XtraMath

I was perusing through Ladybug's Teacher Files (one of my most favorite blogs!) to get some resources for Everyday Math when I came across this post from a while back about a website called XtraMath.

 

After playing around on it for just a few minutes, I can already tell it is ah-ma-zing!

I first signed myself up as a Teacher.... for free! I was then sent to a very helpful checklist that instructed me how to do everything I needed:

All of this for free? {happy dance} 

So I began by creating a class with just my daughter. She's only 10 months, so I didn't think she'd mind. I found the student code for her and even a link to print off a class roster with names and codes-- thank you XtraMath! You must know how incredibly frustrating passwords are for children (mostly for the teachers!)

Pretending I was a third grader, I started the program. An actual person came on the lower left-hand corner and introduced himself as Mr. C. He gave very helpful instructions about taking your time, typing in the right answers, moving quickly, but not too quickly, etc. Then, the addition test began.

I was very pleased by the simple interface:

Isn't it perfect?! Just the problem and the the green dots at the bottom that serve as the timer (they move right until a blue hourglass appears indicating you are out of time).

After I went through the first round of practice (addition facts from 0-9), the matrix popped up with Mr. C showing me which ones I got right, wrong, didn't answer, or got right very quickly.

I didn't get the chance to play with it much more than that, but I do know after reading some of the comments on Ladybug's blog and searching around online, the feedback seems positive and the extra practice is never a bad thing ;) Plus, this includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, so it can be used throughout the year with kids on all skill levels.

I am most impressed with the simplicity and the idea that the kids are actually practicing facts, not typing in a few numbers and then playing a game for the remainder of our computer time in math. Parents will also ask from time to time about additional skill work they can practice at home and this seems like the perfect link. Lastly, I love the differentiation built right in-- I can track students from my account and they are always working on their perfect level.

Has anyone used this throughout the school year? I would love to hear more about it as well as some of the systems you have in place for using this in school.


Getting Started with XtraMath -- for Teachers from XtraMath on Vimeo.