Math Facts, Math Facts, Math Facts....

....that's all I ever hear!    According to an article in the March 14, 2008 issue of The New York Times, a report, presented by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (March 2008), addressed the importance of mastering the basic facts. 

The report stated that it is important for students to master their basic math facts well enough that their recall becomes automatic, stored in their long-term memory, leaving room in their working memory to take in new math processes.

"For all content areas, practice allows students to achieve automaticity of basic skills -- the fast, accurate and effortless processing of content information -- which frees up working memory for more complex aspects of problem solving," the report said.
..... "to prepare students for algebra, the curriculum must simultaneously develop conceptual understanding, computational fluency, and problem-solving skills."

By even the 5th grade, the number of steps in problems necessitates that students know those facts quickly so they don't get bogged down in recalculating the facts several times while solving the problem.   from: Mathwithouttears.blogspot.com

Let's work with our student on math facts. This is one thing students can do over school breaks. Practice, practice, practice.