I have been meaning to post about a fantastic set of math games called GiggleFacts from http://www.gigglelearn.com/ that I stumbled upon as I REALLY believe this set is tailor-made for EL. Actually I would classify it more as a truly unique curriculum designed to master addition/subtraction. I actually found this when looking for a fun way to help my struggling nephew master his facts, and tried it with Alex. She LOVES the games! and, whilst she had already learned most of her math facts with other programs, this program has greatly enhanced not only her recall speed but has given her some new skills and strategies for solving them. And the absolute best part is that no writing is required, the games are fun, and we have a blast playing them :yes:
Here is why I think it is so unique. It is actually a set of 26 incremental steps that are based on strategies, for a total of 50 colorful and exciting games. The games are all different and involve things ranging from cards to dominoes to polyhedral dice to board games. The program begins VERY gently, so you really need not already have worked seriously on the facts, but only really need a working idea of what addition and subtraction are. The first game is adding +0 and +1!
After I purchased the set, I was actually suprised by the fact that the kids start learning their doubles almost immediately…but not for long! It really is exciting, cohesive, and impressive the way the strategies flow together. You can almost immediately see how it starts to come together, as the kids then go to doubles+1… And then something I had actually never seen that quickly broadened Alex’s repertoire of techniques, as well as her number sense over all.
Alex calls this ‘Monkey in the Middle’, named for one of the games that reinforces the technique, and it is by far her favorite. This strategy is designed for addition problems withh addends that ‘sandwich’ a number…say a problem such as 7+ 5. The idea is to recognize that there exists a ‘monkey’ (number) between the two addends whose double will be equivalent to the sum of 7+5. In this example, it is of course a 6, so 6+6= 12. Since they have already learned their doubles in the previous step, they can now add several more combinations to their knowledge base, which turns into fast recall through the use of the two separate games for this level. So you teach the strategy, which for Alex meant showing WHY, and play the fun games to reinforce. I cannot stress how much fun she has with these, and it carries over exceptionally well. Especially when she is working through her Singapore books for multi-digit numbers with carrying. it has made her SO much faster, and her enjoyment of what can be laborious and repetitive for her (especially as she quickly tires of the writing!), into giggle sessions as she calls out relationships. “look mom, its a double plus one, or look mom, a monkey in the middle!”
Even if she knows the math fact cold, she loves to identify the problems that she can utilize different strategies learned through the games to solve, which impresses me almost as much as solving the problem because I can literally SEE that she understands!
Regardless, I have already recommended this set to several good EL friends as it really is a fantastic EL tool, but I wanted to share it here as well. It is probably the most fun and effective way I have found yet to learn, reinforce, and master math facts for kids, but is especially ideal for EL kids. All games (it does come with some worksheets if you want to use them, but is absolutely not necessary!), lots of hands-on-fun, AND it uses many strategies that are compatible with major math programs like Righstart and Singapore.
I convinced Alex to let me videotape her playing a couple of the games to show you guys, so here goes.