Class Competition While Improving Math Skills

Submitted 5 years ago
Marsha W.
Marsha W.
P.S. 055 Benjamin Franklin School
Bronx NY, US
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

SumDog is an excellent tool for review and reinforcement. Being able to compete against classmates was a strong enough pull to keep my 5th grade students engaged. Each student has an avatar which they can customize as they acquire coins. One thing that would improve SumDog is if teachers had the ability to create sub-groupings within the class so that student could compete against students in the same grouping.

How I Use It

I served as a grade 3-5 SETSS and 5th grade cluster teacher for a self-contained (12:1:1) class. During that time, I used SumDog as an opportunity for students to practice their math fluency and to assess their current skill level. The students really enjoyed the fact that they could compete against one another. I would also display the leader board in the front of the class. This gave students 2 ways to be have competition and be "successful" aside from getting the correct answers. If a student struggled with answer questions correctly, there was still a chance that they answered the most questions for the class which was enough to keep them engaged. It was also helpful that I could assign skills and tasks within the program. Students also earn coins as they complete the different tasks which they can then redeem in a store to buy clothes or things for their room.

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