Falmouth schools: Teaticket Elementary making math fun!

As school buses line up in front of Teaticket Elementary School on a Wednesday afternoon, instead of clamoring to get out the door, 30 second graders are enthusiastically rushing down the hall to the Reflex Math Club.

The club is the result of staff, teachers and volunteers coming together to solve a problem.

Reflex Math is an interactive computer game in which students create an avatar, offering a fun way to strengthen fact fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Erin Azzato, the parent of a third grader who struggled in math, learned about the program from her older daughter’s basketball coach, Todd Oliveira, a fifth grade teacher at Morse Pond School.

“My daughter did a trial for two weeks and she was hooked, so I bought a subscription,” Azzato said.

“She was someone who did not like math at all. Before long, she was setting her alarm for six in the morning so she could practice for an hour and a half before school.”

Azzato told her friend, Teaticket physical education teacher Carrie Shanahan, also a parent, about the program.

“I bought a subscription and after my kids used it, I saw huge gains in their confidence and fact fluency,” Shanahan said.

According to Shanahan, many Teaticket students struggle with math due to the recently adopted curriculum, Math in Focus, in which problem solving is achieved in different ways from what was traditionally taught. Shanahan said it is not just the students who struggle with it but also the parents. An added challenge is large class size, which is highest in second grade at Teaticket, averaging 24 to 25 per class.

“We were concerned about how we were going to help those teachers. As a parent, I felt like I needed to do something, so I showed Reflex Math to some of the teachers and they loved it,” she said.

“But we wanted to make sure it really worked before we invested in it.”

Teaticket second grade teacher Nancy Vendice asked Oliveira for his assessment of the program’s efficacy. A grant enabled Oliveira to utilize it in his fifth grade classroom last year, giving students the ability to log additional hours at home. He said those who used it on a regular basis showed a marked improvement, adding that the engaging nature of the program makes it more inviting.

Oliveira said building a strong math foundation in elementary school is essential to future performance in the subject.

“Fifth grade is all about fractions. If kids don’t know basic math facts, they’re not going to be able to answer a three- or four-step problem. You can’t get to that deep understanding of math if you don’t know the basic concepts,” he said.

“It’s similar to writing. If you can’t grasp grammar and sentence structure, you're not going to be able to articulate profound thoughts.”

With Oliveira's input, Jennifer Cleary, special education and inclusion teacher at Teaticket, applied for and received a Reflex Math grant for 70 students, which would cover the entire second grade, and the club started the week before February vacation. Five one-hour sessions are offered per week, both before and after school, and are overseen by teachers, staff and volunteers. Students may attend as many sessions as they choose.

Cleary’s data shows that after one week, students scoring 30 correct addition facts in one minute jumped 4.6 percent and, after five weeks, an increase of almost 25 percent was noted. As of last week, 68 students had gained nearly 7,000 facts.

Cleary said the club was initially so well received by both students and parents that an additional session was added.

For Shanahan, the popularity offers a welcome challenge.

“It’s internet-based, so you can’t use an iPad or a Kindle. We have 25 computers and today we have 30 kids, so we’re running around borrowing computers from staff members,” Shanahan said.

“But if that’s the only hurdle we have, that’s an easy one. We don’t have a hurdle getting kids to come. The excitement is there.”

Teaticket recently applied for a grant to bring the program to the entire student body next year.

“With budget cuts, there are many people looking for funding, and we understand that,” Shanahan said.

“So, if it doesn't get funded, we, as a staff, will find a way to make this work.”

Joanna Roberts said her daughter, Madison, a second grader, has had difficulty with the new math curriculum and credits Madison’s teacher, Edwina Yee, with providing after school help prior to the club’s inception.

“Madison is normally a good student but she’s had to switch her frame of thinking. She’s a high anxiety child anyway and worries about doing poorly in school. She used to cry every day before school because she was so frustrated with math,” Roberts said.

“We've seen huge improvements with her wanting to go to school, and wanting to go to school early. She comes to math club every day. She’s now up to 80 percent fluent in her addition and subtraction.”

Madison summed it up herself.

“The games help you learn your facts,” she said. “I like math now.”

Paula Kapulka, whose grandson is a second grader at the school, volunteers for the club.

“I've never seen children so excited at eight in the morning,” she said. “They love it and it’s making a big difference.”

Special education teacher Nancy McGee said it is rewarding to see the students’ reaction to the club.

“They’re begging to come and they've gained so much in the past five weeks,” she said.

“Math is finally fun.”