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Showing posts with label math facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math facts. Show all posts

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize?

The words "Drill and Kill" refer to rote learning. 

They imply that rote learning will kill a student's motivation to learn.

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.

With today's technology and all the improvements in the world, do we really still need to include rote learning in education. Don't we want to get the children thinking beyond the basic information?

Well, yes, we certainly do want them to think above the basic information! We want children to learn how to learn, and think beyond that learning! In fact, here's a little reminder of Bloom's Taxonomy:


Of course, we want our students to get to those upper levels of the triangle, but before they get there, they have to do some remembering and understanding. 

The remembering part is where rote learning comes into play. These are the building blocks for our learners.

Here are some examples of things that primary students need to learn by rote:
  • the alphabet
  • letter sounds
  • numbers
  • math facts
  • sight words

Here are some example of things older learners need to learn by rote:
  • A football players needs to learn the plays and drills.
  • A musician needs to learn the notes and chords.
  • An actor needs to learn his lines and movements.
  • An airplane pilot needs to learn the purpose of all those buttons.
  • A grocery store manager needs to learn what products are sold and where they are located.
  • A pharmacist needs to know the names of the prescriptions and dosages.
  • A physical therapist needs to know the muscles of the body.
  • A member of the clergy needs to know the Bible.

I'm sure you can think of plenty more! 
But memorization doesn't have to be painful or miserable for the learner!
Here are some ideas that will help learning basic information be a little more valuable, as well as more fun and  motivating:
Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
Five minutes each day is much better than a half hour, once a week! Research shows a little bit each day is best!

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
Saying it out loud really helps the memory! If it's a math fact, recite the entire fact, not just the answer. Remember when we learned spelling words we were told to "Say it, spell it, say it?" They were right on track! I've often told my students to say it "out soft." It's not a real expression, but my students know it means, "loud enough to hear yourself, but not loud enough to disturb others!"

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
Humans need socialization. Learning information tends to "stick" better when students are talking about what they're learning! Quite often, they share tricks that help the learning! 
Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
If I want my students to remember something, I'll repeat the phrase over and over in a rhythm the children will remember. Most often, they will join in with me. The next time it comes up, I'll repeat the phrase with the same rhythm, and they'll remember it. If necessary, I'll add some movement as well. It never fails!

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
How many of you know all the words to The Brady Bunch theme song? Probably most of you! Now how many of you worked hard to learn those words? Probably none of you! Music is magical! If you put important information to a tune, it helps the memory! (Remember Schoolhouse Rock? it works!)

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
Working with information over and over until it is remembered isn't a whole lot of fun, but teachers know how to make it fun! I'm a big believer in playing games! 

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.
Did you realize there are 200 basic addition and subtraction facts to be learned? You can't just give all 200 to the kiddos at once! Give a few at a time, then when those are learned, add a few more. We want them to have success, not be overwhelmed! 

Rote learning, or memorization, is an important part of learning, but please remember it is only the beginning. These are the building blocks. Once the basic information is learned, children need to grow from that knowledge and develop a deeper understanding with motivation to learn more and process that information. Rote learning only covers the bottom step of Bloom's Taxonomy. It is our job to bring the children much further!

Here are a few resources to help with some of the information that needs to be memorized:  

Addition and Subtraction Facts: Fact Fluency System for Addition and Subtraction: The Bundle 

Addition and Subtraction facts for distance learning:
Fact Fluency for Addition and Subtraction Boom Learning: the Bundle

Multiplication and Division Facts: Fact Fluency System for Multiplication and Division: The Bundle 

Multiplication and Division facts for distance learning: 
Fact Fluency for Multiplication and Division Boom Learning: the Bundle




or you can get the whole bundle at a huge discount:

Drill and Kill? Do Students Still Need to Memorize? This post lists some instances where rote learning is still needed, and has some suggestions on how to do this successfully in the classroom.

Developing Multiplilcation and Division Fact Fluency

Developing Fact Fluency can be quite a challenge. 

In fact it can be overwhelming for students!


Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Why? Well, to start with, there are 100 multiplication facts, and 100 division facts!
That's a whole lot of facts to learn! Take a look at this:

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

There they are, all 100 multiplication facts.

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

And the 100 division facts.

It just doesn't work to just hand these lists to the kiddos and tell them to learn them all! 

Here are some ideas to help ease this heavy load!

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Before the children start to work on memorizing facts, it's essential they understand what multiplication and division are! I like to spend plenty of time with manipulatives, as well as making and drawing arrays. I make sure they understand that 6 x 5 means 6 sets of 5. They use manipulatives to show six groups of 5 (as in the picture: 6 rows of cups, with 5 cups in each row), and draw an array with 6 sets of 5. When they have done a whole lot of this, and have a deep understanding of what it all means, then they can move on to fact fluency.

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

As you can see from the list of all the facts, it's just too much to assign them all at once! It's best to break them down into smaller groups, and best to create those groups by patterns. I recommend starting with the "x1 facts," which would be anything with 1 as a factor, and the related division fact. 

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Research on learning has taught us that this is how the brain learn best. 

Each family has a total of 4 facts that can be created with the same combination of manipulatives. (Doubles only have 2 per family.)
This can be seen in the visual below:

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

The upper left shows 5 sets of 6. (5 x 6 = 30) The upper right shows 6 sets of 5 (6 x 5 = 30) The lower left shows 30 sorted into 5 equal sets (30 ÷ 5 = 6) and the lower right shows 30 items sorted into 6 equal sets (30 ÷ 6 = 5).

Studying the fact families really makes the whole thing easier! If they learn one combination, they've got 4 facts!

Just for fun, here's how the doubles work. 

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

No matter how you turn the sets, it's still 5 sets of 5, so there's really only 2 possible combinations!

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Research tells us that repeating the complete information orally helps the memory. They don't necessarily like to do this, but they'll admit it really helps them remember the facts!

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

If you've ever had to learn a new skill, I'm sure you've seen the value of practicing a little bit every day. Five minutes a day for 5 days will have more value than 30 minutes of practice once a week! Less time, more value! I work my fact practice into my math rotations in a variety ways: games, practice alone, practice with a partner, or practice with an adult.

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Children develop their own tricks to help remember basic facts, and when they talk, they share those tricks! That makes everyone smarter!

Here's a trick I learned from my students! They've got plenty of ideas like this, that are worthy of conversation!

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!


Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Most of the children will have a good deal of success with the above 6 strategies, but if they don't, don't let them fall through the cracks. I suggest doing some sort of assessment once a week, and keeping a record of how they do. Even when they don't show mastery, they should be showing growth each week. If they don't, something needs to be done. 

Here are some suggestions:
1. Limit the amount of fact families. One or two fact families is enough for some children.
2. Work one on one with that student: 5 minutes a day.
3. Assign an adult to work one on one with that student.
4. Send home a set of facts to be practiced with a parent.

The above would be in addition to your regular routine. 

Here's a freebie set of practice and assessments for the x1 Fact Families:
 
Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

It contains practice cards (with the answers to be printed on the back) 2 assessments, and access to Boom Learning Digital Task cards, which the children absolutely LOVE! And it's free!

If you're interested in just the Boom Learning format,that's a freebie, too!
Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

If your students have success with this freebie, here's a link to the whole bundle: Fact Fluency System for Multiplication and Division: The Bundle


Here's a link to a similar bundle for addition and subtraction facts: Fact Fluency System for Addition and Subtraction: The Bundle

Plus, a chance to try out this system with this freebie: Fact Fluency System for Addition and Subtraction: Freebie

Want to read more about fact fluency and the brain? 
Here are a couple more blog posts with more information!

Developing Multiplication and Division Fact Fluency: Fact fluency is essential for success in mathematics. Here are 6 strategies to help the children develop fluency with multiplication and division facts. There's a freebie, too!

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!

Here in the northern hemisphere, we are enjoying the spring weather!

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.


We still have to teach. but we might as well teach while enjoying the beautiful weather and getting those kiddos outside! Here are some of my ideas!

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

This one is pretty obvious! They have to read every day.  Why not bring it outside? If you want to go all out, have them bring in towels to sit or lie on while reading. Other options: partner reading, or teacher read alouds!

I do find sometimes a little bribery motivation is necessary. "If you don't stay focused on your books, we will have to bring them back inside."

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

There are loads of engineering projects that can be done outside!  Children can use sand, grass, rocks or sticks to create all sorts of things! Here are a few ideas:

1. Create a sundial.
2. Make a tall rock tower.
3. Make a shadow creature.
4. Take tubs of water outside and maybe a few classroom materials to create "boats" that float!

This is only the beginning. If you search "Outdoor S.T.E.M." on Pinterest or google it, I'll bet you find a TON of ideas!

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

You'll need some sidewalk chalk for this. 


Have equal teams, and a list of math facts or math problems they can solve. 


One team member at a time takes the chalk, runs to the other end of the defined area, write the problem with the correct answer, and run back. (It's a good idea to have another adult at the other end to check their math!) 

When they get back, the next person gets the chalk and a new problem.


I suggest making the running area on grass or "soft top," and the writing area on the hard top.

They'll be so busy having fun and burning off steam, they won't even know they're practicing important facts!


Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

Sketching is an important science skill!


Scientists need to notice details, and look for differences!


Direct students to pick a specific spot to sketch. (One with some sort of vegetation is best!)  A week later, they can go back to the same spot. As they re-sketch, hopefully they will notice differences.

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.
3 Seasons of our class tree!
Notice the winter tree was photographed from inside the screened window!

I've had my groups choose a "class tree" in the fall, and we will often go out to sketch the tree. As the year progresses, they re-sketch, and definitely notice differences!
One little secret, I've been very good at convincing the children to choose the tree right outside our class window. That way, they can sketch from inside in the winter! (No one wants to sit in snow and sketch!)


Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

Just like reading, story writing can be brought outdoors easily! They can continue stories they were working on, make up a story about what they see, or write nature poetry. Again, reminding the children this is a privilege helps them stay focused!


If you're interested in a little outdoor Science or Social Studies with reading and writing skills thrown in, check out this: Science and Social Studies for Summer

Most of these activities are designed for the outdoors, and you definitely don't have to wait for summer!

Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!  There's something special about being outside, and it's a great place to practice important skills.

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