®Mom and Dad's Corner
During many of Mister Goodmath’s parent workshops, moms and dads have frequently asked for a way to electronically download the hundred square that students use to practice addition and multiplication facts while racing against the clock. By clicking on the following links, you can download, save to your computer hard drive, and print several versions of the squares.
double_hundred_square.pdf
twenty-five_square.pdf
sixteen_square.pdf
nine_square.pdf
Traditionally, second semester First Graders and all Second Graders begin the process with 9 square, 16 square, and 25 square grids before moving on to a full hundred square for addition. Times appropriate to shoot for are 1 minute for a nine square, 1.5 minutes for a sixteen square, and 2.5 minutes for a 25 square. April/May second graders should be completing an addition hundred square in 6 to 7 minutes or less error free.
September third graders should be completing an addition hundred square error free in 5 minutes or less. Once multiplication strategies have been thoroughly taught and practiced, third graders should be able to complete a hundred square in 5 minutes or less by the end of the school year. All fourth and fifth graders should be able to complete a multiplication hundred square error free in three minutes or less. Welleby currently has two 4th grade classes with 100% of the class under 3 minutes and many of the students under 2. One of Welleby's fifth grade girls holds the school record for a hundred square with a blistering time of 57 seconds error free.
As new or useful web sites come online, Mister Goodmath will provide links that will enable you to visit them from your home. The Florida Department of Education http://www.fldoe.org is a site you need to bookmark on your computer. It contains thousands of documents that will supply you with answers to any question you may have concerning K-12 education in the state of Florida.
Very helpful to parents are the Sunshine State Standard's for individual grade levels. By clicking on the following link you can view and export a PDF document Standards Elem simple.pdf of Florida’s new standards in simple and easy to understand language. For those of you who wish to view a far more detailed version log onto the following website.
http://www.floridastandards.org/Standards/FLStandardSearch.aspx Once on this page, make certain that the “Browser” tab is highlighted. You will see a drop down menu button asking you to select a subject. Select “Mathematics”. In the subsequent steps, select “Grade Level”, followed by “Supporting/Big Idea”, and then “Benchmark”. What you’ll have access to are Benchmark Descriptions, Examples, Curriculum Resources, and Activities. All may be printed or exported to Microsoft Word or Excel documents. Another way to access this information is to log onto
http://www.fldoestem.org/FLDOE_STEM/Florida_Mathematics_Standards.aspx and download either Word, Excel, or PDF documents. The difference between these 2 sites is that the latter exports a document that includes the standards for all grade levels and does not include Examples, Curriculum Resources, or Activities.
FCAT Explorer (the Math Station) http://fcatexplorer.com provides comprehensive practice with the math benchmarks tested on the 5th grade FCAT. With a colorful, appealing interface, the Math Station includes over 150 context-rich practice problems and five benchmark-based math games. In addition, the Math Station offers hints for incorrect answer choices and detailed correct answer explanations. Students can also use their login and password for much more. The user information is their last name plus first initial of their first name and the password is the first four letters of their last name plus a 2 digit birth month plus a 2 digit birth day.
Our math series, Harcourt Math, is available online. Children no longer need to carry their math book home to complete homework. Using your favorite internet browser, log onto http://www.eharcourtschool.com/index.jsp and type in the username and password that was sent home with students at the beginning of the school year. My Subscriptions will appear. Click on "Go to the Online eBook." You will see drop down menus, on for the chapter and one for the lesson. Use the drop down menu to choose the lesson, click "Go", and you're on your way.
There are two incredible sites for virtual manipulatives that you must visit. Plan on having lots of time because you'll want to play for several hours at each site. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics hosts a site called Illuminations http://illuminations.nctm.org/ offering virtual manipulatives that parallel the manipulatives your child's teacher uses every day in school. You'll find everything from money to clocks, geoboards, pattern blocks, math balances, and tons more. Utah State University hosts another interactive math activities site called the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html that allows students to explore and visualize abstract math concepts. You'll have loads of fun with these two sites.
You may contact Mister Goodmath by clicking on “Contact Me” on the chalk tray at the bottom of this page.