How does daily math games/activities improve fluency with basic facts?
After a week of implementing my 2nd mini action research project, I am still uncertain of what the results will show. I most certainly hope it will show an increase in fluency with addition/subtraction facts but not so certain it will. I am starting to wonder if four weeks will simply be enough time.
So far, students have been engaged in daily math games to see if it improves fluency with facts. I have collected data with a written timed test (2 minutes) as well as a one minute oral test. Comparing this data has been interesting. It was no surprise as many students answered more correct on average in the oral test but I did have a few who scored higher in the written test. Were they nervous? Distracted? Why did a few do much better on the written performance?
From my observations, I have bee surprised in how engaged my students have been with the daily math games. When the 10 minutes are over, I usually hear, "Can't we play longer?" Within those games students have been reinforcing equations and other strategies to help recall those facts. Student have spent time playing addition top-it, subtraction top-it, and addition/subtraction war. I am curious to see how daily routines will impact learning these facts.
I remembered another card game called "Human Calculator" that my 2nd graders use to love. Have 2 kids sit across from each other each holding a card by their forehead. The third person is the "human calculator", they add the cards together and say the total out-loud. The kids holding the cards know the total and can see the other card. They have to figure out what their card is the fastest.
ReplyDelete