Introduction
Fluency Boosters are on-screen interventions that teachers can assign to pupils. They are designed to help train specific maths skills that a pupil may be struggling with, as identified in the pupil's Core Profile.
There are four Fluency Boosters available in SNAP Maths. They cover four skills that directly underpin number skills:
-
- Counting
- Comparing numbers
- Subitising
- Number relations
Pupils can be assigned one or more Fluency Boosters depending on need. They are intended for short, regular bursts of intensive practice, three to four times a week. Each Fluency Booster session automatically ends after five minutes.
Assigning Fluency Boosters
To assign a Fluency Booster to a pupil, click on either the Counting, Comparing numbers, Subitising, or Number relations bar of the Core Profile graph to open the menu, then click Assign Fluency Booster:
Once assigned the button will change:
Administering Fluency Boosters
On the Plan, Do and Review page, underneath the Questionnaire Profile, you will see a Taking the Fluency Boosters box. This is where you will find your centre’s unique URL and the centre code pupils will need to access their Fluency Boosters once they have been assigned to them:
Please note: this information can also be found in the Resource Bank, which does not require you to select a pupil first.
To take their assigned Fluency Boosters pupils will need access to a computer, laptop or tablet. Please ensure that pupils have access to headphones. For specific browser requirements, click here.
Either you or the pupil will need to enter your centre’s specific URL into their web browser to access the assigned Fluency Boosters. This will need to be done on every computer, laptop, or tablet. Pupils will also need to know their centre code and birthday (day and month only).
The centre URL and code will be the same for every pupil who has been assigned a Fluency Booster and remain the same each time they access them.
To ensure your pupil data remains secure, you can change your school’s unique centre code at any time by clicking Change code, either on the Assess page or in the Resource Bank.
Please note: if you generate a new centre code, make sure that anyone who may be planning a Fluency Booster session with a pupil is told. This is to ensure that pupils can access their Fluency Boosters, as the old code will no longer work.
To access their Fluency Boosters, pupils should follow these steps:
1. Pupils enter the five-letter code which is unique to your centre.
2. Pupils then enter their birthday.
If a pupil enters their birthday incorrectly, they will see an error message. Check their details.
3. Once they have entered their birthday, pupils must choose their name from the options presented on-screen.
4. Once they have selected their name the pupil dashboard will open, and they will be able to see their assigned Fluency Boosters and access them on-screen.
If a Fluency Booster has not been assigned it will be greyed out. Once a pupil has completed all the levels in a Fluency Booster, a green tick will appear and the pupil will no longer be able to access it.
If required, a pupil can log out by clicking the arrow next to their name in the top-right hand corner:
This can be useful if a pupil has accidentally logged in using someone else’s birthday. They will be taken to the first log in screen and asked to enter the code.
Please note: Once a pupil has completed a session they will not be able to access their Fluency Booster again for five hours. This is because the Fluency Boosters are meant be done a few days a week as part of regular practice sessions and should not be completed all at once.
When they click on their Fluency Booster it will open in a new window:
If a Fluency Booster does not immediately launch in a new window, please check that your browser allows pop-ups or enable it for this site. Some browsers may prompt you to manually allow pop-ups.
For every Fluency Booster, there are instruction screens and practice questions to help the pupil to understand what they need to do. They can click the audio icon if they want to hear the text read to them. Pupils have the option to view the instructions and practice question again every time they log in to access their Fluency Boosters.
Once a Fluency Booster is started, pupils just need to select their answer and they will be taken straight to the next question. When they get an answer correct, they will see a star appear on-screen and hear a positive ‘ping’ sound. Pupils cannot go back and change their answer.
The Fluency Boosters are adaptive, meaning that pupil’s progress is dependent on their performance. Both their accuracy (how many questions they are getting right) and their fluency (which is dependent on how quickly and accurately they are answering the questions) are taken into consideration. Depending on these two factors the questions will get harder as the pupil progresses. For more information about how the Fluency Boosters work, there is a Fluency Booster guide that can be downloaded on the Plan, Do and Review page.
Each Fluency Booster automatically ends after five minutes. A progress bar is visible on-screen so that the pupil can see how much time they have left. The Fluency Boosters continually auto-save whilst the pupil is answering to ensure that results data is stored.
If a pupil accidentally exits the test player or the internet connection is interrupted, they can open the Fluency Booster again to resume from where they left off.
Please note: the questions are randomised in every Fluency Booster.
Clicking End session at the end of each Fluency Booster will end the session for that day. A green tick will appear on the pupil’s Fluency Booster menu once they have worked through all the levels.
Fluency Booster progress graphs
On the ‘Plan, Do and Review’ page, you can track a pupil’s progress in their assigned Fluency Booster(s) via individual graphs that will update after every session is complete.
In each graph the y axis shows the Fluency Booster level and the x axis lists every session and the date. The point plotted on the graphs show you the last level the pupil achieved:
When you hover over each of the plotted points you can view a level description to see what the pupil was working on, and the average accuracy and fluency score achieved. A pupil may work through multiple levels in a session, and if this happens all the levels and results will be displayed in the tool tip. If a pupil stays within the same level for a session the average accuracy and fluency score for every attempt is shown.
There are arrows at the bottom of the graph to help you track a pupil’s progress over time.