Boom Cards Making Fact Fluency Easy!

Multiplication fact fluency is a HUGE part of 3rd-grade math!  This is because math fact fluency is an ESSENTIAL building block to many math tasks. Third graders are usually expected to master all the facts within 100 with FLUENCY by the end of the school year.   If you are like I was, wondering how in the world you are going to have time to teach multiplication fluency in ADDITION to all the other math standards, let me share my favorite way to practice multiplication facts! 

Repetition is Boring!

We know that to get better at a skill, we need to practice.  Practice means repetition and repetition of multiplication facts can be soooo boring. Let's face it- kids lose interest very quickly in activities that bore them.  And this my friends, is the EXACT reason I decided to give Boom Cards a try in my classroom for building math fact fluency. 

Why are Boom Cards perfect for practicing fluency?

Boom Cards are digital, interactive task cards that students play on the Boom Learning website.  Not only are they highly engaging- students LOVE to hear the “ding” sound when they get an answer correct, they are also self-checking, which is perfect for building math fact fluency. The self-checking feature incorporated into Boom Cards is a game-changer! If a student enters an incorrect answer, they will hear a “whoops” sound and they must enter the correct answer before moving on. Students are no longer practicing the wrong answer!

To top it off, you are going to get instant access to your students' scores every time they practice a deck (a set of cards).  This means you are no longer spending your time grading fluency practice AND you can see where students are struggling which enables you to intervene and offer support quickly. This report shows you the accuracy rate, the time spent on each card, and the multiplication fact each student is struggling with. If you would like to read about more reasons why I love using Boom Cards, you can read about them here.

 

Example Report

How can my students get MEANINGFUL fluency done in under 10 minutes?

Let’s talk about how easy it is to incorporate Boom cards for fact fluency into your daily schedule. It truly only takes about 5-10 minutes of practice each day for you to see an increase in fluency.  The first step is determining when you would like to incorporate fact fluency in your math block.  Will it work best in your schedule as a bell ringer activity, after your daily lesson, as an exit ticket, or even as part of your math center time?

Once you have established when you want to incorporate fluency, you will want to make sure you have assigned each student a fact fluency deck to practice.  I always start by assigning the deck that includes the factor of  0.  Students are instantly “hooked” because they are successful with this deck.   

In my class, I challenge my students to finish each deck of 20 math equations in under 2 minutes.  If students need accommodations/modifications, this time limit is flexible.  Once a student has passed a deck with at least 18/20 correct responses (90% accuracy), they move on to the next fact.  If you do not like the idea of timing your students' fluency, no problem! Boom decks are not timed, and students can complete a deck an infinite number of times, at a pace that feels comfortable to them. 

I like to complete two to three rounds of fluency each day. The first round of fluency is like a warm-up for my students.  By the second round, students often complete more facts within the 2-minute time range.  Believe it or not, they BEG for a third round.  Crazy right? 

Once students are logged into their accounts, they find the fact they are working on.  I only assign the next fact fluency deck AFTER the student has mastered the deck that comes before.  For example, once a student shows mastery of the factors of 3, they are assigned the factors of 4.  I like to use an old fashioned sticker chart to help keep track of what fact each student is on.  Once students master a deck, they show me their score, and then go put a sticker on the sticker chart.  This is an additional motivator, students love to add a sticker to the chart.  

That is all there is to it my friends- pretty simple right?  Are you ready to get started?

Are you ready to try Boom Cards in your classroom?

Are you ready to get started? Check out this review deck FREEBIE!

You can find the whole set of fact fluency boom cards here. This set contains 17 decks full of multiplication fact fluency practice. It includes a deck for each multiplication factor 0-12 AND several review decks- which is over 400 boom cards for your students to use as review or practice.

I hope you get the chance to try Boom Cards and help your students build their fact fluency!! I'd love to hear how YOU practice fact fluency in your classroom- tell me about it in the comments! :)