We know the importance of students being able to quickly recall addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts but often resort back to ineffective methods such as timed tests and worksheets. Fortunately, there is a better way! Learn the three phases of math fact fluency and how you can help your students move through them. In this class, you will learn how to help your students build lasting number sense through new activities/games and meaningful strategies that you can start using right away!
For K-5 Teachers
This class is offered for 3 Quarter Credits
Required Textbooks:
No More Math Fact Frenzy by Davenport et al
Register Anytime! You can start your course TODAY!
1. Click "Registration" below. Our site will redirect you to an SPU registration page where you will pay both the TINT and SPU fee with a credit card.
2. You will receive an email from SPU with your receipt and a link to the coursework.
3. You have a year to complete the work at your own pace. Your grade will be posted on your transcript within a few weeks (and often sooner) of you finishing!
Fees:
Option 1: Non-Credit/Audit TINT Tuition Fee: $525
Option 2: 3 Quarter Credit = TINT Tuition Fee: $525
+ $165 SPU Credit Fee (Click here for SPU Info) = $690
Student Testimonial:
This class has also helped me to get into the why of certain practices being better than others. I always do better when I understand the science behind things, and this course has expanded my thinking regarding math facts, but also just math in general, and I can never go back to the old ways (it feels very Plato’s Allegory of the Cave!) It has also helped me to relax a bit with the students who aren’t getting the concepts right away, because this style of thinking supports looking at math through hands-on activities, images, and verbal explanation, which is what those students often need the most. It’s lessened the vibe of kill and drill, and I am 100% here for it. I look forward to diving into some more books that encourage Number Talks, and deepen my approach for the rest of this year and the years to come. Thank you for the thoughtful questions on the syllabus, it felt like just the right amount to encourage some paradigm shifts.
—TINT Student
I am starting this school year with much more confidence in my ability to teach math in a developmentally appropriate manner. My teammates and I have always supplemented our adopted curriculum with more hands-on activities, centers, and small groups. However, my knowledge of how to teach my students the basic facts, rather than just practice them, has been lacking. I expect to refer to the text from this class and the resources I amassed during my internet exploration time throughout the year.
—TINT Student
I’ve always wanted the students to go into 5th grade having memorized their multiplication facts with automaticity. This year, my goal is for students to have multiple strategies that they can refer back to while solving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). I’ve always had this goal, but I think I emphasized speed over strategy, in reference to fact practice. This book really emphasized the importance of skill building and learning, vs speed. I think I really needed this reminder.
My goals have definitely been met with this course. I like that I could take my time and really think about what this course could teach me. I didn’t have to rush to complete everything at once. I needed the reminder to focus on skills and learning vs. speed. I also got confirmation from some of the chapters that I am doing a lot of things right. Sometimes that is hard to remember when students are significantly below grade level. I just need to stay on course and focus on growth. It should always be about growth.
I am really happy with some of the new resources that I’ve come across and purchased because of this course. I feel like I am better prepared to teach math facts, which I’m really happy about. My next step is to start incorporating some of this into my classroom. I will add Number Talks, the worksheets from Tarheelstate Teacher, and start adding more Thinking Maps into my math day. It was nice just to look through all the resources online and in the book. A lot of the concepts were not new, but very refreshing reminders. I’m really glad that I took this course and I would recommend it to others.
—TINT Student
This class allowed me to do an amazing amount of learning! My goals were not only met but exceeded and I love learning so much background information to help me better understand why and how various strategies work. I am so excited to approach math teaching through the view of growth mindset and to help excite students about all of the possibilities that numbers hold for them!
I am so very happy that I have taken this class and now see math fact fluency in a new and different way. I have such a better understanding and love that I now have research-based resources, strategies, and approaches that will be fun, engaging, and meaningful for my students. I am excited to make math much more verbal and collaborative with a focus on exploration rather than on finding the right “answer” or memorizing the right math facts. I think this class will help me bring more joy into my classroom through math!
—TINT Student
My goals have not only been met, they have been exceeded! To be candid, most text-books for a course, once finished, I rarely reference again, if ever; however, this one, perhaps because it is far from obtuse and easy to navigate, I find I reference often and will continue to do so. The authors of the text literally organize the book around the aforementioned three phases and provide recommended suggestions for activities, games and strategies to help improve and maintain fact fluency. The book is like going to the doctor’s office for a cure following the diagnostic results that are my formative and summative assessments - great read - great tool - great book!… Along with the text-book, the assignments in this course provided ample ways for me to reflect upon, and reshape, not only my math instructional practices with my students in school where I teach, but selfishly yet refreshingly, my own kids, as well.
—TINT Student
I had been wanting to take this course for a while and am glad that I finally found the time to do so. Math fact fluency has always been an area of struggle for me because I didn’t like the constant flashcards and drill tests - I would do them on occasion but then slowly let them go because it wasn’t helping students. Through taking this course, I have regained some confidence in supporting students with their math fact fluency, not only in multiplication and division but addition and subtraction for those students that still need those foundational skills. I look forward to going through the math games that I already have in my classroom and updating them with materials or sentence frames that will better support math fact acquisition.
I am excited to incorporate more math talks and meaning activities and games into my daily math routines. I also plan to pull more activities that I remember from the Bridges curriculum that align with the strategies presented in the book to support fact fluency. Additionally, I plan to share the book and strategies I have learned with my teaching team so that we can align some ideas to support all students at our grade level. While I am still very much enjoying a break from the classroom after the crazy year of virtual teaching, I do look forward to sparking the love of math in my students when we are finally able to return to the classroom full time and engage in the many new ideas I have learned throughout this course.
—TINT Student
My goals for this class have exceeded my expectations. I feel so much more confident in what I am doing and what I plan to do, to be a better math teacher for my students. It has really allowed me to think critically about how the math curriculum I have taught the past six years is benefitting my students and how I can adapt it to make it better. The most important takeaway from this class has been how I approach math early finishers, morning work, homework and worksheets. Many of the worksheets and early finishers don’t actually support number sense and fluency in math facts. I am excited to use resources I found during this class to use as a substitute for some of those additional resources that have been used throughout the years and share them with my team.
As a result of this class, I feel I know the steps to take and the proper resources to use to help support my students who are struggling in math. This really has been where I have fallen short as a math teacher. I now have so many games and activities that I can use in a small group or independent setting to help these students gain number sense and ultimately confidence in themselves as mathematicians.
—TINT Student
I found this class and the text “No More Math Fact Frenzy” refreshing. As a first grade teacher I am always faced with ensuring that students are building number sense, number fluency and growing confident in their mathematical thinking and strategies, yet...we have a section on our report card each trimester where we mark if students have met in the area of addition and subtraction fluency. We are often told not to time students in our assessments, but we are also told that fluency often looks like a student solving each addition or subtraction problem in approximately 4 seconds/problem. We are perplexed as teachers as to how we assess students and their proficiency levels without timing them - if our grading criteria is based on time/problem. I am hopeful that after participating in this class that I can now have meaningful discussions with my first grade team, other district teachers and our district math coach on how we can move forward in how we assess and communicate student growth and progress to families. I believe the fluency building games, strategies and ideas our math coach has shared with our district teams supports what I have learned from this course, however it is the grading criteria that needs to change.
—TINT Student
Where has this course been? Where has this text been? Why am I just learning about the ineffectiveness on timed tests? I am so happy that I decided to take this class. I feel like I have just learned the most earth-shattering piece of information. I never felt like what I was doing to “help” my students “learn” their math facts ever worked, but I didn’t know what else to do and everybody else seemed to be doing what I was doing too. Now I feel much more confident about supporting my students’ learning and math fact knowledge. I am also excited to share what I know with others, to have them read the text and/or take this course. It seems that we’re all doing the same thing and no one knows that it’s wrong. With this new knowledge I now have a responsibility to better inform my colleagues and my students’ parents.
I also liked this course because what I learned from the text included a wide range of strategies that can be easily incorporated into my teaching practice. Some classes you take and you feel like the learning is difficult to implement or may take lots of time or prep to put into practice. What I’ve learned is easy in that I just need to stop doing a few things and get better at a few things. I already have my students explain their thinking, I just need to get better at having them talk specifically about the strategies they are using. I already talk through problems with my class but now I need to structure these talks into more formal Number Talks. I need to stop giving timed tests and focusing homework on rote memorization. Instead, for homework I will focus on the strategies students are using to build their number sense. I don’t often give much homework but when I assign math homework I am going to have students write about the strategy they used. Challenge work will include using two strategies to solve and then compare the strategies: which was more effective, which did you like best and why, which will you use again. I can make these changes and I know I’m going to see a big pay-off. With these changes, I think I’ll feel better about my teaching, and most importantly, my students will feel better about themselves as mathematicians. I’m excited to get started with my students.
—TINT Student