Summer break is just around the corner, and we know that many of you are looking forward to some much-needed relaxation and fun in the sun. However, we also know that our students’ math skills can take a hit during the summer months.
What if you could take a break this summer and still help your student maintain, and even improve, their skills? And what if it only took 15 minutes a day?
That’s why there’s Nicole’s Summer Math-A-Palooza!
Nicole’s Summer Math-A-Palooza is designed to keep math skills sharp while still allowing plenty of time for summer fun. With three different math challenges tailored to different skill levels, your student can participate in just 15 minutes a day and keep their math skills in top shape.
Your student can choose from one of the following challenges:
 |  |  | |
| Who is it for? | Younger students who need to learn their addition and subtraction math facts. | Younger students who need to learn their multiplication and division math facts. | Middle and older students who want to practice basic math, pre-algebra, some algebra and/or some geometry skills. |
| How does it work? | Students will complete the Drill Team program for addition and subtractions facts. | Students will complete the Drill Team program for multiplication and division facts. | Mastery Bank has over 20,000 original problems covering about 200 math topics. We've created a list of recommended topics that each student should master before starting a course. To be part of the Tournament, students need to complete a minimum of 50 Mastery Bank math problems each week from the list of recommended topics. One Minute Tutorials are also available for each topic when students need assistance. |
| How long will it take? | Approximately 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. | Approximately 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 11 weeks. | Approximately 15 minutes a day. The tournament will last for 9 weeks. Students can choose to participate in just one week or in multiple weeks. |
| How will students be recognized? | On the Wall of Fame as they memorize a set of facts. | On the Wall of Fame as they complete a times table. | On the Mastery Bank Tournament Leaderboard for points awarded for correct answers. |
| Are there prizes? | Students who complete the full 7-week challenge will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card and a virtual Lunch with Nicole. | Students who complete the full 11- week challenge will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card and a virtual Lunch with Nicole. | Click here to see how winners will be selected. |
| Why should my student participate? | To have their addition and subtraction math facts memorized by the end of the summer! | To have their multiplication and division math facts memorized by the end of the summer! | To fill math gaps and master the topics needed to successfully begin their next textbook. |
| How do we begin? | If you already have Drill Team, you have everything you need to get started. If not, you can purchase the Drill Team annual membership. | If you already have Drill Team, you have everything you need to get started. If not, you can purchase the Drill Team annual membership. | If you are a Pro or Premium member, you already have One-Minute Tutorials and Mastery Bank and are ready to begin. If you are a Basic (video only) or a Plus (video and grading) member, you will be able to purchase a special Summer Pass to One-Minute Tutorials and Mastery Bank (good until Aug 30). |
| If I need to purchase a membership, how do I do it? | Buy Drill Team membership for $21.99 per student (If you already have an account, please make sure you are logged in as a PARENT before purchasing. You will not be able to purchase from your student's account.) | Buy Drill Team membership for $21.99 per student (If you already have an account, please make sure you are logged in as a PARENT before purchasing. You will not be able to purchase from your student's account.) | Buy a Mastery Bank/One-Minute Tutorial Summer Pass (If you already have an account, please make sure you are logged in as a PARENT before purchasing. You will not be able to purchase from your student's account.) Single Student Summer Pass for $10. Small Family Summer Pass (2-5 students) for $15. Large Family Summer Pass (6-9 students) for $20. |
Dates | Drill Team Addition/Subtraction Math Facts | Drill Team Multiplication/ Division Math Facts | Mastery Bank Tournament |
|---|---|---|---|
| You'll receive a kickoff email on Sunday, June 4th with everything you need to get started. | |||
| Week 1: June 5 -9 | Plus 0, Plus 1 | 0, 1, 10 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topics List |
| Week 2: June 12 – 16 | Plus 2 | 2 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 3: June 19 – 23 | Doubles | 3 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 4: June 26 – June 30 | Doubles plus 1 | 4 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 5: July 3 – 7 | Sums of 10 | 5 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 6: July 10 – 14 | Adding 9 | 6 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 7: July 17 – 21 | Misfits | 7 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List |
| Week 8: July 24 – 28 | 8 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List | |
| Week 9: July 31 – August 4 | 9 Times Table | Minimum of 50 Problems from Recommended Topic List | |
| Week 10: August 7 – 11 | 11 Times Table | ||
| Week 11: August 14-18 | 12 Times Table | ||
| August 21 | Lunch with Nicole Winners Announced! | ||
Each challenge begins on Monday and completes on Friday at midnight. Students can choose to participate in as little or as many weeks as they’d like.
Drill Team students can take longer to complete the weekly math fact category as needed. They also can start the challenge at any week during the summer.
Imagine what kind of school year you would have if your student knew:
I can guarantee you’d be looking at a kiddo who feels empowered to succeed in math this fall.
So let’s plan to have a great summer, and for just 15 minutes a day, fill gaps and sharpen skills while we do it. While you’ll have access to Drill Team, One-Minute Tutorials, and Mastery Bank immediately, we’ll officially start our first weekly challenge on Monday, June 5. Until then, enjoy the pool and expect to hear from me each Sunday with details on that week’s challenge.
Happy Mathing!
Nicole the Math Lady
Here are a few of the frequently asked questions.
How do we sign up?? I have 1 student for drill team a thon addition and subtraction. 2 students for mastery bank. It’s not clear how we sign up or next steps
Hi Tiffanie. Each program has it’s own signup.
For Drill Team, you need to purchase a membership.
For the Mastery Bank Tournament, you can purchase a Small Family membership (2-5 students).
One you purchase, you will need to add each student to the membership. If you need any assistance, just contact us at info@nicolethemathlady.com or click the green FAQ button.
Very excited for this, thank you so much Nicole 🤗, we are really looking forward.
woohoo! I’m excited too!
Thank you! Is it possible to signup for two of the options? I’m interested in both the multiplication/division and the mastery bank tournament for my son?
Yes it is. You will, however, need to signup for each program separately as they are two separate transactions in our system. Wishing him well this summer.
Hello Nicole, our son is 12 yrs and has gone through lesson 80 in the 7/6 saxon book. We have not signed up for your service before but I am interested in possibly having him do your Mastery Bank Tournament. Is there a way he can see how he’s doing compared with other kids (he’s competitive). Do I click on the $10 summer pass option to pay? thank you!
Hi Deb and welcome! Yes he can participate. When you sign up, you will create an account for him. When he’s ready to work on his math problems, he just needs to log into the system and he’ll see Mastery Bank on his Course page. I hope he rocks math this summer!
Hi Deb. Yes he will see where he is ranking on the leaderboard and can make decisions if he’d like to do more problems (and do them correctly) to advance up the leaderboard. We give more points for getting the correct answer on the first try than on a retry. To purchase, click on the $10 summer pass option. Welcome to the NTML family!
My child just completed math 7/6. Would master bank be too high level for him? He made an A in 7/6.
It would be great for someone headed into 7/6. The recommended topic list gives you all of the topics he’s been introduced to in prior books, but you are always free to do any of the topics you’d like.
I am interested in signing up my son for the Drill Team Multiplication/Division Facts, but we will be on vacation a couple of weeks during the summer with limited access to internet. Are the daily tasks/challenges at your own pace? For example, can we double up… completing week 1 & week 2 during week 2?
Yes…while the summer initiative is a fun way for them to feel a part of something, the program is completely self-paced. You can do it when it works for you.
If my daughter is finishing up 8/7 and has done great, does she need mastery bank?
That’s really up to you. You can use Mastery Bank in various ways: 1) to fill gaps or 2) to practice and keep up with skills over the summer. If you think she could benefit from that, feel free to participate.
Is a 10 year old who just finished 5/4, going into 6/5 next fall ready to do the master my bank?
Yes. The recommended topics list for 6/5 includes the topics he’s been exposed to up until now: telling time, adding, subtracting, multiplying, finding missing numbers in number sentences, rounding money, naming fractions, adding/subtracting fractions with common denominators, word problems, decimal basics, decimal basics, and plotting points on the cartesian, coordinate system.
For Mastery Bank, do you supply the problems or just the topics?
We supply all the problems. Mastery Bank has over 20,000 problems across 200 topics so there will be plenty to choose from.
This looks great! A few questions– how does a student select a topic from the Mastery Bank Tournament–are there going to be problems online in a portal of some kind (once registered)? Or does the parent have to go find them in the book? So, the 50 problems would need to be done within one week, right?
Sweet! Thank you! 🙂
Great questions. Mastery Bank is a Nicole the Math Lady program where my awesome team created over 20,000 math problems across 200 topics. (These topics are the same ones your kiddos see in Saxon Math.). The idea is to provide students more practice by topic when they need it. It can be used all year-long, but it’s great for summer use.
Students can access topics in two ways:
1. Choose a topic from the recommended list of topics which is organized by what they need to know for each textbook.
2. Use our table of contents or the search field to select a topic themselves.
For the tournament, a minimum of 50 problems need to be completed. They can choose from any of the topics in Mastery Bank. Here’s an example:
On Monday they could do 5 simplifying fractions and 5 changing from improper fractions to mixed numbers. This could be done in 15 minutes.
On Tuesday, if they didn’t master those topics, they might do the same ones again. If they did master those topics, they might move on and try 5 converting decimals to fractions and 5 adding fractions with common denominators.
I hope that helps!
haha this is kinda sneaky, i never though i would see the day someone would take our summer vaca away! but this is a very good idea
remember…15 minutes a day!
I’m so excited
Me too!
Let’s get it started!
I’d love to sign up my son for Addition/subtraction drill team and my daughter for multiplication/division drill team.
Great. We’ll email you this Sunday with details on how to get started. In the meantime, click the link above to sign up for Drill Team,
I hope to do it! My parents are thinking about it, and I think that they’ll say yes. Thanks for the extra math to keep me and the rest of us Nicole the Math Lady students going.
Hope you can participate!
how do you sing up
We’ll email you on Sunday with details on how to get started.
i am excited to do mastery bank.
Awesome!
Where can I find the leaderboard?
It’s in 2 places. On the login page and on your Math-a-Palooza tab.
how do i sign up for math-a-palooza?
You can sign-up for it here – https://nicolethemathlady.com/announcements/welcome-to-the-summer/
Hi Nicole! I was wondering are we allowed to do more than fifteen minutes of math a day? also how many questions do you suggest we do? PS: excited a lot about Math-A-Palooza!
15 minutes is what is recommended. You are always welcome to do more. (We have a lot of folks who are trying to win the Lunch with Nicole so they are doing more. My main concern is that you use Mastery Bank to improve your skills and find any math gaps. That way, when you start your next textbook, you are in a good position to succeed.
hi
hi
I forgot to submit my kids on the wall of fame for last week’s drill team after they passed off week one. Will they still be able to be submitted for completing all of the drills team challenges?
Sure. Just submit them this week twice – one for each challenge they’ve completed.
Let’s go!
Woohoo!
Hi Nicole! I was wondering; are we allowed to do to the same problems over again? not for myself.. just wanted to know; THANKS! bye.
Yes you can.
Hi Nicole! I was wondering; what should we do if we run out of problems? especially for the lower grades, 6, 5, 7, whereas there is less problems for them that they understand; THANKS! bye.
Wow..it means that they are doing way more than 15 minutes a day. First, they can repeat. Just make sure you turn off the field auto-fill in your browser for our website. Second, they are welcome to try things that may officially be above their grade level. They can watch my One-Minute Tutorial to see how a problem is done. Third, we’re adding even more problems this week to try to keep up with the kiddos!
so are you allowed to do easy questions to rack up on points?
Well…remember that the point of Mastery Bank is to help find and fill the places you have math gaps. That means the places where you don’t understand how to do something. What’s easy for one person may be difficult for another. Also remember, that you are only competing against other students in your grade level which means you all have access to the same problems. Have your parents check the newsletter that gets sent out on Sunday to see the Leaderboard leaders by grade level.
Thank you Nicole! But if we already do the 15 minutes per day and filled in the gaps for the recommended time then are we allowed to do extra questions ;not to fill in gaps (because we already did the 15 min) but to get points?
Absolutely!
A little late to the party, but we finished school later this year. For Mastery Bank, is there a way to assign problems to my student in advance, or do they just select them each day?
At this time, you do need to select them each day, but assigning problems is a feature we’re working on.
I have a 3rd grade girl going into 4th that struggles with math. What program do you recommend for her? I am desperate to help her this summer.
Hi Mary. I’m not sure what exactly she is struggling with, but if she doesn’t have her math facts memorized, I would have her do Drill Team.
I love you so much . But math is’nt fun
Ahh…you made me smile…and laugh too! Thank you Cameron.
Hi Nicole I was wondering what kind of gift card will be given out exactly? thank you, bye.
Hi Jillian, we will be sending virtual visa gift cards to our winners.
So… how do I sign up for the Mastery Bank Tournament in 2024? I missed the sign up for this past tournament. Also can I do it or do I have to have my parents sign me up?
We’ll announce the contest right before the summer. You don’t need to sign up. If you do practice sets in Mastery Bank, you will automatically show up on the Leaderboard.
Thanks for the info! But, I do not do practice sets in Mastery Bank. How do I do that?
If you have a Premium membership, it includes Mastery Bank. Just log into Mastery Bank (it’s in the courses section), select a topic, and you’ll be supplied with extra practice problems on that topic.
Look out for info on getting started in May.
could you tell me how to get mastery Bank
Sure. Your parent can find out more about Mastery Bank here