"Give them the tools so that they can finish the job."

Fluency Checks: See and Say Numbers or Think and Say Numbers.
When students can count fluently, they can say numbers at 300 counts per minute with no more than 2 errors. When they are touching each number the count will drop to 100-150 counts per minute because they cannot touch the numerals fast enough. Before we move on to more complex skills, we need to be sure that the student can think and say the numbers from 1-100 at 300 counts per minute with no more than 2 errors.

Say to the student, "Now we will do a fluency check for counting from 1 to 100. I will time you for 30 seconds. You will count from 1 to 100 as many times as you can until I say, Thank You. You may use the page with the numbers on it if you wish. When you can count really well with the paper, we will try it without the paper. Count to 100 as fast as you can. Ready. Please begin." Wait for 30 seconds, then say, "Thank You." To calculate the score, count the number of lines of ten that the student counted and multiply that number by 10. Then add any other counts from the last count where the student did not get to the end of a line. Subtract any errors from this score. Multiply the total number of correct counts by 2 to get a count per minute for correct counts. Multiply the number of errors by 2 to get a count per minute for errors. Record both scores on the chart.

Note: If you do not do the fluency check each day, you will never know whether or not the student has fluent counting skills. You will not know whether to review or to go on to new tasks. To the extent that you do not know whether or not the student is fluent at this task, you risk putting the student at risk of failure on the subsequent tasks. Do the fluency checks daily until the student reaches 300 counts/minute with no more than 2 errors.

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