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Upcoming 5th grader needs help on drilling facts this summer. What to use?


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I have not done well drilling math facts with ds10. He is still having to count up (skip count) for multiplication and tries to occasionally use his fingers still for addition and subtraction. :( We are going to work this summer on drill after drill to get those facts down SOLID! But I would like to do it in a way that will still be at least a little fun! :)

 

What are your favorite resources for drilling math facts? And then any other websites or games to add to make it fun, too?

Edited by Jennefer@SSA
Stink at typing with thumbs :)
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We love the flashmaster here at our house. There are so many different ways to use it...for adding, subtracing, multiplying, dividing; by fact family, by level (has levels 1-7), by amount of time, and lots of other ways. My son never thinks of it as drillng. It seems almost like a video game for him.

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We use Timez Attack and Math Rider for games.

 

We use a LOT of songs. We used Subtraction by Twin Sisters (they have others, though. You can download them for about $9 on Amazon), which is by far my kids' favorite, and the Kathy Troxel CDs.

 

And then we do timed drills, a lot, especially when they're working on getting their facts down cold. We use the worksheets from Math-drills.com for this.

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We used this http://www.amazon.com/Multiplication-Facts-Seven-Days-Success/dp/1583242759 with my 9 yo dd. I feel like I have tried it all. Nothing worked for us. This program breaks it into a set of facts per day so it wasn't hard for her. This worked the best out of everything we've tried. I added in the 11 and 12 facts and just run through them quickly every day.

 

Sandy

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It's not fun but we did timed worksheets and copywork for math facts.

 

Not as rote, but equally effective was taping a poster of math facts on the wall across from the toilet :)

 

I shouted random number combinations at him throughout the day, and if he answered quickly enough I'd toss a hershey kiss at him. If he didn't, I made a note to ask him that same number combination later on. Sometimes we did this while he jumped up and down on the mini-trampoline, which made it more fun for him, but because I'm mean - if he dropped the hershey kiss I threw, I got to ask him another number combination LOL.

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We used Times Tales for DS. For some reason, he didn't enjoy anything on the computer. He also enjoyed flash cards and simple drill sheets that I made up on my own. Just as a heads up, some kids don't enjoy the computer stuff ;)

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It's not fun but we did timed worksheets and copywork for math facts.

 

Not as rote, but equally effective was taping a poster of math facts on the wall across from the toilet :)

 

I shouted random number combinations at him throughout the day, and if he answered quickly enough I'd toss a hershey kiss at him. If he didn't, I made a note to ask him that same number combination later on. Sometimes we did this while he jumped up and down on the mini-trampoline, which made it more fun for him, but because I'm mean - if he dropped the hershey kiss I threw, I got to ask him another number combination LOL.

 

this is what we do too. I really like math-drills.com, can't beat the price and they offer many versions of the tests.

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Saxon has a corresponding book that is filled with 5 minute timed drills. We do them daily (even though we don't use Saxon). They are simple and quick. You log results so you can easily see your improvement over time. very helpful.

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We use old fashioned flash cards and timed math sheets. One way we have done it is to have a "1" week or few days - work on + 1, -1 and then move on to the "2" week or days and then "3". Then I combine the 1, 2, 3's for a few days. I've seen a huge improvement in my dd9 this year because she is doing much more regular practice of her flash cards.

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There are other posts that reference this computer game by Big Brainz. You can download this for free! It teaches the multiplication fact then it keeps drilling until it is mastered. Pretty cute game, we are not big into games but this is a reward for my son and he's learning his multiplication facts.

 

there is a link to it on www.freelyeducate.com

 

Allyson

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Is your dc an auditory/verbal learner? If so, AudioMemory.com is a great resource for Addition Songs CD, Subtraction Songs CD, etc. I played these in the car and ds sang them through and loved them.

 

For a tactile/kinesthetic learner it is great to use the Learning Wrap-ups; they have a set for each operation, and fractions, as well as other subjects. I bought most of our wrap-ups sets used on this site or a used book store with a large children's section, in my town.

 

HTH:001_smile:

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DS has been using http://www.khanacademy.org/ for practice. Most of the online/software games he's tried have been too busy (visually over-stimulating) or had too many ads. He also can't deal with the mad minute/timed drill thing (and I tend to lean on the side of 'faster is not smarter' anyway ;)) and Khan Academy removes that stress. He likes being able to earn "badges" for every set he completes, and they have teaching videos, too.

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We went to a local teacher's store yesterday and I just let my son look at everything and pick out what interest him. We came out with Hot Dots. They are flashcards with different answers and you use a special pen and it makes sounds to notify if correct or incorrect. He likes it. It cost us $10 for the cards and $10 for the pen. They have different types of flashcards. We are thinking about getting the states and capitals if we see some good results. Before that we have tried everything and nothing is working. My son also likes workbooks with lots of pictures. He loves online games, but there are few he likes that do a good job of drilling. Good luck!

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