Math Facts Games:
"In" and "Out" Flash Cards
Today's Snack: It's fun to eat snacks with a surprise inside! Try
baking little lumps of refrigerator dough spread around a tiny smoked sausage,
cut in half. Make a cookie sheet full of those treats, according to package
directions for pigs in a blanket, reducing the time in the oven by a few
minutes since the amount of dough per piece is smaller. Eat a few now with a
glass of milk. Freeze the rest in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag. Drink a glass of
milk, too.
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Supplies:
Math flash cards | Two small boxes,
paper plates or containers
Even if a student spends just 5
minutes a day working with math flash cards, it's a win. The idea is to INGRAIN
in your BRAIN the math facts, so that the answers come to you instantly,
automatically and accurately. A daily mini-practice with flash cards is a great
way to create that state of math fact mastery that parents and teachers all
want each kid to be in.
Here's an idea that can really help:
Set out two boxes, paper plates or
other small containers in front of you. Then start going through a deck of
flash cards that are pretty challenging.
Whenever you get a problem correct -
and right away, in just a second or two, place that flash card into one of the
boxes. Think of it as your "Out" box - meaning, you have mastered that math
fact and don't need to review it any more.
But whenever a problem on a flash
card stumps you for longer than two seconds, then you have to put it in the
"In" box. That means you haven't mastered it yet. You need to review it until
the answer comes to you instantly.
Once you've gone through the deck
once, pick up the cards you placed in the "In" box, and study them.
Then go through them again. This
time, can you put more of them into the "Out" box?
Keep repeating the review process
until the whole deck is in the "Out" box. It may take you several days or a
week, but you'll be great at the "in's and out's" of math!
