Hello!

I don’t normally post on a Saturday night, but I posted a picture on Twitter last night that started to cause a bit of a stir and a few people were interested in what I’d produced, so I HOPE this blog post explains what the resource is and why/how I use it!

So yesterday I posted this picture of me marking some fluency checks I had done with my Year 6s.

Something I found last year and that I’m already finding this year is that there are some fluency/arithmetic gaps with my kids, so my brilliant TA and I created a whole host of fluency checks that we could do with our children to assess their fluency and their arithmetic skills. One of the things that really spurred it on (I remember it really vividly) was that a lot of children didn’t have instant recall of the fact that 7+6 was 13 and it was frustrating. From that frustration came these fluency checks and I’m so grateful because I think they’re brilliant! These checks really quickly helped us see which children needed intervention and where there were whole class issues that I could address in my whole class teaching.

What I wanted was essentially a range of different checks that started pretty simple (as you can see on the picture above the first addition and subtraction check is adding to 100 and adding to 10) and got more complex. There’s 2 versions (both of which you can download in this blog post):

• addition and subtraction fluency checks
• multiplication and division fluency checks (testing up to 12 x 12)

Currently, there are more multiplication and division fluency checks to work through (as this was, from the start of the year last year, where the glaring gap was with my children).

How do I use them?

In my classroom, I give the children 1 minute per “box” (set of 12 questions) and once their minute is over, they move on to the next box. We talk beforehand about how I’d rather they were correct than raced through it and made lots of mistakes. This may need to be adjusted depending on the age/year group of the children you are using the tests with.

If children score fewer than x number of mistakes (I tend to go with 5-7), they move on to the next test the next time we do them.

If children score more than x number of mistakes, they stay on that test and repeat it the next time.

If children score poorly on a test more than twice, I edit the test to make a more “personalised” test that is more suitable for their need.

I do the multiplication and division test one week, and then the next week, I do the addition and subtraction.

What do I get in each pack?

There are currently 7 addition and subtraction fluency checks and 12 multiplication and division fluency checks. Below is a list of the tests and what they cover.

I will add to both of them in the coming weeks (as/when my class get there, so keep an eye out!)

Sounds great! Where can I download them?

HERE! FOR FREE! (And there’s a blank version of the template in case you’re interested in it)

As always, I’d love to know if this is any use to you! If you have any questions about them, that I’ve not answered here, you can leave me a comment, you can get in touch via the Contact tab at the top or you can tweet/DM me (if you follow me on social media!).

Please don’t put this on any websites claiming them as your own – a little credit (either of my blog, my twitter @eenalol or my instagram @thisgeordieteaches) goes a long long way! A few people claimed them as their own in the past and it makes me a bit upset. I don’t charge for these; I’m not making any money from them; I’m sharing because a few people asked if I would. If you do download and share on your social media (which I really do appreciate), please please just give credit (don’t go selling them on TES for a fiver… yes, it has happened before). Please spread the love and share this as far and as wide as you wish!

S x