Five in a Row Multiplication Game - Make Practicing Facts Fun!

Hi All,

"Five in a Row" is a good game to play at home or in school for multiplication facts practice. In this game you are given the products and you have to find the matching fact on a multiplication chart. Sort of reverse thinking. It's always good to come at a concept from a variety of directions.

This is an easy game to understand, where chance and fact knowledge both play a part in who might come out the winner. It provides plenty of compelling practice with facts.

Directions:

1. Make a copy of the the product cards sheet for each player. Have players select a crayon or colored pencil to lightly color over their product sheet. They should then cut out the individual cards. For long-lasting play, have students glue the sheet to oaktag or cardboard first.

2. Have each player shuffle their product cards and place them face down as their deck.

3. Put the multiplication facts board between the two players.

4. The object of the game is to fill a row with your color product cards. For quicker play, make the goal to get 3 in a row or 5 in a row, in any direction.

5. Players take turns pulling product cards from their decks and placing them on the board. If you pull say, the product 10, you have some choices on where you want to place your card. Could be 5 x 2 or 2 x 5 or 1 x 10 or 10 x 1.

6. If a card is placed in error, and the partner recognizes it, the partner may remove the errant card from the board as long as they can justify why.

7. This game can be played again and again. There is some strategy involved when you begin to think about trying to block your partner from getting several cards in a row.

This is a great game to send home in a packet for homework practice.

8. Going Super Deep - One experience that may at first glance appear to be a big waste of time, can actually make for very deep learning. Have students make their own game board and product cards. By doing this, students become intimately familiar with every detail of the multiplication table in a slowed-down manner, as they literally write and cut out every fact and product. They will notice the patterns as they create and arrange the facts. They will also take better care of the materials, as they have made them by hand. You'd be surprised at how much can be learned.

Here are links to the reproducibles. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mifv_T98vZvFI4jVnnXT8e4zFqeRfT1O/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qNOENljfvdGl9WTY6HrjnzDrqvdZ1Gf9/view?usp=sharing

Best,

Bob

Comments

What Does Not Belong?

Hi All, "What Does Not Belong" is such a great little concept and can be applied to so many different areas of math as well as other content areas. Great little game when you are waiting, like for buses to be called or for the day to begin. Also a great game for long car or bus rides where if there are no written numbers or pictures you really have to do the mental math. Present a group of numbers. Start with maybe six. Say, 10 56 17 122 4 98 Ask the players to identify which number does not belong and have them explain why. We want players to look at the characteristics of the numbers and compare them to try to find the selection criteria or "rule" so they can determine which does not belong. For example, we have a mix of 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers, so it's not the "rule" is not the number of digits. We have five even numbers and only one odd number. That's it! 17 does not belong,...

EGG BOX SHAKE! IT'S WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE.

Hi All, Shake it up! Egg Box Shake is noisy and fun! That's a big plus right there for most kids. Students like to create and keep their own math tools, and this is a great opportunity to do that as well. And, teachers can adapt the game to fit any level or mathematical operation. Win. Win. Win. Egg Box Shake originated as a coin identification and addition game for grades 1 – 3. I had students bring in an egg carton from home and then provided them with play money or coin stamps, ink pads, and card stock. They stamped out pictures of the coins onto card stock, front and back images, and then cut out the pictures. Students glued these pictures into the bottom of the twelve sections of the egg carton. Each player would get two beads, beans, chips, marbles, or any other small manipulative. They put these into the box and closed it. They then shook the box. When they stopped they opened it and saw where the beads had landed. Players added those two coins o...

What's in a Name? A lot of Math!

Hi All, Welcome back! With school starting one way or another in various parts of the country, I figured it was time again to bring back the math blog. No matter what's going on or how it's going on, I'm hoping this content will still be useful to you. So, let's talk about names! When classes start, one of the first things both teachers and students must learn about each other are their names. A child's name is a very powerful and important thing. It's also a great springboard to learning. Kids are always interested in their own names. "Names Add Up" is an easy activity for K-2 (though older kids like it as well) that combines counting, addition, and money, as well as vowel and consonant identification. You'll need a pile of pennies and nickels. Explain to children that for this activity vowels will be worth a nickel and consonants will be worth a penny. Have children take the coins that correspond to the letters in their first names and...

MathStuff

Search This Blog