RightStart Math understands that teachers need to assess the progress of their students. The RightStart Math curriculum includes periodic review lessons and three formal Assessments, including the year-end assessment.
But what about assessing the games? Did you know that you can informally assess your students’ progress and math fact fluency when they play math card games? Here are a few ways:
Track their time.
If the game you assign your students has them work through a set of cards, track how long it takes them to play it. For example, A44 Addition War requires students to work through a deck of 40 Basic Number cards. If two of your students take 1:30 minutes to work through the deck one day and the next day they finish in 1:15 minutes, that is progress.
You can also calculate how many problems they are solving per minute. For example, in A44 Addition War, two students work through 20 cards each, creating 10 equations. Remember, students are not only calculating their own equations but checking their peer’s calculations. So, they are solving 20 problems while playing a game. So, if your two students solve 20 problems in 1:30 minutes, they are solving 13 problems each minute.
Let your students document their own or their peer’s progress.
As your students play the games together, let them evaluate their own or each other’s work. Each time a student gets an equation correct, they add a checkmark to their card (or their peer’s card). You can see how many problems the student got correct while playing the game.
Keep track of which problems they got correct.
You can create a document where your students record which problems they answered correctly and how many times. For example, if your students are playing A3 Go to the Dump, you can give them an assessment form. Each time they answer a specific equation correctly, they check that box on the assessment form.
Here are some samples of game assessment documents to get you started:
- A3 Go to the Dump Assessment Form
- A9 Corners Assessment Form
- P10 Multiplication Memory for 4s Assessment Form
One more suggestion
Send these assessment forms home with your student and have their parents keep track of their progress at home!
If you have questions or want more information about assessing students through gameplay, contact us!
