Math Rotations: Fact Practice

Thanks for hanging with me on this Math Rotations Journey. Although I am now describing the last "rotation"-ish, please know I have lots of extra posts I will be doing to follow-up on some of the ideas I have introduced. And, if you know me {which many of you do!}, you will also know I will be tweaking these along the way and sharing those new experiences, too.

If you ever want a full recap of these posts, be sure to click on the button on the top title to be taken to a nice and neatly organized linky with each Math Rotations post I have done. 

Ok, onto the non-rotation rotation:

Fact Practice

I call this a non-rotation rotation because kids may or may not get to this during our math class. Activities in Fact Practice are mainly for early finishers of Lesson Work and they are an occasional choice on our Math Centers Bingo Board.

I had to structure my time like this for a few reasons:

• Limited Time= I have 60ish minutes to teach math, so four rotations just wasn't a feasible option (12 minutes for Teacher Time would be way too short for my littles)
• Limited Technology= Many of the activities require a computer and I only have 5 in my class
• Limited Stamina= For the kids, sometimes 20ish minutes of Fact Practice can be very daunting, and that can mean disaster when it comes to class management, so I prefer to keep Fact Practice short and sweet :)

Fact Practice options are listed on our white board and I like to switch them up from time to time to keep it interesting.

These signs are available in my TpT Store

Here's a rundown of some of our usual choices for Fact Practice:

• Xtra Math
• Flash Cards 
• Dominoes 

I have kids work on Flash Cards and Dominoes with a buddy (quietly) or independently, making two piles as they go-- one for "known facts" and one for "unknown facts".

I picked up some very inexpensive flash cards from Target's dollar section over the summer and have addition,  multiplication, division, and even time!! Kids can also practice facts with dominoes and choose to do either addition or multiplication for practice (usually addition at the beginning of the year and multiplication for the second half).

If they do choose Xtra Math, they will need to pick up a Computer Pass from a bin on my desk. This freebie is simple and definitely helps with management when I am meeting with kids at Teacher Time. I have also kept the bin near me at the beginning so I can help regulate the process a bit more. 

I have also heard of a few more programs that I would like to look into, especially since I received word that my Donor's Choose grant to get four iPads for my class was FUNDED! {Insert a VERY happy dance here!}. Some of the options I'm thinking about are:

• Sumdog
• Scootpad (The Lesson Plan Diva has a great tutorial to walk you through HERE)
• loads of iPad apps, but I haven't waded through the free ones yet and definitely need to hear some good recommendations from you all

So, that's my ending question for you-- what iPad apps and/or websites help your kiddos practice math skills? I love the data tracking that Xtra Math and Scootpad provide, plus, Scootpad has an app, which is always very exciting. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!