Technology Tuesday Tried It: Mathletics

I am linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper’s:Tuesday Tried It as well as Technology Tailgate to discuss a new math program that we tried in my first grade classroom!

Engagement is a very crucial part to my math block. If students are engaged while working at independent math centers it allows me to work with a small group of students without being interrupted. I can focus on the students in front of me and their needs while the other students do activities that reinforce mathematics skills.

I heard about Mathletics from another teacher in my district and quickly jumped at the opportunity to try it in my own classroom. Someone from Mathletics very nicely came in to introduce the program to my students. My first graders watched on the SmartBoard as one student and the instructor walked them through the ins and outs of the program as well as told my class what she thought made Mathletics the best program out there!

Students then went back to their seats to try out the program on their own! The first part of the program they tried was “Live Mathematics.” This part is similar to SumDog in that students get to compete against one another. However, Mathletics steps it up a bit and lets students race not only against classmates and others in the country but also against other students in the world!

Students have one minute to answer as many questions as they can.

Students receive points based on how many questions they got right. Students can easily see which questions they got wrong.

Students love competing against each other and also love that they can compete against children all over the world. Students are able to play multiple levels but only get points for the questions they get correct. Also, if a student misses more than 3 questions in “Live Mathletics” they get kicked out…forcing students to think and not be careless.

The better part of the program if you ask me is that you can assign students specific lessons. Teachers then get reports on these lessons based on how the students did and students are not able to do anything else until after they finish the specific lesson you assigned. With each lesson students have interactive videos that teach/show them the concept. They can click on this video to help them at any point during the lesson which really helped my struggling first graders.

We are on our second week of our two week trial and I can see many strengths in this program. My students love that it has the competition portion and I love that it has the reports as well I can assign each student his or her own lesson depending on their needs. I also truly enjoy that students can watch videos on concepts they are struggling with.

If you have a chance go check out the website to see if Mathletics is something your school might be interested in purchasing! I am not sure if they will do it for anyone but it might be worth asking them to see if you too can try a free two week trial. Don’t forget to head back to Fourth Grade Flipper’s:Tuesday Tried It as well as Technology Tailgate for lots more great ideas!