Xtramath for Math Facts

How do you get your students to memorize math facts?

I'm sure like many teachers you have wanted to bang your head again your desk when it comes to math facts in your classroom.

 

Trust me...I've been there.

There is no "magical cure" for the problem of students not wanting to do the work required for mastering facts. My school adopted the Rocket Math program. It is required for us to use this program. I did see some improvement with this program, but not much. 

When I came across what finally worked for my classroom, I wasn't actually even looking for them. My own son is ADHD and has a learning disability. Rocket math did (does) not work for him. As you know if you've worked with any ADD student that anything that involves writing is just a slow process for them. He spent an entire year in his classroom never making it off of the letter A.  

I was desperate & my son was frustrated. I just happened to be reading a teacher's blog (I have no idea which one) on a weekend. It listed the top 5 things they couldn't live without & XtraMath was one of them. I was intrigued so I went to XtraMath & watched the video.

I decided to give it a try with my son. I showed him the short student video & then had him try it on our computer at home. He quickly started mastering the facts. He still COULD NOT master his facts using the required RocketMath tests at school, but if I asked him any multiplication fact he knew the answer immediately. Because of Xtramath he mastered his multiplication, addition, and subtraction facts. He's currently working on his division facts. I knew right away that this was something I had to try in my classroom. Our classrooms are filled with ADD children who struggle with writing things down or with even being able to focus long enough to do a 1 min. written test.

I tried this with a classroom 2 years ago & have used it ever since. I've used it two different ways.

The first way is to implement it into your math class. During small group, centers, or whole class work time you will have students working on XtraMath. How many students you have working will depend on how many computers you have. Generally I would pick the first 4 students on the list & when they finished they tapped the next student on the list. I did it this way my first year. However, I found that there were some days I couldn't get through my class list.

Last year I allowed students to do XtraMath in the morning when they completed their morning work. They did not have to ask permission, they just had to walk straight to the computer & get started. This usually meant that during math time I only had about half of the class to get through instead of the entire class.

Many students were so motivated to pass that they did XtraMath at home too. I can honestly say that this program has been the single biggest thing that has made a difference in math fact memorization in my classroom!

I encourage you to give it a try this year.