Regularly Practicing Math Skills Starting in Grade 3 is Helpful Because :
- It builds student confidence and fluency through repetition.
- Math learning is cumulative: mastery of foundational skills like fractions and decimals to progress to advanced topics like algebra.
- In most of the US (and in Ames), by 6th grade, students with high scores on tests are sent to a different more advanced math class than others. Being in the advanced group means the student can get more math courses done by 12th grade, this is becoming an unsaid requirement for STEM college.
Recommended Resources
- Free Options
- Khan Academy: free and best starting point for all students
- K5 Learning: free worksheets that can be printed
- Beestar – free 20-problem worksheets, two each week; Math problems are more challenging and fun
- Paid options
- Workbooks: There are many options available online or in stores, though none are perfect.
- ALEKS – Online app that CyMath uses; great for tutoring large groups of students at all levels of Math
- Beast Academy – Online app popular in the Asian American STEM parent community. The CyMath director has used it for her child and it is great for students who want challenging math taught in a very fun way.
- Art of Problem Solving books for grade 6-12 – For middle school students and above. The Art of Problem Solving books are an excellent resource. We recommend that you use the website to find books that are of interest to your child and then try to find used copies online at Thriftbooks or other websites.
- iReady and ISASP tests
- iReady test: Taken over two days during January. In 2025, the 3rd graders will take the iReady test on the 14th and 15th, 4th graders will take the test on the 17th and 20th, and 5th graders will take the test on the 16th and the 23rd. This is an adaptive test, so students should be encouraged to take their time before answering (submitted answers cannot be corrected) and to be especially careful with early questions as correct answers there will trigger more challenging (and more valuable from a points-perspective) questions later.
- ISASP test (Iowa test): April usually.
- These are used for selecting kids into Compacted Math and other advanced math programs (6th grade and on wards).The test is adaptive and there is a lot of time to finish the test. Students should use the time well – details
- To do well on an adaptive test, (i) encourage student to go slow and think before answering (cannot change your answer); (ii) make sure first few questions correctly answered in order to get harder problems later in the test; (ii) the grading of the test is also adaptive, harder questions are worth more points.
- Test Prep Online: This is a site to purchase MAP (similar to iReady) Prep Materials. On this page, you will find a sample question for each grade level and below that (beneath the pink button) there is a link to additional sample questions for each grade. Clinking there will give you access to about 10 sample questions with answer explanations.
- Grade-Level Assessment Practice Grade 3: The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released this practice math test for 3rd graders. It features 44 questions on a paper test (would need to be printed out) and does not include an answer key.
- Grade-Level Assessment Practice Grade 4: Same as above, but for 4th graders.
- Grade-Level Assessment Practice Grade 5: Same as above, but for 5th graders.