Defenseload

Multiplication and Division Madness

Students have been introduced to solving multiplication and division story problems in our math curriculum.  They are using strategies to determine if they are multiplying or dividing as well as various ways to solve a problem to better understand it.  With this, we have reviewed multiplying by 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10s.  These are the basic facts that students should have a pretty good grasp on at this point. Now it is time to get moving on the others.

Our math series does not put a lot of emphasis on practicing multiplication and division facts during class time.  It is expected that students will work on these outside of class (as well as continue building and reinforcing their addition and subtraction facts).  With that being said, I just wanted to send a reminder to students to keep practicing their facts at home.  There are many activities on my blog page for students to work through to build their facts as well as Moby Max and First in Math online sites.  Students have their passwords and login information to work through these sites as well on their own.

We will be setting up a reinforcement/incentive for students to work on their multiplication facts at home.  Look for information about that to come home by the end of the week.  Until then, students have homework every night of reading and working on facts!  Please encourage them to do so and work them!

Available link for download

Multiplication Madness

Sorry it has been so long since I have made a blog post.  I find posting things and activities via Facebook and Twitter quicker and easier, but I also realize that many of you do not have Facebook or Twitter accounts.  So sorry for the lack of blog post lately. Be reassured that 3B has been a busy place.
Multiplication is what the focus is in math and students are working hard to build their multiplication and division facts.  Yesterday everyone learned a game called Baseball Multiplication which reinforced the need to know our facts.
Along with this, students have been building their multiplication facts by earning gumballs.  Starting with the 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, students earn a piece of gum and start filling their gum ball machines by getting all the facts done on the page in 1 minute.  It is definitely a challenge as there are 25 problems. We will do these minute assessments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Students will receive their gum the following day when they master a fact family.  I can definitely tell which students have been practicing and which need to keep practicing.  The first 4-5 students who master all their basic multiplication facts will get a gumball machine filled with bubble gum!
Just a reminder to parents that students can work on their multiplication facts at home as we do not spend a lot of time in class working on them.  We have some apps the students use during "Math Technology" to build recall of facts, but there are also many activities online listed on the side of my blog page students can access at home and play.

Available link for download