Know Your Facts Quizzes
Dear families of Room 207,
After Christmas we will kick off our weekly "know your facts" (KYF) quizzes. All students will test once or twice per week. All students will start on the +0 facts and progress to the next each time they pass. Students will only be given 60 seconds to complete each quiz. Any unanswered items will be marked wrong. Due to the time constraint of the quiz it is imperative that your child know the facts from memory and that they can rapidly recall them. There is not enough time to use fingers or draw pictures to solve. Our goal here is mastery and automaticity. A student may miss no more than 2 problems to be able to proceed to the next quiz. Students' progress will be posted in the classroom.
TESTING ORDER
Addition +0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9, +10, +11, +12
once all of the addition tests have been successfully completed students will move on to the subtraction tests.
Subtraction
Subtraction -0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12
NOTE: All quizzes will consist of 12 problems and the sums will not exceed 12, so no answer will be higher than 12. This means that as your child progresses in the tests facts from previous tests will be recycled to reinforce memorization of these important facts.
For example: For the +7 quiz the following facts will appear on the quiz:
0+7
1+7
2+7
3+7
4+7
and 5+7...anything higher than this will exceed 12, so the remainder of the quizzes will consist of random recycled +0 to +6 facts to make up the 12 equations on the timed test.
PLEASE NOTE:
Facts on the quiz will NOT go in a predictable order (like the example above) All facts will be mixed up (similar to a spelling test) and each test is different from the rest so two students sitting near one another on the same quiz will have completely different sets of problems on their papers.
While I know the timing of the quiz can be quite intimidating at first, students acclimate very quickly and become very good at them after a few tries. As parents, none of us wants to see our child struggle, but it is VERY important that you support your child in the memorization and quick recall of these facts as they progress throughout their school careers this year and in the years to come. Make practicing for the quizzes fun and be supportive. If your child doesn't "pass" the quiz the first time let them know it's ok and not the end of the world. ALWAYS practice at home with a timer so your child can get a feel for how long that 60 second benchmark really is. Encourage them to practice some more and to celebrate their victories. You'll be suprised how quickly they adapt to the format and how much they look forward to the opportunity to showcase their math skills.
PLEASE NOTE: If a student is absent on the day of the quiz they will not be permitted to make it up unless it is an excused absence (Doctor's note or funeral; etc). This is done so that students who are here are rewarded for good attendance AND also to prevent students from having extra days to study if they are not in class to take the test. Remember test days are Friday, so if a student misses Friday they have all weekend to study for a quiz that everyone else didn't have. IF, you would like to make arrangements for your child to take the test on Thursday (a day early) in the event that you know they will not be in class on Friday that is fine and pending not having a test printed and ready to go should be no problem at all. :)