Class Antics – Inside Elementary Education

If you can keep your child’s reading and math skills sharp this summer, you’ll both reap the rewards for all of next school year—and every year to come.

Place value is a biggie in math education.  All other math concepts depend on it.  Most children have a hard time with place value.  They do all right with tens and ones, but start to crumple as the numbers get bigger.  Here are some fun computer games to help your youngster sharpen those place value skills.

Toon University: Answer the place value question, then play an old-style arcade game to celebrate correct answers.  3 levels. 

Base Ten Blocks: These are familiar teaching tools to your child, if not you.  Ironically enough, it’s really important to practice with them because this teaching tool, the base ten block, is now an assessment tool.  Standardized tests ask questions about them like you’re supposed to know what they are.  I always wonder what international students think of this.  Anyway, it’s a fun game, although I turn the sound off because I find the music stressful.

Shark Pool Place Value Game: You look at the number of blocks, then select the written number that matches.  If you guess incorrectly, a shark takes a bite out of your surfboard.  This game uses regular blocks, not place value blocks.  Your child will become more adept at quickly subtracting from 10—you see a line of 10 blocks and a line next to it with 2 fewer blocks—that’s 18.

Lots of cool games in one place: These are nice because a variety of numbers are represented.  Your child can practice with tens and ones or hundred thousands, depending on the game.  My class loves this site.

Mastering multiplication facts is a hard-won skill for most students, and they can easily lose it all over the summer.  Here are tips on how parents and kids can work together to keep those math skills sharp.  Everything on this list is quick and easy, and none of it interferes with summer fun.

1. Start with song: yes, they’re my own work, but the award-winning Best Multiplication Songs EVER! really are the best.  In just eight minutes a day, you can sing all your times tables with tunes you already know.  Slip them into your daily routine—play them in the car, while doing chores, or dance to them for a quick workout.
    
2. Flash card drill: stop by the Dollar Store (or any discount store, grocery store, or drugstore) and pick up a box of flash cards.  Then be smart with how you practice.  First, go through the stack and separate facts your child knows from facts your child needs to learn.  Review the “know them” facts daily.  Add about 3 new facts a day, always practicing the old ones.  By the end of summer, your youngster will know the facts cold.
    
3. FREE Computer Practice: I have an electronic version of the flash card drill—the FREE customizable Best Times Tables Practice EVER!  Download this program and let kids practice at their own pace: just the fives, just the tens, only the easy sevens, all the hard facts—you name it.
    
4. Math toys: visit Amazon.com or a local teaching store like Lakeshore Learning for fun multiplication toys.  Multiplication wrap-ups are eternally popular.  You can also find self-correcting multiplication games and board games like Multiplication Bingo.
    
5. Worksheets: Most of my students still need an old-fashioned worksheet to cement learning, and they like a worksheet’s inherent efficiency.  For no-frills practice, print worksheets from Dadsworksheets.com.  Use the Spaceship Math for leveled practice or print conventional one-times-table-at-a-time worksheets.

The best worksheets, of course, come from Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!  From memorizing that first fact to mastering 3 digit multiplication, it provides fun, quality, relevant practice.  Dozens and dozens of real-life word problems highlight the importance of multiplication in our daily lives.  There are certificates for every level, making it easy to track and reward progress.

I have found that kids have no problem calculating area and perimeter, provided they can both add and multiply.  The problem is remembering which is which.

In our class, we have a fun way of remembering the difference between the two concepts.  It’s loosely based on my background as a military brat, with a heavy influence from battle scenes in movies.

You know how in movies, the commander will tell his troops to secure the perimeter?  The soldiers race to secure the boundaries so no one can get in.  The classroom version: we spread out, each taking a section of the four walls in our classroom.  Then we remember that perimeter is the boundary of a two dimensional figure.

We “retreat to the main area” when it’s clear that our defenses have been breached.  We hit the decks in the wide-open middle of our classroom.  That way, we remember that the area is the space in the middle.

Vocabulary connection: the word “perimeter” comes from peri, meaning around and meter, meaning measure.  Therefore, perimeter means to measure the distance around the shape.  There are lots of other peri words, but they are mostly scientific.  Most kids should know the word periscope, a device that lets a submariner look around.

It’s the time of year when standardized tests take center stage in schools.  My students (third grade) took a high-stakes standardized test; for most, it’s the first time in their young lives in the testing environment.  I wrote about this challenge last year:

How kids take standardized testsHow to make State Achievement Test week AWESOME (for teachers)

Dos and Don’ts for the State Writing Test

Links for parents looking for information on how to help their students: 

Disney Family Website Article: What Every Parent Should Know About Standardized Testing  “Thirty years ago, American school children spent two or three days a year bubbling in answers on standardized tests. Today, children in some school districts spend as much as 18 days per 180-day school year on standardized testing.”

 Testing Our Schools: A Guide for Parents  “This guide will answer some of your questions and give you information about testing. Use the guide to help you understand more about school testing, define your questions and concerns, and help your child prepare for taking tests.”

There’s an entire section of my new book, Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!  that deals with standardized test taking strategies.  Most students take standardized tests for the first time in third grade, and third grade is when the curriculum emphasizes developing multiplication skills.  My workbook deconstructs word problems and strategies to identify the correct answer to multiple choice questions, skills that apply to far more than just getting multiplication problems right.

This post is part of a series of standardized test prep posts.

Here is a really simple trick that lets you quickly eliminate wrong answers on multiple choice multiplication tests!

Check just the ones digits in the problem.  Multiply quickly in your head, and you will know what the ones digit must be in the correct answer.  Cross off answers that don’t have the correct ones digit.

For example, if you are multiplying 57 X 48, you know that 7 X 8 = 56 (multiplying the ones digits of both numbers).  The ones digit is 6.  So the correct answer to the problem MUST have 6 as the ones digit.

Save a lot of time by trying your new skill before you solve a multiplication problem on a standardized test!

Example: 486 X 592 = ____
a. 7,776
b. 287,712
c. 289,525
d. 64,293

Strategy: What must be in the ones place?

#1: The answer MUST be an EVEN number, because both numbers are EVEN (I teach my students they can look at just the number in the ones place to determine if a number is even or odd). Cross off answers c and d because they are odd numbers.

#2: The answer MUST END in 2, because 6 X 2 = 12, which puts 2 in the ones place. Cross off answer a because 6 is in the ones place.

Result: Only answer b can be correct.

There! You have the correct answer without taking the time to solve a complex long multiplication problem! You also can use the method “What Must Be in the Ones Place?” to quickly eliminate wrong answers to multiple choice problems using other operations: addition, subtraction and division.

This post is part of a series of tips and strategies for taking standardized tests.

Analysis of a standardized test word problem using the Given/Find method:

 José is happy to have 3 pledges for his school’s Read-a-thon.  Person A gives José a $20 bill. Person B pledges $3 for each book José reads.  Person C pledges $1 for each chapter José reads.   José read 5 books with a total of 27 chapters. Who will pay José the most money?

a. Person A
b. Person B
c. Person C
d. $25.00

Analysis: for simplicity, underline the facts in the problem if you are allowed to write on the test

Given:
3 pledges
Person A – $20
Person B – $3 per book
Person C – $1 per chapter
5 books
27 chapters

Find: Who pays the most?

Solution: Notice that answer d) cannot be correct because the question asks WHO will pay the most.  Cross it off!

Person A: $20
Person B: $3 x 5 = $15
Person C: $1 x 27 = $27

Person C pays the most, so the correct answer is c.

Example taken from my new workbook: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

This continues my series of posts on standardized test prep.

The Given/Find Method

First, write down all the numbers in the problem.  This is the given information.

Next, write down what you are trying to find—and what unit will be used to measure it. Tip: to help you remember, underline what you are trying to find.

Finally, figure out which operations you need (add, subtract, multiply, divide) to determine the correct answer.

Often, the multiple choice answers include one answer that clearly is incorrect.  Cross it off!  Some choices are way too big or way too small. You can estimate and cross off these incorrect answers. Other answers often come from steps you take to answer the question.  These answers are there to fool you. 

Be sure to finish the problem and find the answer to the question that was asked.

There! That wasn’t so hard.  I’ll deconstruct a typical multiple choice question in a future post.

Here’s a simple way to keep track of your estimates, guesses and solutions: Cross off the wrong answers!

 Review the answers before you solve the problem. Often, you can eliminate obviously wrong answers.

 * Cross off answers you can identify as wrong even before you start solving the problem. 

* Cross off answers that you can identify as wrong or incomplete as you work.

 * Cross off answers that correctly compute part of the solution when multiple operations are needed to solve the problem.

* If the word problem requires a person, place or thing in the answer, cross off answers that only have numbers.  This is especially important when the number you cross off is the correct answer to the word problem.  

* When you check your answer, be sure you answered the question that was asked! Remember even with math tests, the right answer might not be a number: it might be a person, place or thing!

Best Multiplication Songs EVER! can help children learn multiplication facts, but the songs are not a substitute for active teaching.  It’s best to combine multiplication songs with traditional teaching and learning methods. Suggestions include:

> Start with the easiest times tables first 
> Use visual aids
> Count on fingers
> Highlight the rhythm
> Make multiplication songs part of other routines

In my classroom, we sing songs during transitions: while lining up for lunch (and getting our hands clean with our squirt procedure).  We sing when we take out materials for our math lessons.  We sing when one of the students makes a connection to using a multiplication fact in everyday life.  I have heard my students singing in the bathroom, too!

I suggest using the songs in conjunction with other multiplication learning resources, such as Best Times Table Practice EVER!   This program lets students customize their practice.  Students can practice exactly what they need: just the twos, just the tens, only Level Three—you name it!  This program is great for memorizing basic facts.  For example, students can begin to memorize the sevens times table by practicing only seven times zero, one, ten and eleven—then add extra facts until they know them all.  Download this FREE software and practice any times table, anytime! 

Here are more tips about teaching times tables with songs.

Best Addition Practice EVER!

Download this FREE software and practice your addition facts!  It’s customizable, so students can practice exactly what they need to improve.   It seems that we don’t teach our children to memorize like we did even a few years ago.  I had to memorize addition facts, as did my younger sister and brother.  Parents, too, but that was back in the Dark Ages! None of us were encouraged to use our fingers for adding. In fact, my parents developed novel ways for practicing addition skills. Their efforts led to the free software Abligio Books offers for teaching addition.

A child who memorizes facts makes neural connections in their brain.  Subsequent memorization tasks become easier as that file cabinet in the brain fills with knowledge.  Each success builds self-confidence and readiness for new challenges.

A student who masters both addition and multiplication will be ready to ace all of elementary school math. Memorizing should not be a dirty word in today’s educational environment — it’s the key to helping a child succeed in many future endeavors.

Addition ROCKS!

I am celebrating the release of my newest educational product: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

The workbook is one of my award-winning math learning resources that help elementary students in primary grades learn times tables, master basic multiplication facts and practice addition facts.  These educational products are valuable resources for parents, elementary school classroom teachers and homeschoolers.

BEST MULTIPLICATION WORKBOOK EVER! focuses on kids: how they think, how they learn, what they like. The workbook is remedial for intermediate grades, including middle school math classes and junior high school math classes.
Order now!
Also available from Amazon.com.

BEST MULTIPLICATION SONGS EVER! teaches times tables with familiar tunes, in the same way students learn their A-B-Cs.  This CD is an award-winner: Dr. Toy’s 10 Best Educational Products Award and 100 Best Products of 2010.
Order now!

Students across the spectrum of educational institutions can achieve higher test scores with FREE software: BEST TIMES TABLES PRACTICE EVER! and BEST ADDITION PRACTICE EVER!
Here’s how to download.

I love making learning fun.  Mastering multiplication is the key to succeeding in elementary math courses…and beyond.  We should enjoy the process and so should our students!

Newly released: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!
Order now!
Also available from Amazon.com.

I’m blowing my own horn: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! is a great resource for teachers, parents, tutors and students.

This book is divided into levels, and everything is taught systematically.  The workbook pages are fun for kids to do, and the organizational system helps teachers, tutors and parents know how to guide kids.  If a child is having difficulty with a concept, the parent or teacher will know to go back a level and remediate before proceeding.

> Teachers can use the book for whole-class lessons or to teach small groups.  The scaffolded, leveled system makes it easy to manage many students working on different skills.
> Parents can buy the workbook for use at home.  Kids can do most of the work on their own.  The leveled system makes it easy for a parent or tutor to review a lesson—or teach the next step in acquiring new skills.
> Tutors can use the book to identify gaps in a child’s learning.  Simply proceed through the levels and slow down when a concept seems difficult.  The book lays out a great tutoring program for helping elementary school students.
> Home school parents will appreciate the comprehensive nature of the book, the word problems, and the scaffolded approach to learning.

The workbook contains 260 pages filled with worksheets for skill development, word problems, long multiplication mastery, standardized test practice questions and strategies — everything needed to succeed in learning to multiply. 

A student who masters multiplication is ready to take on all the other mathematics challenges in elementary school!

Some kids just have terrible handwriting.  The letters are too big, the spacing is a mess, and their finished paper is illegible.  I have found that using the first and second grade style lined paper doesn’t really help older kids.  There is something, though, that does help them: graph paper.

It needs to be graph paper with big squares.  You can print your own from math-drills.com, which is a good site for—you guessed it—math drills at all levels.

I like to use the ½ inch graph paper.  In my experience, it improves handwriting immediately, but the child should keep using it for a few weeks until better handwriting becomes a habit.  The graph paper really helps kids understand spacing, and lets them develop their fine motor skills within the realms of the little boxes.

I have found that it is good to turn the paper sideways, because otherwise the child will write a lot of hyphenated words that continue on to the next line.

The graph paper is also good for lining up math problems.  It’s a lot easier to keep your addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division straight if you have the little boxes helping you line everything up.

Hurray for graph paper!

Notebook paper, whether wide ruled or college ruled, is great.  It’s cheap, and can be used for many assignments.

Kids and other teachers have taught me that notebook paper is also really useful when it’s turned sideways.  Then you can use the lines to help you line up math problems.  This really helps kids keep everything straight, and makes little mathematicians much more successful.

It’s a quick tip, but a good one.

Great news!  My album, Best Multiplication Songs EVER! won two awards for 2010:  Dr. Toy’s Top 100 products and Dr. Toy’s Top 10 Educational Products.

Click here to learn more about the album.

Who is Dr. Toy?  Stevanne Auerbach, PhD, is one of the nation’s and world’s leading experts on play, toys, and children’s products.  Dr. Toy started her career as a teaching and reading specialist, helped establish the first childcare centers for federal employees, and founded the San Francisco International Toy Museum.

With 30 years of specialized experience, Dr. Auerbach evaluates educationally oriented, developmental and skill building products from the best large and small companies in four annual awards programs.  Parents, teachers and toy buyers rely on Dr. Toy’s guidance in selecting products for children. 

Dr. Toy’s motto is “Let’s play!”  Best Multiplication Songs EVER! perfectly fits Dr. Toy’s philosophy that play is educational, and education can be fun.

Thank you, Dr. Toy!