Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Another Game to Build Fact Flunecy
Her is a link to a cool multiplication game. All you need is a copy of the board and 2 dice. I played this with some 5th graders and they did not want to stop. With 2 dice, it practices those facts from 1 - 6. This website has lots f great games. Explore a few others and share what you find.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Garbage
Garbage is a great game for developing a number of different skills including skip counting, counting forward and backwards according to a rule, adding on, locating a missing number between other numbers and more.
Click here to download the Garbage file to find a copy of the Garbage mat as well as a number of different sets of Garage cards. Students play the game in pairs with 2 mats and 3 decks of the cards. Be creative and make your own deck of Garbage cards depending on the skill you want students to practice.
Multiplication Wheel
Students love practicing their multiplication facts with this multiplication wheel. Place the multiplication wheel template in a SmartPal and then give the students a number to place in the center of the wheel. Students race to see who can be the first to complete all the problems working clockwise around the wheel. Click here to download a copy of the multiplication wheel.
You could also easily use this an addition wheel or a double my number wheel.
You could also easily use this an addition wheel or a double my number wheel.
Number Talks
Number Talks: A number talk is a great way to begin a lesson. The
heart of a number talk is in the classroom conversation focused on making
sense of mathematics and strengthening accuracy, efficiency, and
flexibility with mental math and computation strategies. A simple
kindergarten number talk might consist of showing a ten
frame like the one below for just a few seconds and then asking "What
did you see? How did you see it? Can you explain?"
A number talk for older students might begin by writing 48 + 93= ___ or 254 ÷ 4 = ____ on the board and asking students to use mental math strategies to solve in their head. Allow multiple students to give answers and post all different the answers on the board. Ask if anyone would like to explain how they got their answer. Students should be willing to take risks. It is not about always having the correct answer, but it is about being able to communicate the process used to find the answer. Sherry Parrish is the author of the book Number Talks. The book is worth purchasing but here is a link to a fabulous introductory article on Number Talks by Ms. Parrish and a few links to videos of sample number talks.
Video 1: Two Digit Mental Addition
Video 2: Adding One Digit Numbers
Video 3: Kindergarten Number Talk
Video 4: 4th or 5th Grade Number Talk on Division
A number talk for older students might begin by writing 48 + 93= ___ or 254 ÷ 4 = ____ on the board and asking students to use mental math strategies to solve in their head. Allow multiple students to give answers and post all different the answers on the board. Ask if anyone would like to explain how they got their answer. Students should be willing to take risks. It is not about always having the correct answer, but it is about being able to communicate the process used to find the answer. Sherry Parrish is the author of the book Number Talks. The book is worth purchasing but here is a link to a fabulous introductory article on Number Talks by Ms. Parrish and a few links to videos of sample number talks.
Video 1: Two Digit Mental Addition
Video 2: Adding One Digit Numbers
Video 3: Kindergarten Number Talk
Video 4: 4th or 5th Grade Number Talk on Division
Daily Number Sense Activities
Start each math lesson with a 10-15 minute activity that promotes number sense. Below are a few ideas.
Number of the Day: This is a great activity to do every other day or a couple of times a week. To save paper the number of the day mat could be put in a SmartPal but occasionally you might want to have students actually fill out a number of the day mat to turn in. The number of the day could be any number, just make sure the magnitude of the number is appropriate for your students. Numbers do not have to go in consecutive order from day to day but they could if you are using this as part of calendar time and want the number of the day to match the days date. One day the number of the day might be 14 or 148 and the next day it might be 24 or 2,458. Below are some examples.
Click here to download a number of different Number of the Day Templates.
Climb the Ladder: This is a type of Number of the Day Template. Click here to read more about how to use the Climb the Ladder Template.
Guess My Number: Stop and Go on a Hundreds Chart - Give each student their own personal Hundreds Chart and/or use a large teacher Hundreds Chart or this fun electronic Hundreds Chart called Splat. Students can use a red and yellow counter or a red and a green counting cube, anything to indicate stop and go. Call on a student to make a guess. If the guess is to high, cover the number with a red marker which means STOP - do not go any higher. If the number is too low, cover the number with a green marker which means GO - my number is higher. Keep asking students to guess, moving the red or the green marker to the new guess depending on whether or not it is to high or too low. Stop occasionally and ask students if they can make a statement using the words between, greater than, more than, less than, fewer than etc. Click here to download a printable Hundreds Chart.
Guess my Secret Number on a Number Line: Write a secret number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. Tell students that they are to try to guess your number. Use a 3 digit or a 4 digit number depending on the audience. If you chose a 4 digit number, draw a number line on the board and mark one end with 0 and the other with 10,000. Tell students that your number is between these 2 numbers. Tell them that they can not guess the number but need to ask yes and no questions to help eliminate numbers that do not work. For example, a student might ask "Is your number greater than 5,000?" This is a great first guess since it is right in the middle and would eliminate half of the possible answers. Student should keep asking yes and no questions using correct mathematical vocabulary until they have found the secret number. Every 2 or 3 guesses, you might draw a new number line with the new constraints. For example, if student have discovered that the secret number is greater than 5,000 but less than 8,000. draw a new number line (the same length as the original) that begins and ends with these numbers.
Number of the Day: This is a great activity to do every other day or a couple of times a week. To save paper the number of the day mat could be put in a SmartPal but occasionally you might want to have students actually fill out a number of the day mat to turn in. The number of the day could be any number, just make sure the magnitude of the number is appropriate for your students. Numbers do not have to go in consecutive order from day to day but they could if you are using this as part of calendar time and want the number of the day to match the days date. One day the number of the day might be 14 or 148 and the next day it might be 24 or 2,458. Below are some examples.
Click here to download a number of different Number of the Day Templates.
Climb the Ladder: This is a type of Number of the Day Template. Click here to read more about how to use the Climb the Ladder Template.
Guess My Number: Stop and Go on a Hundreds Chart - Give each student their own personal Hundreds Chart and/or use a large teacher Hundreds Chart or this fun electronic Hundreds Chart called Splat. Students can use a red and yellow counter or a red and a green counting cube, anything to indicate stop and go. Call on a student to make a guess. If the guess is to high, cover the number with a red marker which means STOP - do not go any higher. If the number is too low, cover the number with a green marker which means GO - my number is higher. Keep asking students to guess, moving the red or the green marker to the new guess depending on whether or not it is to high or too low. Stop occasionally and ask students if they can make a statement using the words between, greater than, more than, less than, fewer than etc. Click here to download a printable Hundreds Chart.
Guess my Secret Number on a Number Line: Write a secret number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. Tell students that they are to try to guess your number. Use a 3 digit or a 4 digit number depending on the audience. If you chose a 4 digit number, draw a number line on the board and mark one end with 0 and the other with 10,000. Tell students that your number is between these 2 numbers. Tell them that they can not guess the number but need to ask yes and no questions to help eliminate numbers that do not work. For example, a student might ask "Is your number greater than 5,000?" This is a great first guess since it is right in the middle and would eliminate half of the possible answers. Student should keep asking yes and no questions using correct mathematical vocabulary until they have found the secret number. Every 2 or 3 guesses, you might draw a new number line with the new constraints. For example, if student have discovered that the secret number is greater than 5,000 but less than 8,000. draw a new number line (the same length as the original) that begins and ends with these numbers.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Learning to Think Mathematically With Number Lines
Below are some excerpts from the book Learning to Think Mathematically With Number Lines by Jeff Frykholm
"One of the most overlooked tools of the elementary and middle school classroom is the number line. Typically displayed above the chalkboard right above the alphabet, the number line is often visible to children, though rarely used as effectively as it might be. "
"Recently, however, there has been a growing body of research to suggest the importance of the number line as a tool for helping children develop greater flexibility in mental arithmetic as they actively construct mathematical meaning, number sense, and understandings of number relationships."
"The number line is an easy model to understand and has great advantages in helping students understand the relative magnitude and position of numbers, as well as to visualize operations. As a result, Dutch mathematicians in the 90ʼs were among the first in the world to return to the “empty number line,” giving this time-tested model a new identity as perhaps the most important construct within the realm of number and operation. Since that time, mathematics educators across the world have similarly turned to this excellent model with great results."
The EMPTY NUMBER LINE is also often refereed to as the OPEN NUMBER LINE. An easy and fun way to get started with this type of number line is to play the game "Guess My Number." Decide on the magnitude of your number depending on your audience. Write a number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope with a ? on the front. Tell students that they can ask YES or NO questions until they think they know the exact number. At first it is very hard for them to not just want to say "Is your number 88?" Help by modeling questions like "Is your number larger than ___ ? " "Is your number between ___ and ___?" But before they start guessing, draw a line on the board and maybe place a beginning and ending number or maybe just an ending number. Tell students your number is on this number line. How many questions do they need to ask before they are able to guess your number?
SparkleBox is a UK resource with lots of free printables for all subject areas. They have an excellent selection of number lines for all ages. Below are a few examples.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Bump
Bump - The children play "Bump" with a partner. Each child takes 10 unifix cubes of one color. His/her partner should have a different color. The first child rolls 2 dice and puts a cube on the sum (or the product). If another player’s marker is on that number BUMP it off. If your marker is on that number, link the cubes together and it freezes that spot. The winner is the player that uses all of his/her markers first!
This seller on Teacher Pay teacher has lots of different BUMP games with different Themes (Boo Bump for Halloween, BURRR Bump for a Snow Day. You can download them all for free. This link is to her Back To School Bump.
Free Bump Download from Teacher Pay Teacher
Place Value Mats
We talked about different types of place value mats. I have included links to a few that I have made. Think about how you want to use a place value mat. If you are using it with base ten blocks then you want to enlarge the mat onto 11 x 17 paper or create them on large construction paper. If you are using the Singapore Place Value Disks you can use a smaller size mat.
1 - 1000 Place Value Mat
1-100 Place Value Mat with a Ten Frame
1-10 Place Value Mat with Ten Frame
1-100,000 Place Value Mat
Place Value Activities
Virtual Base Ten Blocks
1 - 1000 Place Value Mat
1-100 Place Value Mat with a Ten Frame
1-10 Place Value Mat with Ten Frame
1-100,000 Place Value Mat
Place Value Activities
Virtual Base Ten Blocks
Hundreds Chart
The hundreds chart is one of my favorite resources to use with students in grades K-5. Below are some good sites for exploring ideas for using a hundreds chart. One of my favorite ideas is to copy a hundreds chart onto colored card stock and then to cut it up into creative shapes and make a hundreds board puzzle.
It can also be a great tool for older students when discovering prime and composite numbers. The Sieve of Eratosthenes is an ancient method for finding prime numbers and the hundreds chart is a perfect tool for this exploration.
This will not be the only post about the hundreds chart. I am sure I will keep sharing lots of different ways to use this "number line" from 1 - 100 or 1 - 120.
Free Hundreds Chart and 10 Ways to Use It
30+ Things to Do With a Hundreds Chart
Download a Hundreds Chart Here
Another Printable Hundreds Chart
A Special Hundreds Chart for Rounding
You Tube Explaining the Sieve of Eratosthenes
It can also be a great tool for older students when discovering prime and composite numbers. The Sieve of Eratosthenes is an ancient method for finding prime numbers and the hundreds chart is a perfect tool for this exploration.
This will not be the only post about the hundreds chart. I am sure I will keep sharing lots of different ways to use this "number line" from 1 - 100 or 1 - 120.
Free Hundreds Chart and 10 Ways to Use It
30+ Things to Do With a Hundreds Chart
Download a Hundreds Chart Here
Another Printable Hundreds Chart
A Special Hundreds Chart for Rounding
You Tube Explaining the Sieve of Eratosthenes
First Visit
It was great to come to Pottsville and to meet each of you. I am
looking forward to working with you throughout the year as we all learn
more about Singapore math and explore other resources for improving math
instruction. I love exploring new games and activities that help
students to build confidence in their own mathematical ability. Thanks
for letting me be part of your journey.
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