Hey y’all! Last week I posted a picture on Instagram about some Math Fact pockets that I came up with. I’m here to give you a little more details and show you how to put them together!
First of all, let me say that this just came from some random idea I had when I was shopping online. I’ve been wanting to incorporate fact fluency tests somehow, but don’t want to keep up with a trillion pieces of paper.
That’s when the Math Fact Pockets were birthed 🙂 I purchased library pockets from Mardel HERE and used the fact tests from the Teacher Wife. I bought her Double Digit Addition and Subtraction unit YEARS ago, and these little guys are included. They were just perfect for what I needed!
First things first… I had to print the tests. I chose “multiple pages per sheet” and “TWO-sided.” This saved me a lot of time and paper! They are already 3 to a page, so with one sheet of paper I was able to get 4 of the tests for 3 of the students! Here’s what my screen looked like:
After I printed everything, I cut it up and sorted by assessment type (+0, +2, etc). Remember, I printed TWO-sided, so there are 20 assessments in all.
After I sorted everything out, I grabbed one of each test, trimmed the tops and bottoms, and stuck them into a pocket. I quickly wrote names on the front and was done! I had to do this with 40 students since I have two classes, and it really didn’t take me a lot of time, I promise! Think about all the time I will save just not having to pass one out each day!
My students stuck the pockets inside of their math spiral so we have easy access to them. Today, we worked on our first assessment. Here’s how that went down:
-Get out your +1 fact sheet
-Put your name on it in pencil
-You’ll have 60 seconds to complete the 15 problems (they were much faster)
-Put your pencils AWAY!
-Get out a highlighter
-Highlight any incorrect answers.
-Write the total of correct answers at the top.
-Put back in your pocket!
No, I am not taking these for a grade. AND, I don’t have any fancy way of keeping up with who mastered which facts. I just plan on doing these as motivation to learn our facts and practice to get better/faster at them! I can easily see who is struggling or who is mastering with a quick glance of the room 🙂 Once we are finished, I will staple all of their tests together to send home 🙂 THEN, maybe we will fill our pocket with something else!
Oh, and here’s a little peek at my math stations for the next two weeks. To find more out about my math station rotation/set-up you can look HERE and HERE.
And that’s, that! Now I’m going to pour a full thing of either cough drops or cough syrup into my mouth because I’m fairly certain I am swallowing needles at this point! I can guarantee that this teacher will have NO voice come Friday :/
Have a happy evening and an even better night’s rest 🙂
Hi, I'm Amy
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
I love this! I like the pocket idea! I have never thought of that!!
I love this idea for math fluency, I just have one question? What do you do if they have not mastered the fact for lets say +2, do you have multiple copies in the pocket or do you just move on to the next one?
9 Responses
Great idea to help with math facts and fluency. Thanks for sharing your tips. Hope you feel better soon!
-Lovely Nina
My kids love being the quickest at facts that they hardly realize it's learning.
Great ideas as always.
Sheri
Early Years with Sheri
Thanks for the shout out!!! Love!!!! You are the best!! 🙂
SO simple! Thanks for the idea 🙂
Always love reading your posts-especially your math posts!!! You are a MATH WHIZ! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas! Blessings.
Great ideas! Thank you for sharing!
-Ha 🙂
First Grade Shashay
Awesome! LOVE the pocket idea!
I love this! I like the pocket idea! I have never thought of that!!
I love this idea for math fluency, I just have one question? What do you do if they have not mastered the fact for lets say +2, do you have multiple copies in the pocket or do you just move on to the next one?