Ms. Kristen Marrazzo, a 2nd grade teacher in Palmyra Borough School District in New Jersey, finds that math is “the most challenging subject” for her students. “The difficult part with math facts is finding a fun and effective way to help the students master their facts.” Before using Reflex, she “tried flash cards, minute to win it, timed drills, packets, other programs, a countless number of math workshop games, and a failed number of Pinterest activities.”
After using Reflex for just four months, she says that “Reflex has given my students more confidence when solving addition and subtraction facts. They are no longer scared to tackle a 3-digit addition or subtraction problem because they are more confident in their ability to solve simple facts. They no longer look at a difficult problem and get frustrated.”
"Reflex has given my students more confidence when solving addition and subtraction facts."
One of her students “at the beginning of the school year struggled with math and could not retain any math facts. This student had to use their fingers for every addition and subtraction problem. They would also cry frequently during math lessons. This student is now excited for math and is doing well with 3-digit addition and subtraction because solving a simple math fact like 5+6 is no longer a struggle for them.”
To help track fluency, Ms. Marrazzo made a fun bulletin board for her classroom. She took photos of the students with the arms in the air like monkeys so they would be “swinging through math facts,” and made each branch of the tree a different level of fluency. “Once a week, we give out awards and they get to hopefully move their ‘monkey’ to a higher level fluency branch. It truly has motivated the students to want to master more math facts.”