Math Mad Minute

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Home : 2002 : January : 30

Math Mad Minute
By Madeline

I found a program called Math Mad Minute. Here's how it works. Every day, for the first or last 5 minutes of class, students have a sheet of facts to solve. They have their papers turned onto the back, and when you say
go they turn them over and try to solve their facts as fast as they can. At the end of five minutes they put their pencils down and turn them to the back again. You collect and grade them. If students get them all right, you put them on the next level. If not, they get the same sheet again the next day. The program went from addition to subtraction to multiplication to division. You

could start at whatever level you felt was necessary.

You might be asking if this will really stay motivating. Well, I know a teacher who got one of those charts where you can see your progress to put up in the room. She wrote each kid's name vertically on the chart, and then each heading horizontally was a part of an icecream party. For example, bowl, spoon, one scoop, two scoops, three scoops, sprinkles, whipped cream, gummi bears, cherry, etc. Basically, each time a kid got to move up a level, he/she got a new sticker under that heading. Some kids only had earned a bowl on the day of the icecream party. Some had earned an entire sundae. And some were in between, of course. That can be harsh for the students who do not know their facts, but it is certainly a motivator for them to learn them. Hope this helps!