Let’s talk about math! The subject of math contains so many critical foundational skills at the elementary level. Concepts spiral and build upon each other, so the subject can cause monumental frustration for struggling students. Today, we hope to share some programs, apps and ideas that can help elementary-aged children gain more confidence in their math abilities.
Reflex Student by Explore Learning App
The Reflex Math app is geared toward students in grades 2-8 to help them attain fluency in their math facts across addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This is a game based app, so it provides a fun way for children to gain more confidence in their math facts. It also continually adjusts based on each individual child’s progress to encourage maximum growth in math fact skills and memorization.
Splash Learn Kids Learning App
Splash Learn is another game-based app perfect for kids Pre-K through 5th grade. This app is tailored with curriculum specific to each grade level. For example, in 1st grade some subjects covered include addition and subtraction strategies, place value, and telling time. Whereas fifth grade content includes word problems and consolidating the basic fundamentals previously learned. Parents can set up personalized learning plans and include motivating rewards to keep kids coming back to the app for continued skill building.
Intro to Math by Montessorium
Using the Montessori principles, the Intro to Math app teaches many of the basic math fundamentals, like an introduction to even and odd numbers and spatial relationships, all while “staying true to the Montessori principles.” This is a great option if your children are visual learners.
Komodo Math App
For ages 5-11, the Komodo Math app aims to personalize the learning experience for kids by making adjustments as they work through various concepts. Komodo covers many different math concepts such as: counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, decimals and percentages.
Math Shake
For dealing specifically with word problems, Math Shake is a great app to consider. The program divides word problems into six different levels centered around each operation. The app presents a word problem (and can even read it aloud to your child) and a little character who can help work out the steps to solve each problem. This app does a great job of helping students identify the important numbers and KEYWORDS that allow greater comprehension of word problems. It also supplies them with different strategies to help solve the problem once they get it into equation form.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy has an extensive library, instructional videos and many more resources to personalize math for your child. Kids can learn new skills and practice old skills, and the app even offers feedback and recommendations on what to work on more. The videos can be extra helpful when concepts are confusing, as they offer an alternate method of explanation.
When it comes to math skills, the websites and apps out there are numerous! Many of the apps shared above provide cute characters, excellent visuals, exciting games, progress tracking and goals and rewards to keep math new and intriguing for children. Using an app or program in addition to whatever is being worked on at school can be a great way to improve math skills and ultimately instill more confidence in your child when it comes to math!
Written by Laine J.