Math
TouchMath is one of the many tools we use in first grade to help with addition and subtraction. Here's how it works:
"The secret to TouchMath is simple. In fact, it can be summed up in one word: TouchPoints.
Each numeral from 1 through 9 has TouchPoints corresponding to the digit's value.
Using pictorial objects and
our trademarked TouchPoints,
we teach young children to associate
numerals with real values (number quantities).
Touching/Counting Patterns.
Students count aloud as they touch the single TouchPoints once and double TouchPoints twice. This multisensory approach engages students on auditory, visual and tactile/kinesthetic levels.
To ensure that students arrive at the right answer, it is important that they touch the TouchPoints in the correct Touching/Counting Pattern for each numeral. The Touching/Counting Patterns are shown below.
Counting is the key.
Computations are easier using TouchMath because all basic operations are based on counting. In TouchMath addition, students count forward. In subtraction, they count backward. In multiplication and division, they count in sequences. Students touch, count and repeat each problem and answer aloud to reinforce fact mastery."(http://www.touchmath.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.how)
"The secret to TouchMath is simple. In fact, it can be summed up in one word: TouchPoints.
Each numeral from 1 through 9 has TouchPoints corresponding to the digit's value.
- Numerals 1 through 5 have single TouchPoints
- Numerals 6 through 9 have double TouchPoints
- As students count the TouchPoints, they associate numerals with real values. They learn that a numeral (3, for instance) is not just a squiggle on a page. It represents a quantity such as three apples, three ladybugs, three buttons or three TouchPoints.
Using pictorial objects and
our trademarked TouchPoints,
we teach young children to associate
numerals with real values (number quantities).
Touching/Counting Patterns.
Students count aloud as they touch the single TouchPoints once and double TouchPoints twice. This multisensory approach engages students on auditory, visual and tactile/kinesthetic levels.
To ensure that students arrive at the right answer, it is important that they touch the TouchPoints in the correct Touching/Counting Pattern for each numeral. The Touching/Counting Patterns are shown below.
Counting is the key.
Computations are easier using TouchMath because all basic operations are based on counting. In TouchMath addition, students count forward. In subtraction, they count backward. In multiplication and division, they count in sequences. Students touch, count and repeat each problem and answer aloud to reinforce fact mastery."(http://www.touchmath.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.how)
Reading
What is the F.A.S.T. Reading Program?
Stephan D. Tattum, director of the Denver Academy, initially created the F.A.S.T. Remedial Reading System, for middle and high school students. The F.A.S.T. System is a research based literacy intervention program that features a flexible and quick paced approach that is highly effective, as well as being surprisingly fun and engaging for struggling and dyslexic readers. It combines the best of systematic phonics and literacy-based instruction to create a streamlined, hands-on program that transfers immediately to the reading process.
The F.A.S.T. lesson delivers the phonetic component of reading using a multi-sensory approach: a magnet board and letters to build phonemic awareness and orthographic processing skills. The teacher says a sound and the student echoes the sound and points to all the possible spellings for that sound. The teacher points to a tile and the student reads the sound the tile represents. Students then learn to spell and read syllables and complete words using the magnet board.
Working on a magnet board makes it possible for many words and concepts to be taught and reviewed quickly. New concepts are introduced using the magnet tiles with minimal verbal instruction by the teacher. The tiles do the teaching. F.A.S.T teaches identification, blending, segmenting and manipulation of sounds. F.A.S.T. students understand the English language and its structure and gain access to the code and quickly transfer this to their reading.
The second half of the session is dedicated to reading from the level appropriate book that reinforces the skills that have just been taught and practiced. F.A.S.T. books are phonetically controlled reading materials that are age and interest appropriate.
F.A.S.T. stories are engaging and students love them. The stories have short, fast moving chapters with an abundance of picture support and an age appropriate format.
Students read words and phrases before each chapter. Reading for comprehension, pressure release reading, repeated readings and timed readings alternate within the reading portion of the lesson. The reading component ends with a written summary of the reading, reaction to the reading, or reflection about the reading. Reading becomes the most enjoyable part of the lesson for students.
(http://www.presenttimeenergetics.com/Present_Time_Energetics/F.A.S.T._Reading_Program.html)
Stephan D. Tattum, director of the Denver Academy, initially created the F.A.S.T. Remedial Reading System, for middle and high school students. The F.A.S.T. System is a research based literacy intervention program that features a flexible and quick paced approach that is highly effective, as well as being surprisingly fun and engaging for struggling and dyslexic readers. It combines the best of systematic phonics and literacy-based instruction to create a streamlined, hands-on program that transfers immediately to the reading process.
The F.A.S.T. lesson delivers the phonetic component of reading using a multi-sensory approach: a magnet board and letters to build phonemic awareness and orthographic processing skills. The teacher says a sound and the student echoes the sound and points to all the possible spellings for that sound. The teacher points to a tile and the student reads the sound the tile represents. Students then learn to spell and read syllables and complete words using the magnet board.
Working on a magnet board makes it possible for many words and concepts to be taught and reviewed quickly. New concepts are introduced using the magnet tiles with minimal verbal instruction by the teacher. The tiles do the teaching. F.A.S.T teaches identification, blending, segmenting and manipulation of sounds. F.A.S.T. students understand the English language and its structure and gain access to the code and quickly transfer this to their reading.
The second half of the session is dedicated to reading from the level appropriate book that reinforces the skills that have just been taught and practiced. F.A.S.T. books are phonetically controlled reading materials that are age and interest appropriate.
F.A.S.T. stories are engaging and students love them. The stories have short, fast moving chapters with an abundance of picture support and an age appropriate format.
Students read words and phrases before each chapter. Reading for comprehension, pressure release reading, repeated readings and timed readings alternate within the reading portion of the lesson. The reading component ends with a written summary of the reading, reaction to the reading, or reflection about the reading. Reading becomes the most enjoyable part of the lesson for students.
(http://www.presenttimeenergetics.com/Present_Time_Energetics/F.A.S.T._Reading_Program.html)