XtraMath! Free Math Fact Fluency Practice!

My students and I love XtraMath and can't believe that it is actually free! I've been using XtraMath in my classroom since last school year! It's a web-based math fact practice program that builds your students' math fact fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. 

One session lasts approximately 8-10 minutes. My students do one session every day. I just love the format of this program.

If a student does not answer the math fact within the allowed time, the answer will faintly appear as you see below allowing the student to answer the math correctly. This helps the student to learn the fact. The keypad to the right can be hidden for students that prefer to use the computer keyboard to answer.

If students key in an incorrect answer, the incorrect answer will show as wrong, as well as the correct answer for the student to enter.

Students can see the ones they've mastered in green and the ones they will be working on next in gray.

 In the Race the Teacher session, targeted facts are repeated over and over each time they are answered incorrectly, providing a great amount of repetition for your students. 

 Students receive feedback throughout their session!

 And yes, this free site also provides simple "to the point" class or individual reports. Navigation through the site, printing reports and changing students' program is super quick and easy!

On the individual student report I can see exactly which facts my student needs more practice on. I can see the ones correct, incorrect, and the facts they were timed out on. 

Students can also do XtraMath at home and parents can monitor the reports too!

I have Scholastic FASTT MATH available at my school and my students and I still prefer to use this free site! I love the repetition it provides, the teaching of each fact, the reports, the student feedback, the parent involvement, and the simple navigation!!! 

Check out XtraMath for your classroom here!

Technology Thursday {Symbaloo}

I'm linking up today with the gals at "Teaching Trio" for Technology Thursday to tell you about Symbaloo! If you haven't heard of it, it's awesome! 

With Symbaloo you can bookmark and manage all of the websites you want your students to use on one page and your students will have access in a simple click!! 

This is my class Symbaloo page. You can access it here if you want to check out how it works. It is also set as the homepage on all of my student computers. Every time my students go on the Internet, this page opens and they click on one of the icons to go to that website. No more stress or time wasted trying to get on websites!

I also love how Symbaloo allows me to manage what sites my students are using. My students are only allowed to go to the sites that are on our Symbaloo page. However, I do allow my students to suggest sites to me and then I will add them once viewed and approved. In fact, the sites you see at the bottom are all of my students' requests! 

I also love that I can monitor their use during computer lab time. That's why you see the cute little number guys designed by Maureen Kinney. One day a week my class goes to the computer lab for an hour. They must spend 25 minutes on a site in number 1, 20 minutes on a site in number 2, and then they get 15 minutes to spend on a site of their choice in number 3. 

You can also change the background colors of the tiles giving you the option to even color code sites if you choose to do that! You can insert your own images as I did with the numbers and easily drag tiles anywhere you'd like. Super user-friendly and simple! 

I'm even planning to create a personal one this summer and during this post the thought dawned on me of creating one with special Ed sites to share with all of you!! Hmmmm!

If you're not set up with Symbaloo, head over to their site and get started {here}! It's super easy. Just sign up with a username and password and start creating your personalized tiles! 

FEBRUARY MONDAY MADE IT!

So excited to link up with Tara for Monday Made It again..........especially since it is only once a month now. I am getting so many fabulous ideas and goodies from all of you wonderful bloggers out there! It has truly been very inspiring! I have become obsessed with making things! 

Here are a few of the things I have been making.

First, I made these computer log on cards for my students. With all of our programs, the students log in with their name and their student #. The log on cards I had before were not working so well because the font was too small. They were also very flimsy and printed on regular paper. These are much larger and on laminated card stock. I spaced each number so that the students can follow each number easily when typing it in on the keypad.

1-10 Valentines Count & Match

These are heart die cuts from Carson Dellosa that I just happened to find when going through some of my junk last week. For the dots I used a hole puncher. I had a pic for you of the whole set, but accidentally deleted it........that's typical of me. Me & technology are not the best of friends!




I have one student that cannot seem to master her math facts no matter what I do! So I made these for her nightly homework practice......let's see if this works! Click {here} to grab these!

Magic Money Pictures Center Folders

I love these! What a fun idea from Karla @ "The Connected Teacher." As students count the money in each rectangle, they color in that amount on the mystery sheet to reveal a picture when they're done!
Karla uses them in sheet protectors, but as you can see, I made them into center folders. I used green folders from Office Max and laminated them. Students will color in the mystery picture with a dry erase marker. I have been using these for a couple of weeks and it has really motivated my students to learn money.

Winter Fun Count & Match

This is too cute! And came from Amy @ 3am Creations. She has some wonderful creations! I was able to get it free from Freebie Friday, but it is available at her TpT store for only $2.00. Go {here} to get it. Even though you're getting away from winter themes now, you can get it for next year! Students count the buttons & match to the correct number. Although I did not design these......there was some assembly required. Cut, fold, glue, & laminate to end up with your cute little matching cards. I then put them in coin envelopes like below for my centers. I prefer these over baggies and use them for everything that will fit and they come in many sizes!

A cute Valentine poem to give your students for a "No Homework Day!"

Last, I put together four more math centers!
If you haven't visited www.K-5mathteachingresources.com, you need to! This site is loaded with free hands-on math centers! I just print them on cardstock, laminate them, and place them in a folder with the required manipulatives in a baggie that I staple inside the folder.

Oh, I almost forgot to show you one other thing I made! My "BLOOMIN' BLOGGER SUNDAYS" button.




This is a weekly blog post where every Sunday I post a tip or how-to for new bloggers. Stop by and check it out! 

Well that concludes my Monday Made It. Can't wait to see what everyone else has been making!!