Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy math facts - when to move on

My DS did subtraction and addition Math facts in 1st, 2nd and now more in 3rd. Last year they held competitions that made doing the Math facts meaningful for speed. DS is scoring 100% last year and this year on all these tests. I feel like lets move on already. How would one know they should be done with these tests? I'm curious if he could possibly go any faster? I'm thinking this is as fast as he can go. So how would I get the school to let him move on? How can they feel comfortable to say OK? Any suggestions?

He really doesn't mind doing this. I'm just trying to balance his day because he is not too happy at school this year.

I guess it depends what you mean by 'maths facts'. In maths club, I devote all the time to mental maths because there are no ceilings. The gifties love it because it's one of the few opportunities where they get to give their brains a workout without having to "show" their work. I just want them to blurt out the answers as fast as possible!!! I particularly like subtraction as a mental maths workout. Have a look at the examples on reaction maths called subtract double. www.mathsisfun.com/games/reaction-math.html

If your son is repeatedly getting 100% on these maths fact tests, then perhaps it's time to raise the ceiling. Can you supply the teacher with an alternative 'test'?

jojo

Would he do multiplication next or should he do double digits? He wants to be done with his homework ASAP. I don't want it to feel like more work. But I think he is ready for something else. Anyone have suggestions?

thanks for the great tip! That site looks wonderful! It looks like we could print out lots of variations of double digits and then I could time him. They even give the answers. I'm going to give it a try and see if he would like to do this instead of his normal timed tests.

Pleased you liked the site. Also have a look at the addition in the speed math game. They start out really easy, but they get harder and it's a great mental math workout when you can do 1-2-3 steps in the calculation (add 2 times 2) www.mathsisfun.com/games/speed-math.html Perhaps you can come up with some home-made worksheets that would suit his current level?

If you're looking for more extension, try the games at www.fun4thebrain.com/addition.html There's a range of games that suit girls and boys and they're available for all operations (+ - x /) My girls currently LOVE Wade's workout world, especially for multiplication...

Enjoy! jojo

My DD had to do the same thing (though she's in 2nd grade). I was SHOCKED that the teacher asked her if she knew multiplication and then asked her 2 problems to verify that. After that point, she put her on multiplication on teh FlashMasters and today she got a Multiplication worksheet to do (though she STILL HAS TO TAKE THE DUMB TIMED ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION TESTS even though she's aced them.) Oh well, practice makes perfect, but at least she's getting SOMETHING!

I would mention it at conferences. I tried that last year and was SHOT DOWN big time. It seems the teacher last year thought that gifted was a synonym for perfect and started pointing out that she forgot a folder on the table and that she could use to work on organization in 1st grade. SIGH!

BUT, this year is MUCH better.

Thank you. We will try that.