Review by Debbie Gorrell, Common Sense Education | Updated September 2014
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Middle School Math Planet – Fun math game curriculum for kids

Get it now
  • Download from App Store

Challenging mix of activities and drills provide solid math practice

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Math
Skills
  • Character & SEL
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
6–8
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (1 Review)
Price:  Free, Paid
Platforms:  iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Take a look inside

5 images
Kids unlock levels within each set of Planet activities.
Labeled and unlabeled number lines help build number sense.
Mini-activities are fun and engaging.
Kids use place-value skills to compare numbers.
Math Facts includes targeted drills for building fluency.

Pros: Fun mini-activities use instructional scaffolding to promote conceptual understanding.

Cons: Lack of direct hints and feedback limit opportunities to teach at a deeper level.

Bottom Line: Variety of activities with built-in scaffolding make this an engaging and effective practice tool.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Using the game as a practice tool will take some planning because mini-activities within each Planet aren't organized by content. For example, activities in one Planet may cover number sense, fractions, and angle measures. Spend some time playing the game to determine how to best use it. It might be best as a mid-year or end-of-year pre-assessment practice tool. The Math Facts option can easily be used for daily warm-up or practice. Kids should work individually, but they can share devices since the game accommodates multiple users.

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Standards:

The two main options for play are Math Facts and Planet mini-activities. In Math Facts, kids complete a set of grade-appropriate drills as quickly and accurately as possible. In Planet mini-activities, more than 30 levels are spread across five Planets. Kids work on a variety of skills and activities with different themes. A progress-tracking program shows kids' scores as percentiles and as percent correct. Kids are motivated to earn points and stars, which they can use to unlock new avatars. A condensed, free, Android version of the game covers content for grades 2-8. 

Kids can use Middle School Math Planet to practice and build fluency in core math skills. Content areas include number sense, estimation, fractions and mixed numbers, decimals, geometry, multiplication, division, and more. The game features mini-activities within each Planet, and kids have to complete one level in a Planet to go to the next level. Scaffolding is implemented throughout the game, even within mini-activities. For example, in a number line mini-activity, the game starts out with each interval labeled. As kids progress, labels disappear and kids have to use visual clues and estimation. The game also features a Math Facts section, in which kids choose a specific topic and race to complete drills with both speed and accuracy. Hints and feedback for incorrect answers are lacking, but this is still a solid tool for practicing key math skills. 

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

A variety of activities and themes keep kids engaged; earning points and stars motivates. 

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Mini-activities develop conceptual understanding of the skills; Math Facts build speed and accuracy. Activities increase in difficulty as kids progress. 

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Skill Tracker gives a comprehensive view of kids' progress as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Mini-activities have clear, concise instructions and include brief tutorial animations. 

Common Sense Reviewer
Debbie Gorrell Educator
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Geometry

  • 6.G.1

    Find the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons by composing into rectangles or decomposing into triangles and other shapes; apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

  • 6.G.2

    Find the volume of a right rectangular prism with fractional edge lengths by packing it with unit cubes of the appropriate unit fraction edge lengths, and show that the volume is the same as would be found by multiplying the edge lengths of the prism. Apply the formulas V = l w h and V = b h to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with fractional edge lengths in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

  • 6.G.3

    Draw polygons in the coordinate plane given coordinates for the vertices; use coordinates to find the length of a side joining points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

  • 6.G.4

    Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

  • 7.G.1

    Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale.

  • 7.G.2

    Draw (freehand, with ruler and protractor, and with technology) geometric shapes with given conditions. Focus on constructing triangles from three measures of angles or sides, noticing when the conditions determine a unique triangle, more than one triangle, or no triangle.

  • 7.G.3

    Describe the two-dimensional figures that result from slicing three- dimensional figures, as in plane sections of right rectangular prisms and right rectangular pyramids.

  • 7.G.4

    Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.

  • 7.G.5

    Use facts about supplementary, complementary, vertical, and adjacent angles in a multi-step problem to write and solve simple equations for an unknown angle in a figure.

  • 7.G.6

    Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, volume and surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes, and right prisms.

  • 8.G.9

    Know the formulas for the volumes of cones, cylinders, and spheres and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

The Number System

  • 6.NS.7.a

    Interpret statements of inequality as statements about the relative position of two numbers on a number line diagram. For example, interpret –3 > –7 as a statement that –3 is located to the right of –7 on a number line oriented from left to right.

  • 7.NS.1

    Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram.

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Teacher Reviews

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Featured review by
Tom W. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
North Allegheny School District
Pittsburgh, United States
Provides students a fun way to continue to practice their math skills.
I think this product will provide my students a fun way to increase their skills in math, instead of just working in Study Island.
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