Dr.
Des Rainey
PhD (Western Reserve,
Cleveland, Ohio),
MA (Victoria, Wellington)
Contact:
Doc. Rainey Ltd.
15A Coronation Rd
Glenfield, Auckland
New Zealand.
Tel:+64 9 4198356
USA fax (208)4415510
How Many Flick Sticks Will We Want?
Here are some things to think
about:
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Most use of the Flikstiks will be in the first few years at school and with the games and activities in the Early Numeracy kit - but they are also used substantially with the Introduction to Tables pack. Teachers may also find many other uses for them, e.g. in the form of activities involving Place Value, Bases, Algebra, Probability.
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Because students will find good uses for Flick Sticks over several years, ideally they will have their own - so many schools are putting Flick Sticks on their start-of-year stationery list.
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Children with their own Flikstiks may put their name on the handle, may keep them in their desks, may bring them out when they need them and take them home for homework games and activities.
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In short, while schools may purchase packs of 10, 20 or 30 Flick Sticks it is preferable if they can plan for children through Early Numeracy to have their own.
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Prices are $7 each for orders to 20 (minimum 10), $6.50 for orders of 20 - 199
$6 for orders > 200, $5.50 for orders >300. (NZ GST included.)
Classroom Use of the Flick Stick
You may use Flikstiks in an ad hoc teaching aid fashion to model practically any maths activity (see the Flikstik Guide for ideas) - but we recommend systematic use along Number-Family lines with the aim of helping children build a Basic Facts Knowledge Base to 10, then to 10, as elsewhere described. Later they may go on to use Flick Sticks with 'tables', Place Value, decimals, fractions, bases...
Flick Stick Progress Charts (from the kit) make for a great way of organising Flick Stick Number-Family activities, setting goals and tracking progress.