Bridges Blog Archive for Fact Fluency

During my visit with a local kindergarten class, we used MLC's free Number Rack App to practice combinations to five...and subitize!

NCTM President Linda Gojak's recent article, Fluency: Simply Fast and Accurate? I Think Not!, provides a powerful catalyst for discussion.

The Math Learning Center is pleased to announce the release of the Number Rack App available at no charge from the iApps Store in iTunes and as a free Web application. The rows of moveable, colored beads encourage learners to think in groups of fives and tens, helping them to explore and discover a variety of addition and subtraction strategies.

March 7 is World Maths Day. On the site, students play "at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic. Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games, earning points for their personal tally.

Xtra Math is a free, online program designed to help kids master basic math facts: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Student accounts can be accessed from computers at home or school. Progress reports are available.

While the program can provide fact fluency support to any child, it may be an especially helpful tool in fourth grade as students work on "Quick Facts"  during Number Corner Computational Fluency, January through March.

Teaching fourth grade Bridges? As your year gets underway, consider the value in teaching and reviewing multiplication strategies from third grade, based on the distributive and associative properties for multiplication. If you or your students are new to Bridges, you may be learning strategies together for the first time. Strategies like "double plus 1 set" and "clock facts" are reviewed in Unit 1, Sessions 13 and 15.

Interested in some posters with the addition and subtraction fact strategies taught in Bridges grades 2 and 3? You'll find the pdfs in this blog entry from October 2009. Also, don't forget the recent post that includes multiplication and division strategy posters.