Thursday, February 5, 2015

Tech Thursday: Matific

I recently learned about a great website, so I thought I would link up with the Teaching Trio's Tech Thursday to share a little bit about it.

 
Matific is free for educators and has a nominal charge for parents.  It is easy to set it up for your class and my kids really enjoy using it.  The activities are high-interest and targeted to specific skills.  While I am still discovering all that it has to offer, I have already figured out that there are a few things about this site that set it above the rest:

1)  You are able to lock the games/activities that you don't want the kids to access.  I usually leave them all unlocked, but I like the ability to control what they are doing.  If I want to ensure that they are practicing a skill that we are working on, I just lock everything up.

2)  Matific tracks student progress and allows you to see the results in easy to read reports.  You can view reports as a class and individually.

3)  The activities/games are fun and challenging at the same time.  Recently we were working with one called "Absolutely!"  The kids had to put positive and negative integers in order, including the absolute value of integers.  That little addition increased the rigor and really helped them to internalize the concept of absolute value.  The activities increase in complexity as the students progress through them and provide help when they are struggling.

4)  It is completely free during school hours--you just have to be signed in as a teacher.  Now, I can never remember to do this, but when the kids try to sign in, it lets them know that I have forgotten again.  An easy fix!  Schools can pay for a premium membership if you want kids to have unlimited access at home--or parents can pay for it individually.

I really encourage you to check it out.

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