Lou Gerbi is a 5th Grade Math and Science teacher at Logan Elementary School in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in the US.
About the school
Lou has been an educator for 30 years and for the last five years has been writing the 5th Grade math curriculum for his district. He currently teaches at Logan Elementary School, a Title 1 school where the majority of the student population is economically disadvantaged. The school has been using Sumdogfor 10 years.
Creating an even playing field for students
There's a math goal in the district to improve fluency in basic operations, mainly multiplication, and we found that Sumdog was the perfect solution for that!
Previously, to support our classroom teaching we were using basic activities, worksheets, flashcards and repetitive practice. I first stumbled on Sumdog while googling different programs. I read about Sumdog’s offerings and thought it would be the ideal tool to meet our needs.
Anytime we wanted to use computers, we had to schedule time in the computer lab and the students LOVED it. Having 30 kids in the classroom all at different levels, working on different skills, and being able to all come together and work on the same things was fantastic. I noticed everyone was having fun. Sumdog takes away the embarrassment that some kids might have because they are behind in math. No one knows who is working on what so it creates equity between students.
Boosting motivation with challenges and virtual rewards
Our math lessons are typically whole group activities and then we break into centers once per week to reinforce the topics we are working on. I usually set a Sumdog challenge on what we are working on that week, for example adding and subtracting is what we’re currently doing. I will find skills on Sumdog that correlate and reinforce what we are learning in the classroom and set them as independent work for the students. My students are extremely incentivized by the house and garden so they work hard to complete all of their work just so they can get five minutes in the house and garden during school hours. They are thrilled to show off their house and garden to me, tell me about the clothes they purchased for their avatar and ultimately it gives them a brain break that they look forward to. I tend to have 100% participation in the challenges because students are engaged and interested in their statistics. A lot of them want to know about their accuracy and progress and are proud to see personal growth.
"Since implementing Sumdog we have noticed a huge
jump in fluency and are finding out the students are relying on
the multiplication charts less and less because of their mastery."
Using Sumdog at Logan Elementary
I normally set multiplication practice on Sumdog because it is quick and easy to do. I will also set work surrounding the lesson I am teaching that day.Usually I’ll set practice work as a quick warmup at the beginning of class as well as at the end of class after the lesson is finished so we can see how much learning was grasped and where the gaps still are. I will often announce our multiplication chart and share that we have all mastered the 2s or the 3s.
It creates a sense of community and the students cheer and clap. When I have a test coming up, a day or two before the test I will set a challenge on things we have covered that chapter to reinforce learning and give them extra practice. I personally love the statistics that the diagnostic provides and I use the results for progress monitoring to showcase student development.
Paving the way for student success
Sumdog has helped us meet our needs of increasing fluency and multiplication facts from grades 2 ― 6 which in the past was such a big problem for us.
Since implementing Sumdog we have noticed a huge jump in fluency and are finding out the students are relying on the multiplication charts less and less because of their mastery. Fractions are also such a large part of 5th grade math and being great at multiplication helps tremendously with our standards on fractions. Whenever I have parentteacher conferences, all the parents will say that their kids love math lessons and that they have noticed a boost of confidence since using Sumdog.
Our district uses MAPs testing as our benchmark exam to show mathematical growth. The students take the MAPs in the beginning of the year and I compare their scores as they take their midyear exam and their end of year exam. For all of the students I teach, I notice significant growth from their beginning of the year MAPs compared to their midyear MAPs. Of course as a teacher, we do a combination of things in our classroom to help our students succeed but I am sure the frequency that I use Sumdog is a major contributing factor to the students progression. I highly recommend Sumdog for any school that is looking to build fluency and have their students practice math at home. The students are so engaged that they are taking the initiative to play outside of school which reinforces all of my teaching.