Basic Materials

Basics+ Placement Test

Designed to determine a student’s level accurately and efficiently. Divided into a series of individual quizes, the student works through the book until he or she cannot pass the criteria outlined in the Quiz Cross-Checker at the back of the book.

When this stumbling place is identified, the appropriate workbook is determined, and it becomes the starting point for the student’s learning. Use of the test book is unnecessary after a workbook is chosen and the student settles into the Basics+ Learning Program.

Basics+ Student Workbooks

The core of the Basics+ Program, the workbooks contain the lesson information and the practice problems to instill the lessons. The program presents information in “little steps ” to ensure that the students are able to understand and memorize everything absolutely. This means that the lessons are short and easy to understand. The parent or teacher should work with the students to help introduce the information and to give the students confidence as they begin.

In each workbook there are review pages that draw from previous workbooks. These review moments serve the obvious function of solidifying previous lessons.

On the back cover of every workbook is an assignment chart. Information entered here is used to track the students’ progress through the workbooks and is the same chart as in the Progress Book.  The chart can be filled in by the students under the teacher’s guidance.  To give the “assignment time” meaning to the students, they are able to compare their entries to the “average times.”

When a workbook is finished, study moves to the next workbook in the program sequence. Sometimes workbook instructions will carry a recommendation to have the students work simultaneously on a parallel workbook, Telling Time, for instance.

Basics+Answer Books

Beginning with Workbook five, answer books are available. Each lesson should be checked and all errors corrected before the students continue to the next lesson.

For simple, one-step problems, the teacher may want to write only the number of errors on the lesson and have the student find the incorrect answers and correct them. This is excellent practice and helps the student develop proofreading ability. However, this can be frustrating for remedial students. It can be time-consuming, but if the teacher or aid has the time to go over the problems with the student, finding with the student the answer of each problem until the errors are found, it is a fortifying experience for the student.

A shorter technique that can encourage students to find their own errors is to have the students find only one error and then reveal the rest as a reward. These individual-attention methods can also be useful for gaining attention with students that are having difficulty working independently.

Students who have been in permissive classrooms often have not been required to correct their work and will write any answer down to fill the space, not expecting to have to go back and correct the errors. They often rebel at correcting their work.  But students must not be allowed to go on until the corrections are made, whether independently or with the aid of the teacher.  And after the corrections are completed, the teacher should query the students about the lesson in order to check their understanding. Answer books for the first five books have been omitted because it is as fast for the teacher to read the students’ work looking for errors as it is to use an answer book.

Basics+ Progress Book

A master logbook for the teacher, this book summarizes students’ progress throughout all the lessons in the program.  Individual charts are located on the back of each workbook, so that students can record their own progress.

The Student Progress Chart is a workbook-by-workbook tracker that gives the students and teacher a reminder of the students’ movement through the program.

When the students work on addition or multiplication tables then the Addition or Multiplication Mastery Charts (pages xx-xx in this book) are useful for recording the number combinations as they are mastered. Students enjoy having the progress charts posted in order to track their progress and see their goals.

Also included in this book are the Addition and Multiplication Practice Charts, which are useful for student practice.

Basics+ Tests

At the completion of each level, a timed achievement test is available. It is taken to verify that the material has been mastered. The test should not be given until the instructor strongly believes that the student will pass the test.

When giving tests, remember that because of the emphasis in this program on both speed and accuracy, many students who have studied math from traditional programs may be able to pass the tests without a time requirement, but stumble when are put under time pressure. Because it is essential for the basic computations to be automatic to a student, time is an important factor in testing. A student that doesn’t pass a test within the allotted time should review the material until the computations are automatic.

When the program is used in a lock-step class situation as opposed to individualized instruction, slower students can move with the class to next lessons, but they must be given the opportunity to learn any unmastered material. Students may need to repeat books or portions thereof to assure the material is mastered, so some students may be working in two books and will need to spend extra time catching up.

Basics+ Flash Cards

Flash cards are instrumental in quickening students’ response times and in establishing new knowledge in their memories.  Flash cards are very useful for helping to memorize addition or multiplication combinations. Also, flash cards can be a fun way to further learning by presenting the material as a game or enjoyable challenge.

They also gives the parent or teacher an opportunity to become a “partner” in the students’ learning, and to gauge progress and attitude.

Memory Bank

The memory bank is a container such as an index card file or it could be something fun, like a colorful lunch-box.  It contains the pieces of paper and/or flash cards with the material which has been memorized and validated.  To validate material, the student, not having reviewed the material for at least 30 minutes, must answer correctly, without hesitation. Doing this three times (on separate days) validates the material as learned, and it may be entered into the student’s memory bank.

The memory bank should be reviewed at least once a week. Students can pair up to check each other, or the material can be presented as a competition between two teams. When the opportunity arises, allow the children to show-off by having obliging visiting persons draw the questions and quiz the students. When the collection is so large that all the questions can not be answered in one session, begin removing the material that is answered most proficiently.

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