A "Mad Minute" is a simple, daily exercise for elementary school students striving to memorize their basic math fact "tables." Mad Minute worksheets contain several dozen questions using the same operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division), and are an excellent way to provide kids with daily practice.
To complete an exercise, students are given one minute to answer as many questions as they can. Each correct answer earns one point. After the minute is over, the number of correct answers is counted and written atop the page. Speed, therefore, is essential to a high score. However, students stop earning points after the first mistake! So accuracy is even more important.
[Note: Mad Minutes introduce and reinforce two very important rules in studying mathematic – speed is important but accuracy is even more important – and are therefore doubly beneficial.]
Mad Minutes should be assigned at home each day (one for each operation, if possible, according to the student's current ability).
Mad Minute exercises are also great ways to track progress, since each completed exercise acts as a current assessment of mastery. Students might enjoy recording their scores in a 2-column table, and visualizing them using a 2-D chart with dates along the horizontal axis and scores along the vertical – an excellent way to introduce the concept of numbers as data. You can find large-format graph paper here and here.
Mad Minute books, providing multiple worksheets for each operation, have been around for decades. Click here to buy the latest on amazon.
Free downloadble/printable basic number fact worksheets, along with online drills and simple games, plus more worksheets and drills covering advanced work with operations, decimals, percents, and fractions, and simple mental exercise games like Make a Match and Find It, can be found on lizardpoint.com here.
Hint: Downloaded files are easier to work with, since workbooks eventually fill up and need to be re-purchased. Mad Minute exercise files, on the other hand, like those available on lizardpoint, can be printed over and over again, as needed.
Mad Minute exercises are also great ways to track progress, since each completed exercise acts as a current assessment of mastery. Students might enjoy recording their scores in a 2-column table, and visualizing them using a 2-D chart with dates along the horizontal axis and scores along the vertical – an excellent way to introduce the concept of numbers as data. You can find large-format graph paper here and here.
Mad Minute books, providing multiple worksheets for each operation, have been around for decades. Click here to buy the latest on amazon.
Free downloadble/printable basic number fact worksheets, along with online drills and simple games, plus more worksheets and drills covering advanced work with operations, decimals, percents, and fractions, and simple mental exercise games like Make a Match and Find It, can be found on lizardpoint.com here.
Hint: Downloaded files are easier to work with, since workbooks eventually fill up and need to be re-purchased. Mad Minute exercise files, on the other hand, like those available on lizardpoint, can be printed over and over again, as needed.
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