allows children to document which facts they are weak on and how
much they are improving. We run Mad Minutes for 10 minutes a day, 3
or 4 days a week. It's not a lot of time and addresses a nagging
weakness in memorization of facts, as well as parent concerns.
I also use a series of what I call "packets" which I assign each
Monday, and which are due the following Monday. They are 6-8 page
packets of supplemental math puzzles, activities, or problem-solving
approaches that differ from the usual Investigations classwork and
address critical thinking, computation, and logic skills. Parents
enjoy seeing these additional packets come home because it gives them
something interesting to work on with their kids. I never photocopy
pages from traditional math textbooks that stress rote computation.
The packets are all varied and non-traditional. For example, for
about 6 weeks I did a series of packets on how to read a paycheck and
compute gross and net pay, how to calculate sales tax at different
percentages, how to set up a household budget, how to calculate loan
payments, and other financial management issues. The parents loved it
and the kids did too, surprisingly. Right now we are doing
Wollogoggles, which are funny and decidedly non-traditional.
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