Posts
- tool skills - how many digits can a student read or write per minute
- component skills - how many simple addition problems student can solve per minute
- composite skills
After discovering that C. can solve only 50 simple addition problems in 60 seconds when he should be able to do between 70 and 90, I decided to find out how fast he can write digits.
I had him write the digits 0 - 9 over and over again as fast as he could for 60 seconds.
He wrote 110, 10 more than the performance standard the PT folks seem to use.
So we're going to be doing Saxon Fast Facts sheets, Books 7/6 and 8/7 (the Tests and Worksheets Bookets), until he's up to speed.
Literally.
I'm also starting both of us on Cursive Writing Skills from Megawords. His handwriting is horrific, as is his printing, and it's not getting better over time.
back to basics
speed test
4 comments:
110 seems pretty good to me.
I tried this writing big numbers (about 7 or 8 mm high using two lines of ruled paper) and got 117 digits in a minute.
Then I tried again writing smaller numbers that fit between the lines on the ruled paper and got 133 digits in a minute.
But I think that separating out these factors is really cool. What about flash cards for math facts?
Remember than 110 digits is only enough for 55 problems if all the problems have two digit answers :)
It's incredibly helpful!
The precision teaching people recommend a flash card system they call SAFMEDS that I'll get around to posting about.
I've had another synchronicity experience: within the same timespan (just a couple of days) four or five different sources have mentioned successful learning/retention/etc. through studying OUT LOUD!
With SAFMEDS, you say everything out loud.
I'm thinking math-ed research is simply behind reading research.
The concept of fluency, defined as rate, is well-established in reading instruction. (At least, it has been since the National Reading Panel report.)
Megawords, the spelling program I use, has a fluency test in every unit. The books tell you exactly where kids should be in terms of how quickly they should be able to read words, and you and the students set fluency goals together.
I didn't do this part of the program because was already fluent when we started Megawords - which I knew because I tested him using the Megawords test.
reading fluency:
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/units/fluency.htm
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1fluency.html
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/explore/fluency.html
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