Timez Attack

Hi! I am Melissa O. from Transitional Kinder with Mrs.O and I'm so excited Dr. Penny has invited me to be guest blogging here today. :) I am currently a Transitional Kindergarten teacher but I have also taught 1st grade and spent 7 years as a Technology Specialist teaching 1st through 5th graders. 


One thing I have noticed in teaching different grades is that students in all grades need help with their math facts. This is true of kindergarten students who need to know simple addition and subtraction facts through every grade into upper elementary and middle school where many students struggle with multiplication and division facts. 


Today I want to share with you an AMAZING educational game that can help students in all of these grades (and adults too) master these facts, Timez Attack.

TimezAttack began as a game to practice times tables and I first found Timez Attack over 4 years ago when I was a Technology Specialist; and it gets more amazing every year. My school was a part of the study mentioned in this video that shows just how cool AND valuable TimezAttack is. Take a look.





Isn't it AWESOME? I have many games for my own kids that are not as fun as TimezAttack but cost a lot. This is free, doesn't take a lot of time, and actually works to increase math fact knowledge and speed. The creators of the game take you through the research on the game, how install and set up the game, and how to play the game. Big Brainz has wonderful tech support and you can tell they really just want all of our children to succeed.

Now just the multiplication is wonderful and helpful for second grade to upper grades so I have been sharing TimezAttack with my friends that teach those grades.  I know many of you are thinking, "I teach primary age students who need to understand basic addition and subtraction so I can't use Timez Attack with them, can I? 


Well now you can, because TimezAttack now allows students to practice all 4 operations; Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division! When you start the game students pick what they want to practice and the game begins with a pretest. Based on the pretest the student is automatically sent to the level they need to learn. As the student plays the game they are getting introduced to a certain math fact, guided practice with the fact, then assessed on the facts the have been working on. 


The assessments are just as fun as the rest of the game and give data to the student and teacher. The best part is the game data is online so students can use any computer, even from home to play the game! If you want to just try out the game download the game by clicking the picture below. To play click the School button on the top green menu then select California, Pittsburg Unified, Stoneman Elementary. The teacher password is believe and the student password is dolphin. Please use the Default Class to play around and be sure to comment here or at my blog, Transitional Kinder with Mrs.O. Thanks for reading! 

Raki's Rad Resources Review!

Hi All! I'm so excited to be participating in the big Blog Swap & Hop!  You will love Heidi Raki, who will be my guest today; and I am excited to be featured over at Marsha McGuire's super blog A Differentiated Kindergarten!  So when you have read the great ideas that Heidi posted, head on over to check out my post!  Also notice there is a blog hop linky directly below so you can check out all the Top Teacher bloggers who are participating in the hop!  Happy Blog Hopping!

Hello! I am Heidi Raki of Raki's Rad Resources, and I am super excited to be joining Dr. Penny here on Teach the Math today. Each week on my blog, I do a Wednesday Website suggestion, and so I have compiled a list of great websites that you can use when teaching math to grades K-2. I am so excited to have the opportunity to share some of them with you today!

Here are some great sites that cover a variety of teaching concepts:

1.  Virtual Manipulatives:  Every math manipulative that you have (or should have) in the kit that comes with your math series can be found in virtual form on this website. In addition, there are new, different ways to manipulate these manipulatives that I have found only here. 

For example, this site allows you to subtract with base ten blocks, and the blocks that are "taken away" truly go away. In addition to base ten blocks, there are also number lines, clocks, money, tangrams, pattern blocks and more. It works fabulously with a projector and an interactive board, but is just as much fun at a single computer during centers.

2.  Cool Math:  This site has so many games, it's crazy. While not every game is completely educational, most are at least logic building games. The best games for the classroom are the number games and the logic games. 

Many of these games start out in my classroom as a teaching game, and then the kids like them so much, that they become a reward for completing quality work early or having a great behavior day.

3.  HSP Math:  This site was developed by Harcourt School Publishers, so if you have a Harcourt math series at your school, it will align very well with your texts. However, no matter what your math adoption, the lessons and games are amazing reinforcements for the kids. My kids this year particularly loved the measurement games.

4.  Oswego Math Games:  These games were created by a school district for their students. The games are fabulous for working on a variety of math concepts, mainly focusing on computation, but also focuses on fractions, percentages, time and number sequences. 

My absolute favorite game on this site is Math Magician, which has made all the difference when my students (and my personal son) were practicing fast facts.

5.  ABCYa:  This site is sorted by grade level, and although they have letter and reading related games, the number games are the best part of the site. There are lots of connect the dot types of activities, as well as hundred's chart activities and games that focus specifically on addition and subtraction. 

One of my kids' favorite activities from ABCYa this year was Base 10 Bingo, which was great, because it gave them a chance to practice counting base ten blocks and matching the amounts to their corresponding numbers.

I hope some of these websites will give you some ideas for websites that will help enhance your math instruction next year and for years to come. I'd like to say thank you to Dr. Penny for giving me the opportunity to guest blog here today. I'd be honored if you stopped by Raki's Rad Resources for more ideas you can use in your classroom, including weekly website suggestions.

Biographical information:

Heidi Raki teaches at an International School in Casablanca, Morocco. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a mother of 3 young boys and the author of the blog Raki's Rad Resources. She believes in using quality teaching strategies and quality resources to create quality teaching moments that will resonate with her children, increasing understanding and a love of the learning experience. Feel free visit her blog at www.rakisradresources.com 

Thank you, Heidi Raki for the great post and for leading us to some great interactive websites!  Now head over to A Differentiated Kindergarten and check out my post and grab the free math game I created just for you!