Basic Facts Ladder

Hi all,
Just to clarify the Basic Facts ladder that the children do in their homework book.

The step your child is on is from a) the testing from beginning of the year and then b) from the weekly testing. I am lucky in room 7 that Jenni helps me to test on a Friday. Some classes only test on a fortnightly basis.

 They need to be able to answer the questions within 4-5 seconds. We call this quick recall. The idea behind this is so that when they are doing their maths on a day to day basis they have this quick recall & can then transfer this into when they are working out maths problems.

The main thing is that your child has this step consolidated. So that in weeks down the track they can still answer that basic facts step. It's a bit like learning weekly spelling - they may get 10/10 on a Friday but do they spell that word correctly in their written work after being tested?

The basic facts ladder - goes from Stage 1-Stage 8. The ladder starts at year 1 & goes through to year 8.

Please bear in mind if your child is super stuck on a step - I do not keep them there forever. I will move them up but each week they will learn the step that they're stuck on plus the next step.

A good site to look at is the families page on NZmaths (numeracy project) this gives you some good ideas to help with at home.
http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/number-knowledge-activities

The worksheets that are given are for the 1st time they move onto a new step - after that could you please make up some questions for your child to do in their home learning book. Ask verbally too so that you can see if they have that QUICK RECALL.

Any questions please email me: rburt@greytownschool.com