Today, I am linking up with Rebecca from Line Upon Line Learning to bring you Teaching with Technology! One of the websites I love to use, both at school and at home, is XtraMath. If you haven’t heard of it before, here is a little about it:
It was started by a dad who was volunteering at his child’s school and noticed the need for fact fluency practice. He happened to be a computer programmer and the rest is history! It is completely free (they run off of donations) and parents/teachers have access to free reports to check the progress of their children. The program “tests” students on a few facts at a time and tracks how quickly they can answer the problem. If the student is not able to answer the problem after a few seconds, it will show the answer; however, it makes the student type in that answer so the child has to be paying attention.
Example if student takes more than 10 seconds
The green dots at the bottom count up each second
Students can use a keyboard on the screen or they can use the keyboard
Students can also “race the teacher.”
A graph is shown after they take a test. The green shows the problems solved correctly AND quickly.
Some of the progress reports teachers and parents have access to.
You can also access a calendar to see when they have practiced.
Students also enjoy this website. I have found that it is best to be able to use this site several times a week for just a few minutes per day. Obviously, that is easier said than done! I was able to sign up for the computer lab one day per week, so my students were only able to practice at school one time per week. Some of them practiced at home as well. If you have computers in your classroom, you could have a rotation so each student gets to practice a couple times per week.
What websites do you use in your classroom? How do you manage your classroom computers and/or computer lab time? I would love to hear your ideas!
This looks like a great way to practice! I will definitely be looking it up. Thanks for joining the linky! –Rebecca