Calculadder Question

[Guest]

I have a question about how to do speed drills. For facts my daughter does not know such as 6, 7, 8, 9's can she use manipulatives to do the speed drill? I would only let her use the manipulatives the first couple of times so she could get familiar with the answers, and then have her try it without.

[Mystie]

You *could* let her do them with blocks first, so she gets the hang of them and learns them conceptually, if she needs reinforncement. But there's no way to pass the level while using blocks. You pretty much can't pass a level without being completely fluent with the facts, ready to answer without thinking it through.

 

I use Calculadder (and my mom did with me and my siblings!), and I either use a stopwatch timer and let them go at their pace and then mark how long it took, or I set the timer for 2 minutes (or whatever the time goal is on the level) and then have them put a star where they made it to and have them finish it during their independent work.

[Guest]

You *could* let her do them with blocks first, so she gets the hang of them and learns them conceptually, if she needs reinforncement. But there's no way to pass the level while using blocks. You pretty much can't pass a level without being completely fluent with the facts, ready to answer without thinking it through.

 

I use Calculadder (and my mom did with me and my siblings!), and I either use a stopwatch timer and let them go at their pace and then mark how long it took, or I set the timer for 2 minutes (or whatever the time goal is on the level) and then have them put a star where they made it to and have them finish it during their independent work.

 

Thanks Mystie. She knows all of the smaller math facts, but not the larger numbers. If I was just timing her and not letting her use any manipulatives...she would probably only get 1 or 2 one because it would take her that long to figure it out. I was thinking of letting her do them without timing her, and let her use her abacus (just so she is familiar with the facts). Then after a couple times that way try it timed with no abacus.