Math Facts~Math Strategies for Kids

I am thrilled to see that so many of you are finding this homework help series helpful. I loved your responses and feedback from the comprehension strategies post. It was wonderful to hear how much these strategies are making a difference for you and the kids you are teaching.

Today I’m sharing math strategies.  I must confess, this post was harder for me to write. More accurately, I should have stated that this post was hard for me to not write pages and pages on the subject of math. There are so many strategies and different views about math. I absolutely LOVE math and would be thrilled to write for days on this matter. However, I’ll try to keep it concise and share some tips for helping kids remember math facts, an area that many find difficult during homework time.

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Strategies for Remembering Math Facts

Homework Given: Memorize a set of math facts

Goal: To learn a set of math facts so that recall is quick and accurate

{This is very similar to learning sight words. The more practice and application time you have, the easier it is to recall.}

Study Strategy: Don’t just use flashcards!  

Yes, flashcards are a great way to practice and assess which facts have been mastered. However, when a student needs to learn them this can be an endless frustration of facts they don’t know. Instead, make it fun to review the math facts!

Some of the activities below do include flashcards. You can make flashcards on your own or purchase sets to play various games. These are affiliate links to some basic math fact sets for addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

• Use the flashcards like a card game of WAR. The person with the largest sum/product wins the war. You can see more about how we play WAR in this post that includes plain number cards. You can modify our games using math fact cards for this homework activity.
• Create a memory type game where kids have to match the fact to the answer. I like to do this one for those random facts that still haven’t been mastered. If the facts are too similar, it can be more challenging for the student. As kids make matches we place them face up on the other side of the table.
• Find a fun Math Facts App on your mobile device for the kids to use. {I will need to write a separate post about my favorite ones in this category!}
• Ask kids how they want to practice their math facts. You might be surprised by how creative their ideas are. My Ariel likes to create a song with her facts! She takes a sheet with about 5-8 facts and sits in her room singing them. I let her hold the sheet of paper with the correct answers so that I can make sure she is learning them correctly. When she is done (about 5 mins later), we sit on the couch and let her sing us the song. Sometimes it turns into an interpretive dance! Either way, Ariel found a way that she likes to learn the facts!!
• Play Go Fact Family with the same rules as Go Fish. Find all the flashcards that create one fact family. You can do one operation at a time: Addition (3+2, 2+3) or you can do two related operations: Addition & Subtraction (2+3, 3+2, 5-2, 5-3). Great for older students!
• Make a Math Facts Poster. Let your student create a work of art full of math facts. Layout a poster board or large sheet of paper. In the middle of the paper, write a large number. Then the student can write all the facts for that number around the outside. Get crafty!
• Play Hop to It. Have your student write each fact on a large index card or sheet of paper. Spread the cards around the room. They can be scattered or along a pathway.  It can also be figured like a hopscotch board.  Then get moving! The student can move across the room by jumping on the fact and saying the fact out loud. You can also try dancing, twirling, or wiggling from math fact to math fact, whatever your child enjoys. This lets your child write the fact, see the fact, and say the fact.
• Get out the sidewalk chalk and write the facts on your driveway!

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When helping a student complete math homework the goal is to reinforce concepts taught in class. Find ways to make it fun! The more time spent looking at the facts, the more chances a student will have to make connections. Keep a close watch on your student’s work. It is much harder to teach a student that has reached his/her frustration point, so try identifying and correcting errors early on.

Help your student become a Math Super Star by developing confidence in their math abilities!

Next week we’ll chat some about helping kids complete all those math worksheets they bring home (And yes, I just heard you grumble!).

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