Math U See AIM review
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
If you have a child working on Addition and Subtraction, you will want to be sure to check out Accelerated Individualized Mastery (AIM) for Addition and Subtraction from Math-U-See. Even if you already use Math-U-See you can still benefit from using the AIM program.
What is AIM:
The AIM program is a program to help your child master addition and subtraction facts. The program comes with the Math-U-See manipulative blocks, colored pencils, a resource guide, Math Fact Strategy Posters, addition and subtraction fact check cards, and year-long access to the AIM program instructional videos and guides.
If you use Math-U-See, you will already be familiar with some aspects of the AIM program. The integer blocks will be familiar and the video lessons with Mr. Demme will also be familiar since they are the same as in the Alpha and Beta programs. We have been using Math-U-See with all our kids, but I had not seen the AIM program before though. When I looked at the program, I thought it would benefit my son since we can always improve math facts.
The program includes 12-month online access to Lesson videos, Instructions, Solutions, and printable resources. The online videos and website work both on a computer and with the iPad. You can download the pdf of each lesson, activities and resources.
The online instructional videos show
- Instructions on How to administer the assessment
- Instructions on how to use The Build, Write, Say method
- Instructions on how to Fade from the Manipulatives
- Instructions on how to perform the Mastery check
- 22 lessons for all the addition and subtraction lessons from Mr. Demme
Who is AIM for?
AIM is for children who struggle with math addition and subtraction facts and have not mastered those facts. To see where to start or where your child has problems there is a before AIM Assessment. When I gave my son the before assessment I was surprised how he didn’t know his facts like I thought he would. The assessment says that if it takes more than three seconds for the answer, then they do not have the fact mastered. If you already use the Math U See program you can use AIM to help ensure your child has a mastery of his addition and/or subtraction facts.
How we used AIM
The instructional videos for the lessons were the same as the Math U See Alpha and Beta math programs but they are online. The difference with AIM is the concepts used to practice the math facts. My kids always like playing with the Math U See blocks. It helps visualize the concepts of math with a base 10 system. The AIM program uses the manipulative blocks along with the colored pencils which stand for each block color. There are also fact check cards to check their knowledge. The fact check cards are basically flashcards with three stars on each one. If the child knows the fact, you color in one of the stars. When all three stars are colored in then you consider the fact known. If there are math facts they still have not mastered then they can work on activities suggested in the AIM program until they have mastered the particular math facts. When they have mastered all the facts for the lesson then you can move on to the next lesson. Since my son needed to improve his addition facts, we decided to use the AIM program and hold off on working more on his Math-U-See Alpha math book.
What we thought of AIM
My son enjoyed working with the manipulative blocks. The AIM program has many different activities using manipulatives to practice math facts. He really enjoyed the many manipulative block AIM activities like The Train Hitch, Building a Wall of Tens, Addend Sleuth, and many others. My son also liked using colored pencils but I don’t know if they really helped all that much. It is probably helpful if you are very visual. Overall we liked using the AIM program and I plan on using it instead of our math program until my son has mastered the addition facts up to where he is at with his Math-U-See math book.
Want to hear more about Accelerated Individualized Mastery (AIM) for Addition and Subtraction? Click below to read what other members of the Review Crew thought.
