Daily Math Review... Why it's a Must!
Let’s face it, testing is a part of life. If not the SAT for college entrance, then the GRE. What about the ASVAB, the PSAT, SSAT, ISEE, and don’t try to be a professional!!! The LSAT, GMAT or whatever letters they use for that nursing test??? Hell, even the Fireman’s test has hella math on it!
The thing is, students need to be able to reason out an answer, and they need to do so in less than 60 seconds. I feel as though (and I would love to be wrong on this) most schools aren’t preparing students to face this. Yes, they throw everything to the side and cram for the FSA, but that’s not what I mean.
Cramming and complaining helps no one. Our basketball coach says “Hard work beats talent, when talent refuses to work hard” It’s not his quote I’m sure, but he lives it, and has it on the back of the practice jerseys! I absolutely love it.
I tell my students that the brain is a muscle (one of my nursing students confirmed it) and like any muscle, if you don’t use it and work it, it will become flabby. Don’t ask how I know this.
Check this out:
Mental Math
Lost Tribe of Skills
Verbal reasoning – 34 questions (20 minutes)
Quantitative reasoning – 38 questions (35 minutes)
Reading comprehension – 25 questions (25 minutes)
Mathematics Achievement – 30 questions (30 minutes)
Essay – (30 minutes)
That’s the breakdown of the test used for 5th and 6th grade entry into those elite private schools. If we can have our children score well on this test, they have a real chance at a great education, college and an easier life ahead.
My math reviews and mental maths are designed to be completed in 8 minutes. No joke. You hear the problem and get busy. Either you know it or you don’t, but we spend time afterwards thinking out loud, I need to know what they thought about when they first heard the problem, so we can correct that thinking.
Better yet, if you home school. You can math at your own pace and work in your pajamas :-)
I have Daily Mental Math for Grades 1 to 6, because I’m weird like that. Also grades 7 and 8, but email me for those separately. Honestly, I don’t want to put those on the site until I have finished the grade 9 ones, it’s a math thing ;-D