Using Xtra Math to build Fact Fluency

Last year I discovered an awesome and FREE fact practice website called XtraMath.  XtraMath is a nonprofit organization dedicated to math achievement for all.  Their goal is to develop effective, efficient, adaptive, and intrinsically rewarding supplemental math activities and make them available for free.  The website has lots of information about the program and how to get started using it. I want to share how I am using it in my math classroom

I teach third grade. Theoretically, the students should know their addition and subtraction facts when they come to third grade.  Since they have been taught operations concretely, pictorially and abstractly, it is time to move towards mastery.  Therefore, I have required my students to complete XtraMath as homework five out of seven days a week.  XtraMath sends me a weekly report that tells me who completed their assignment.  Parents are also able to track their child's progress.  

Another feature I love is that, if the child's second grade teacher was using XtraMath, their account will link up to me when I add them to my class in third grade.  

In order for a child to get a mastery score of 100, students need to answer every question two out of the last three attempts cumulatively over several recent sessions.  After completing the session, the students are shown a colored dot which represents their progress.  Here is an example of the calendar snapshot that I am able to review for each child:

What do the dots mean?  Green means the student got less than 10% wrong.  Yellow means between 10% and 25% wrong.  Red means over 25% wrong. Blue dots indicate an incomplete XtraMath session.  

Above is a more detailed report that shows me how a student is progressing.  Our classroom goal is for everyone to master addition and subtraction by our holiday break.  

This is part of the weekly report I receive.  We all know that students perform at different levels and XtraMath has helped me to differentiate with each student. There are a couple of things I had to address based on this information.  First, Aidan only practiced 2 of the 5 required days.  I recorded this on the student's Weekly Conduct Report that goes home to each of my student's parents (love the accountability!).  Second, Ashley had moved on to multiplication after she mastered subtraction.  She's not ready to do this yet as we will not start our Multiplication Unit until January.  I asked her to stop for now. Avery moved to our school this year and is a very motivated, above-average student.  She had already learned her multiplication facts and her performance has proved it.  She is almost at mastery.  Note that Alison is not participating in XtraMath.   It was not the right solution for her.  Instead, her parents and I decided on an effective alternative.  

I am so pleased with my student's progress with this program.  The children like it and it only takes them about five minutes to complete.  For those who do not have internet access, they are required to complete XtraMath on our classroom computers when they first enter my class.  I have also placed a bright note on their desk to remind them.  We will begin using the multiplication portion once we complete our multiplication unit.  

I'd love to hear your experiences with XtraMath!  It's really working well for my kiddos!