The root of helping kids develop math fact fluency is through the connections and relationships of numbers that we can help them develop. The more connections and relationships they develop, the more fluent they will become. But most resources that you can find out there around fact fluency are just a bunch of worksheets.

I’m Christina Tondevold, The Recovering Traditionalist, and today we’re going to take a look at My Favorite Resources for Math Fact Fluency in our quest to build our math minds so we can build the math minds of our students.

Watch the video or read the transcript below:

Here are links to products/activities mentioned in this vlog. (Some may be affiliate links which just means that if you do purchase using my link, the company you purchased from sends me some money. Find more info HERE about that.)

Sue Looney’s Same But Different images
Build Math Minds PD Membership site
TEDD overview of Number Strings
Number Strings resources on https://numberstrings.com/
Berkeley Everett’s Math Flips flashcards

My other videos about Fact Fluency

My top videos to check out:

For anybody who is new here I’ll give you a brief little overview.

I don’t believe in having kids just memorize their facts.

I don’t believe in drills and worksheets.

My belief is based in the research of many researchers, including Carpenter, Van de Walle, Baroody, Wheatley and Reynolds, Fosnot, and many, many more. Their research shows that kids develop their fluency through a progression. That progression starts by counting and it moves into developing relationships around numbers and then yes, it becomes just something they know and can quickly recall when needed.

So, when people ask me for resources to help them with fact fluency, it’s hard for me because, I first want to make sure that people understand that fact fluency is not the same as memorization. If fluency is really your goal, it does not come from memorization. Sure, kids can memorize their facts and they’ll be able to regurgitate answers but they’re not truly fluent.

If you want more info on what makes somebody truly fluent, go reference the other videos that I’ve done, that are linked below the video. But, if you understand that fluency is not just memorization and you’re ready to start building math relationships for kids, helping kids see connections, then I’ll give you three of my favorite resources to help you do that.

Same But Different

The first one is a website by Sue Looney called Same But Different. For those of you who are members of the Build Math Minds PD site, Sue did a full training on implementing Same but Different for the Virtual Math Summit that you can find inside the site.

For those of you who aren’t BMM members, go check out her site for lots of images you can use in your classroom to get kids discussing what’s the same and what’s different. Even though we’re focused on fact fluency you don’t have to do Same But Different tasks that are focused on facts. The general idea of Same But Different is that you’re looking at images and the kids are talking about what is the same and what is different…And that is the key to helping kids build relationships around numbers.

When they see 7 + 8, how is that the same as 7 + 7? If they get used to looking for Same But Different scenarios, like in images and any kind of situations, then they’re more apt to see those things when it comes to building their fact fluency. Any type of Same But Different tasks will help build that skill of looking for things that are the same and things that are different.

Helping kids use something they know to help them with something they don’t know is a big part of helping kids develop fact fluency and Same But Different tasks are a great way to do that with your students.

Number Strings

I love numbers strings, they’re one of my favorite, favorite things to help build connections and relationships between images, problems, numbers, whatever it might be.

If you’re not familiar with number strings go to https://tedd.org/number-strings/ to get a great general overview of number strings and how to use them along with sample number strings.

Once you understand how to use them, then go to https://numberstrings.com/ because they have a vast resource of number strings that you have access to for free. They have a great example of what a number string looks like and how it’s made:

When you use Number Strings, you’re helping kids make connections between something they know and something they don’t know which is the general idea of a number string. On this website, you have a ton of resources.

Math Flips

Berkeley Everett decided he did not like the normal flashcards. So he created these Math Flips flashcards.

“Math Flips are flashcards with a problem on the front and a similar problem on the back (instead of a problem and an answer) to encourage relational thinking rather than answer getting.”

We want kids to notice relationships and connections, not just that a certain problem means this answer. That’s unidirectional.

We want kids to see all the connections because research has shown the more connections our brain has built around something, the easier it is for us to recall that information when we need it. So these flashcards are a great way to help kids do that. It’s just to get them to start talking about what they’re noticing about how one problem relates to another problem.

These are not the only resources out there that will help your kids build and see connections in mathematics, but these three are the place I would start to get you going on that path. Get your students doing these three types of activities and you will see them start to build relationships, make connections, and start developing their own strategies that will help them build their fact fluency.

I hope that this video has helped you build your math mind so you can go build the math minds of your students. Have a great day.

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My Favorite Resources for Math Fact Fluency