Add+VantageMR Program in the Classroom

For which grade levels is the program appropriate?

Add+VantageMR is appropriate for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, though it can also help with identifying specific areas of concern for struggling middle and high school students.  AVMR gives teachers successful, proven strategies for working with mathematically-challenged students at all grade levels.

For what type of students is the program appropriate?

Add+VantageMR works with all students.  In fact, there is no level of student who won’t benefit from this program!  This includes special education students, gifted students, regular education students, even second language learners.  Add+VantageMR  helps teachers identify all-important areas of strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to focus their instruction to each student’s appropriate level. 

What type of interaction occurs with students?

Interaction is flexible and adaptable to each situation.  The assessment process is a one-on-one interview.   Using the assessment data from this interview gives teachers the following instructional possibilities:

• Whole group instruction for skills and knowledge that everyone needs to work on

• Small group focused instruction to target a specific skill, knowledge, or strategy that some students need to work on

• Concentrated targeted instruction for one or two students who are either working on accelerated or remedial skills or strategies 

Sometimes students are strategically paired to play games based on the skills, knowledge, or skills they are working on.  The classroom data makes all these flexible groups easy to determine, and the Learning Framework in Number shows where students need to go next.

How much time is spent doing the program daily/weekly?

Teachers tell us they see AVMR less as a program and more of a way to use the curricular program they already have to the maximum benefit of all their students.  Instead of the entire class doing the exact same activity, Add+Vantage Math Recovery gives them a lens through which to view each student.  This lens helps teachers determine if the activity from the curriculum will meet this student's needs, or whether they will need to make modifications to provide learning experiences that are at the student's cutting edge. 

Most teachers like to spend 10 to 15 minutes each day doing some whole group skill work, whether it’s counting around the room (forwards, backwards, skip counting, off-decade, etc.), or doing some mental computation, or playing a game involving numeral identification. This is often done at a transition time of the day, such as coming in from lunch, right before going to music, etc. 

What areas of knowledge are worked on with students?

Add+VantageMR  assessments focus on the number and computation strands of mathematics.  This impacts all strands, as number and computation are foundations for the other strands.  Specifically, the areas AVMR works on are:

• Number Words and Numerals which includes counting (saying the number sequence) forwards and backwards to and from any number, as well as identifying numerals;

• Addition and Subtraction which includes counting collections, and addition and subtraction strategies with numbers to 20;

• Structuring Number which includes models for thinking about numbers to 20;

• Multiplication and Division which includes making equal groups, skip counting, models for thinking about multiplicative situations, and facility with single digit multiplication; and

• Place Value which includes counting on and off decade, as well as strategies for adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers.