Fact fluency is the ability for students to recall basic math facts quickly and accurately. This is usually accomplished by repeated practice of the targeted fact. So, what are the benefits of incorporating fact fluency in your class and why is it so important for students to have fact fluency?
Fact Fluency Builds Confidence
When students are confident in their abilities in math, they are more likely to participate in class. Think about your classroom. When you ask a question, you usually have that one student who is faster than all the others and shouts out the answer. Then, you have others who sit back and wait for you to tell them the answer. What’s the difference between these two students? It’s their confidence. The student who shouts out the answer is confident in their ability and usually not shy about showing it. The student who sits back and waits lacks confidence and may not know where to start or what to say. It’s your job as a teacher to help all of your students build confidence so they can tackle math problems quickly and more efficiently. In order to do this, you need to focus on fact fluency daily.
Focus on Practicing Fluency Facts Daily
As a teacher, you must make time to practice math facts daily. Your students will not become more fluent without daily practice. Fact fluency is a great bell ringer to start your day or you can use it as a way to reengage your students after lunch. Regardless of how you practice math facts in the classroom, it is also important for parents to practice facts at home. This can be done in a structured way using things like fluency homework or flash cards or by simply regularly having parents ask their child fluency questions. As they ride in the car, parents can ask their child addition or multiplication facts. They can teach their child relationships between facts. For example, if a student knows 2 times 8, they also know 8 times 2. This is another way to build their confidence.
Make Math Fact Fluency Fun
If you want students to build fluency, you must make it fun. One great way to do this is by incorporating fact fluency into your math centers. Students can play engaging math games or practice using flash cards with partners. This allows students to challenge and encourage each other. You can also incorporate music into helping students learn their facts. If you can put a tune to it, students are more likely to retain the information. Check out YouTube for some great fact fluency songs. If you have computers in your classroom or are a 1 to 1 school, you can allow your students to practice their math facts online. Make sure you visit Marneshia – Teach Chic for all of our digital fluency activities.
Giving your students time to build fact fluency will make a world of difference in your students’ confidence. This is why it is so incredibly important to make sure you are incorporating fact fluency activities into your classroom daily. If you want more resources to take the stress out incorporating fact fluency into math centers, make sure you join my email list. By joining my email list, you’ll receive a FREE Math Centers Planner and be notified of all the new interactive lessons coming up.
