The Fact Practice component of Freckle allows pupils to do just that: practise their maths facts. Pupils build maths fact fluency by testing their ability to recall the basic facts in all four operations, accurately and quickly. Think of Freckle Fact Practice as computerised, adaptive flash cards.
Pupils can practise their maths facts up to twice a day.
Once on the Fact Practice screen, pupils can select the first box and solve the first fact by using the number keys to enter their answer. Selecting the Enter or return keys on the keyboard to submit each answer will move them through Fact Practice. There is no need to select each box.
Pupils earn coins for correct answers, just as they do in the Independent Practice program. The coin amounts are randomised and are in no way associated with the difficulty of the fact. Pupils gain immediate feedback after answering each maths fact and are shown correct solutions if they answer incorrectly.
What maths operations will a pupil see in Fact Practice?
The default behaviour for Fact Practice depends on a pupil's year.
Pupils will begin with simple examples of each operation. They can pass each operation by scoring 100% for three sessions in a row. If a pupil scores less than 60% on an operation, their next session will have a simplified set of questions for that operation. For example, a pupil who does well on Addition and Subtraction questions but scores low on Multiplication questions will have their Multiplication complexity reduced.
Pupils will not "unlock" new operations by advancing in a different one. For example, a Year 3 pupil cannot independently move to Multiplication and Division by reaching the highest step of Subtraction.
This document details the specific progression of each Fact Practice operation.
How can I change which operations a pupil is working on?
On the Home Settings page, Premium Maths teachers can now choose which operations each pupil sees in independent Fact Practice.
- In the sidebar on the left, select Class List.
- Find and select the name of the pupil you want to change settings for.
- On the Edit Pupil page, select the Dashboard Settings tab and scroll down to the "Show/Hide Fact Practice Operations for this pupil" section.
- Choose which operations to show or hide for the selected pupil.
- Select Apply Pupil Settings to save your changes.
As an example, if the teacher selects addition and subtraction for a Year 9 pupil, that pupil will see a mix of those two operations in the independent Fact Practice sessions and will no longer see integer operations or fractions.
How can I fit Fact Practice into my daily schedule?
The most common way Fact Practice is incorporated into the maths block as part of the independent practice program. Fact Practice can also be done as part of the Daily Review, be incorporated into maths centres or be assigned as nightly homework. Since Fact Practice is relatively quick, pupils can practise any time they have a few minutes to jump on a computer or iPad.