Each student has a bag with facts and we have been practicing them daily. We also will be practicing number sense including place value, expanded notation and number order. This will help deepen their understand of what the numbers mean. This may sound like a lot but it is not enough! I need your help. Your child needs your help. Once a night, for just a minute or two, run through the facts. Make it a challenge and time them. However you do it, it is the practicing that counts and it's what makes the difference.
Here's a little research as to why it's so important:
Knowing math facts and knowing them fluently are two different things.
Math facts fluency leads to higher order mathematics: Through automaticity students free up their working memory and can devote it to problem solving and learning new concepts and skills (Geary, 1994). Quite simply, a lack of fluency in basic math fact recall significantly hinders a child’s subsequent progress with problem-solving, algebra and higher-order math concept.
Fluent math facts mean less confusion: Math facts are important because they form the building blocks for higher-level math concepts. When a child masters his/her math facts, these concepts will be significantly easier and the student will be better equipped to solve them faster. If the child spends a lot of time doing the basic facts, he/she is more likely to be confused with the processes and get lost in their calculations.