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1. I am the author of the program called Mastering Math Facts, which everyone called Rocket Math. I have authored a new version entitled Rocket Math. Rocket Math is not a generic product and you are ripping it off. How is it that you are using my worksheets and my facts sequence and using the name Rocket Math? That is now a trade mark and I would like you to cease calling your worksheets by our brand name.

   Comment by Dr. Donald Crawford — November 30, 2008 @ 12:56 pm

2. Hello Dr. Crawford –

   Sorry we seem to have got off on the wrong foot, and the intentions here are obviously not to take away from anyone’s enterprise. I’ll set about renaming the material here.

   Really this site is about creating practice work in response to what’s coming home in my daughter’s backpack, and nothing more. Frustrated by not having more practice material and answer keys, and unable to find any other resources online I put something simple together using resources from the internet. Later, several friends requested I share. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to make available practice work for material our kids our getting graded on in public school… There wasn’t anything malicious intended here and I assure you nobody is making any money “ripping you off.”

   The target audience here is parents, and there are no designs on trying to market a curriculum to teachers or school districts, and the site has never represented itself as a product or service. For emphasis here, this site is about practice work in support of (not in competition with) the curriculum materials that schools are handing out.

   I have absolutely no problem making clear that there isn’t anything like a full classroom curriculum here and directing interested educators to your new site. The extra value that a full curriculum or training program adds certainly isn’t captured here and anyone that is sensibly in the market for a full set of classroom materials shouldn’t be thinking otherwise. I think you’ll agree that a bunch of worksheets isn’t doing much without qualified instruction.

   There isn’t anything sinister about the source of the problems. All of the worksheets (including the time problems, word problems and everything else) are randomly generated using simple rules. In the case of the rules used for the Rocket Math worksheets, it’s pretty easy to find these online and the source I used specifically is here…

   http://www.lincolnschool.net/oc_math.html

   You can appreciate that there’s nothing here or in other sources that indicates this wasn’t publicly available information, and the worksheets constructed for the site weren’t built using anything that appeared otherwise. Again, my intent wasn’t to cause you any grief.

   Similarly, the phrase ‘Rocket Math’ itself has been in use for quite some time, and apart from its widespread use by teachers for many years, there’s actually a clever interactive math web site using the name run by another Dad here…

   http://www.Rocket-Math.com

   This site has never described any material as being “the” Rocket Math program or anything similar, but it provides material in support of what parents, teachers and schools have labeled as “Rocket Math” and “Rocket Ship Math” for years. I did a quick search at the trademark office website and found no hits for this phrase, and it doesn’t look like anyone has been marketing a product using this name prior to this year. If I just missed it let me know, but at this point, I would think it would be tough for anyone to lay exclusive claim to this phrase. I’ll still get things renamed here to avoid any conflicts with your commercial product, but my point in applying it wasn’t to attempt to seize ownership of it or create some product with it… It’s just to try to make it easier for parents to find material online that matches up with the exercises their teachers are assigning.

   In that respect, I hope you’ll agree that making practice work accessible to parents and students is in everyone’s ultimate interests, especially our kids. I sincerely hope that aligns with your commercial interests as well.

   Best regards,

   Dad

   Comment by Dad — December 1, 2008 @ 10:24 am

3. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My daughter’s school recently started the Rocket Math program and it has been causing her stress. I try to practice with her at home, but it is not easy to constantly create new practice sheets with 2 smaller ones running around…and I’m a former math teacher. So glad I found this site! What a great resource!

   Comment by 2nd grader's mom — December 9, 2008 @ 10:40 am

4. Dear “Dad”
   Thank you so much for your magnanimous response. In my workshops I always encouraged teachers to have students take home their “rocket math” worksheets to practice at home each night. But I guess that doesn’t always happen, prompting you to re-create the worksheets and the exact sequence and the format of practice. I do appreciate your reference to our website, as it already connected us to some teachers who were looking for the completed classroom program. You are clearly a gentleman and a scholar.
   -Don Crawford

   Comment by Dr. Donald Crawford — December 10, 2008 @ 3:04 pm

5. Thanks for your support, Dr. Crawford!

   Comment by Dad — December 15, 2008 @ 11:25 am

6. What a great exchange. I began reading with worry and was happy to see Dr. Crawford’s response as I continued through the comments.

   Over the past few years, I have felt there has been more of a them against us feeling in education separating teachers, parents, administrators, and even other community members. It is important to remember that we are all here with the interest of what is best for children. Sometimes in our arguements we seem to forget why we are here in the first place. Our children deserve our best efforts. They deserve to see the people surrounding them working together. And, they deserve role-models for care and consideration for others as well as cooperation toward a common goal–in this case,their success and happiness.

   Thank you to both of you (Dad and Dr. Crawford) for your efforts.

   Comment by mom/teacher — December 17, 2008 @ 1:23 pm

7. Dear “Dad”,
   I want to thank you immensely for your website and free worksheets. My first grade daughter was “stuck” on list A of Rocket Math at school. She was stressed and tearful over the program. Her teacher informed me (after I questioned her about the Rocket Math program) that my daughter didn’t actually even qualify for the test, rather she qualified to trace numbers while her classmates moved up the scale. Her teacher opted to put her (and the four other classmates who scored similarly to her) on list A with the rest of the class. Until I found your website, she was unable to pass the tests. Now a few weeks later she is studying for list J, and she passes her tests usually on the first try or the second. Thank you so much for providing a valuable service. I can’t thank you enough.

   -A happy mom

   Comment by Happy mom — February 19, 2009 @ 5:45 pm

8. Happy Mom -

   That’s got to be the best comment I’ve received so far on the site… Thank you.

   I’m so pleased for your daughter’s progress! Please give her a big “high-five” from me!

   Dad

   Comment by Dad — February 19, 2009 @ 6:15 pm

9. HI… I am very interesting in implementing space ship math. My daughters school does not use this program. How can I assess her to know what level she is?

   Comment by love2teach — February 22, 2009 @ 10:41 am

10. Hi LoveToTeach -

    There really isn’t a specific assessment process associated with the worksheets here… What I would do is simply start with level ‘A’ of whatever operation you’re working on and work your way up. The worksheets are meant to be one minute timed tests. If your daughter is passing them easily, you might try advancing two levels at a time until she is either unable to complete the test or is missing more than two or three. It may take a half dozen or so tests for you to find the right level, but the review is always good practice!

    Good luck!

    Dad

    Comment by Dad — February 22, 2009 @ 11:48 am

11. Dear Dad,

    My son started rocket math in school, so I started looking on line for ways to help him practice, and found your site. Thank you so much, it’s helping him so much, and he’s loving it to!!!!

    Comment by Mom of 2 — August 20, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

12. Dad,

    Thank you for all of your efforts on this site. Very impressive! My son used your multiplication worksheets during 1st Grade to practice for school quizzes and he finished the school’s timed tests in less than a month. He is very excited about math and your worksheets help me keep him challenged. Thanks again.

    Comment by 2nd Grade Dad — October 2, 2009 @ 7:52 am

13. Dear Dad,

    My granddaughter is a 1st grader and so distraught over “Rocket Math”. I think it’s a good concept, but she also does not bring home anything where her parents or I can help her. Thank you for posting this assistance. I must also commend Dr.Donald Crawford for being such a gentleman in his response to you. I am glad he understands that we all want to help and you were so gracious as to take the time for the tutorial help. Thank you both so very much!

    Comment by Lexa's Nana — October 13, 2009 @ 4:37 pm

14. Brilliant – both Dr. Crawford and Dad. My 3rd grader did this last year and we were thrilled that we finally had an effective tool to memorize math facts (previously was the dot adding, which we are still hoping will go away, bad habit). The entire strategy when explained and understood is so simple and elegant – internal competition when they don’t even realize what they are accomplishing. But teachers being over worked were frustratingly slow sending home the sheets for us to copy for practice, creating boredom instead of regular repetition and advancement. Now the 2nd grade is using it, and we were running into the same problem – passed level D but not getting E to start on for weeks. This is a great resource for parents to make learning foundational math facts fun and easy. Dad’s website only adds to the value for schools. Parents cannot buy this but want to support the techique and this gives us an easy way to do that. Thanks to you both, math is fun again!

    Comment by kt — October 16, 2009 @ 11:09 pm

15. Dear Dad,
    Thank you so much for this website. My second-grade daughter is also stressing over the rocket math. As I am typing this, she is crying because of worrying about the level she is on. She is a perfectionist, and has never done well in timed tests, from kindergarten on. I haven’t seen any supplemental materials from her teacher that I could help her practice, so I am very grateful to have this resource to help her practice at home. I, too, appreciate your response to Dr. Crawford. In this world of posts and blogs and email, many people lack the netiquette skills of a thoughtful person…thank you for your well thought out and gracious reply.

    Comment by Caprice — October 25, 2009 @ 5:49 pm

16. Thank you to all who have been writing. I am the co-author of Rocket Math with Don Crawford. I am getting increasingly concerned that teachers are misusing or misunderstanding the use of the Rocket Math curriculum. Don and I train teachers all over the country and we are very careful to discuss how to teach parents to practice with their children so as not to induce stress. We have many ideas for this. I do not wish to take away from Dad’s website as he has been most gracious in his support of our curriculum, but would love to have parents visit our site so that we can assist in students’ stress and parents’ discomfort around Rocket Math.

    Comment by Randi Saulter — October 30, 2009 @ 8:06 pm

17. I am so glad I found you. My very bright daughter feels “less than” because of the stress of the Rocket Math at school. She becomes overwhelmed by the busy page and the the time pressure and usually finishes about 50 problems. She is stuck on Addition G in third grade and her teacher says she is “behind” in math despite her earning As on all other assessments and testing in the 90th percentile on our state assessment. I wonder why this so many problems in such a short time is so important? I am a high school math teacher and certainly wish that my students knew their facts so I do see some merit, but I don’t think it should be used as an assessment of a students knowledge of math facts. Thoughts? At any rate, thanks for this supportive website. She is excited by the Blast Off record sheet and is anxious to make a poster to track her progress! I hope to help her with her learning style needs which don’t seem to be a great fit for this assessment tool to enable her to beat this test!

    Comment by Alex — November 12, 2009 @ 5:21 pm

18. Hi Alex -

    I really only have the perspective of having worked my oldest daughter through the time tests… For us, it was a good way to get the math facts memorized because she responded to the challenge and the competitiveness in the classroom, but I think a key to that was that we focused on a lot (and I mean A LOT) of practice at home to guarantee her success.

    I remember doing timed multiplication drills when I was in grade school, and I knew first-hand how a lack of progress could turn into a huge mental obstacle. Really my goal for this web site was to make sure that wasn’t the case for her. (Bizarre anecdote, we actually drilled to “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd… It was the 70’s, but still what where they thinking? I still have some really weird associations with a few facts from the seven times table…)

    Anyway, another point for the timed drills really came out when we were going through subtraction… My daughter became very adept at using finger manipulation to count her way through subtraction facts… It almost looked like sign language going on while she was taking a test, and I don’t think we’d ever have gotten the facts memorized without the pressure of a timed test. I had to crank her through five worksheets in four minute blocks to get past this.

    So if your kids respond well to competitive pressure to learn, or if your kids can’t seem to let go of manipulatives for addition and subtraction, I think the timed tests are a real plus… But they do have a downside and I’m sure the pressure can be a negative if not managed properly. Overall, like any other learning activity, support at home is probably the key driver of success… and it sounds like you’re well on the way there!

    Thanks for visiting the site and posting a comment!

    Dad

    Comment by Dad — November 12, 2009 @ 5:47 pm

19. Dear Dad- Thank you, I too have a daughter loosing sleep and self confindence over Rocket Math and find your site to be a gift to parents. Please continue to support children and parents through this program, my tears and my daughters have dried and we are on level “L”. Thank You- Tina

    Comment by Tina — December 9, 2009 @ 5:09 am

20. Will do Tina… Please send your daughter a hearty “Good Job!” from me!

    Comment by Dad — December 9, 2009 @ 7:36 am

21. Dear Dad,

    I am a homeschooler who was looking for some practice worksheets to supplement my children’s workbook. I absolutely love your website. It’s exactly what I was looking for. We also love the timer. Thank you for your time and effort in doing this!

    Comment by Sylvia — January 9, 2010 @ 9:52 am

22. Thank you for these test sheets. We have been struggling to understand the rocket math curriculum used in our first grader’s class. We worked through the worksheets in the rocketmath book she was sent home with, but the instructions given by the school were very inconsistent.

    The written instructions tell us NOT to have the student write anything in the book, but to ask each question in a call and response manner.

    The teacher also had them write in the book, so we had to cover each answer to have her answer the problem.

    After working with her through letter “G” this way, her first test was a timed, written test, and she didn’t get past “A”. Now the school is telling us she is at a “B” when her peers are on an average of “M”.

    We’re going to use these sheets to get her back in the game. She’s smart, and knows the facts, but the school had us practicing the WRONG skills for the tests they were going to administer.

    Comment by James — January 12, 2010 @ 2:47 pm

23. James -

    I’m just cringing here as I read your comment… My daughter struggled through a lot of this, and that’s exactly why this site came to be. Sometimes it’s not a matter of learning the facts, but a matter of learning whatever testing process they’re doing. When we were trying to get my daughter through a level, I would print out three of the sheets for the level she was working on, then give her a three minute timer to complete them. This made what they were doing in school seem easy in comparison. We corrected them together and she fixed whatever she got wrong. Do that once at night and once in the morning and she’ll be zipping past ‘M’ in no time. Tell your daughter I’m pulling for her here.

    Good luck,

    Dad

    Comment by Dad — January 12, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

24. [...] to the bookstore and buy a collection of addition and subtraction worksheets.  Or you could visit DadsWorksheets.com and have access to 4,800 worksheets which cover every piece of basic math up to pre-algebra that [...]

    Pingback by Free Math Worksheets: Solving the Resource Problem — March 19, 2010 @ 10:52 am

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