multiplication
Blind Math Battle
This simple card game is designed to offer a wide variety of difficulty levels and easy differentiation. Students play in groups of three. Two players each use half a deck, this can be altered before hand, for instance for younger learners it may be appropriate to use only the cards from 2-5 or from A-5. It is also possible to simply remove all face cards. The game play is simple, two players are active, with the third as referee. The two active players each draw a card without looking at it and place if face out on their foreheads. The referee then performs the desired operation, addition or multiplication, and verbally state the answer. The two active players must then guess which card is on their head from the number on the other players head. The first one to correctly identify their cards wins the cards. Play continues until the deck is finished, the player with the most cards wins.
This simple card game is designed to offer a wide variety of difficulty levels and easy differentiation. Students play in groups of three. Two players each use half a deck, this can be altered before hand, for instance for younger learners it may be appropriate to use only the cards from 2-5 or from A-5. It is also possible to simply remove all face cards. The game play is simple, two players are active, with the third as referee. The two active players each draw a card without looking at it and place if face out on their foreheads. The referee then performs the desired operation, addition or multiplication, and verbally state the answer. The two active players must then guess which card is on their head from the number on the other players head. The first one to correctly identify their cards wins the cards. Play continues until the deck is finished, the player with the most cards wins.
Dreambox Learning - Open Array Game Online
This online array game is a great resource for allowing students to practice double-digit multiplication by adding smaller partial products of a grid (Gr. 5 N5). One major advantage to using this game is that the students can do many games in a quick amount of time because they aren't spending all of their time drawing and coloring time-consuming graphs. In this game, students are given one large double-digit multiplication question such as 76x56 as shown on the left. From there, students have a maximum of 6 possible rectangles that they can 'draw' to help them break up the array into chunks that they can easily multiply a product for, and then they add all of their partial products together to get their final answer!
This online array game is a great resource for allowing students to practice double-digit multiplication by adding smaller partial products of a grid (Gr. 5 N5). One major advantage to using this game is that the students can do many games in a quick amount of time because they aren't spending all of their time drawing and coloring time-consuming graphs. In this game, students are given one large double-digit multiplication question such as 76x56 as shown on the left. From there, students have a maximum of 6 possible rectangles that they can 'draw' to help them break up the array into chunks that they can easily multiply a product for, and then they add all of their partial products together to get their final answer!
The "ZERO HERO" (War)
(For Number strand, outcome 4 - determine products when one factor is a multiple of 10, 100, or 1000 by annexing and adding zero) Make up "playing cards" of numbers that meet the above requirements, or download the ones from the button below. Have students cut them up and fplace them all face down (NOTE: to differentiate, take out the 1000s cards for weaker players so that they don't get overwhelmed by the amount of zeros). Students play "war" with a partner by each flipping up one card. The first person to correctly identify the product gets to keep both cards, playing until one player has acquired all the cards, or by seeing who has the most cards by the end of the playing time. I suggest letting the kids have scrap paper or whiteboards while they play this game so that they can jot down the initial multiplication, and then re-add the zeros and add the commas to get the correct product. Below is a video that helps to explain this multiplication strand (to show parents who might not understand this strategy)
(For Number strand, outcome 4 - determine products when one factor is a multiple of 10, 100, or 1000 by annexing and adding zero) Make up "playing cards" of numbers that meet the above requirements, or download the ones from the button below. Have students cut them up and fplace them all face down (NOTE: to differentiate, take out the 1000s cards for weaker players so that they don't get overwhelmed by the amount of zeros). Students play "war" with a partner by each flipping up one card. The first person to correctly identify the product gets to keep both cards, playing until one player has acquired all the cards, or by seeing who has the most cards by the end of the playing time. I suggest letting the kids have scrap paper or whiteboards while they play this game so that they can jot down the initial multiplication, and then re-add the zeros and add the commas to get the correct product. Below is a video that helps to explain this multiplication strand (to show parents who might not understand this strategy)
The "Consecutive Challenge"
(Application- based method). During a multiplication unit, make up a few "challenger" questions such as this to post around the room as a way of continuing to challenge students: "find 2 consecutive numbers between 0-100 that have a product of ___". That way, if student gets done their work early, they can get a piece of paper or a whiteboard and work independently on questions that push their skills further. Students will be required to do guess-and-check styled math until they can solve the mystery. I enjoyed watching students work on these challenger questions because they really develop a number sense when they guess 2 numbers, and then have to evaluate how close their answer was to decide which numbers they should try multiplying next.
(Application- based method). During a multiplication unit, make up a few "challenger" questions such as this to post around the room as a way of continuing to challenge students: "find 2 consecutive numbers between 0-100 that have a product of ___". That way, if student gets done their work early, they can get a piece of paper or a whiteboard and work independently on questions that push their skills further. Students will be required to do guess-and-check styled math until they can solve the mystery. I enjoyed watching students work on these challenger questions because they really develop a number sense when they guess 2 numbers, and then have to evaluate how close their answer was to decide which numbers they should try multiplying next.
The "Array-nging Machine!"
This activity focuses on a kinesthetic learning approach for students to practice their proficiency at visually representing double-digit multiplication through the manipulation of base-10 blocks (Gr.5 N4, N5). This approach can be used to build arrays of double-digit multiplication (of multiples of 10 as shown below), or also for practicing expanded-notation double-digit multiplication as well. For setup, the teacher would need to make up a few "question cards" ahead of time that have a basic equation on one side, and then a simple array sketch on the back side so that one partner can act as the "judge" as the other partner builds their array. Teachers could also have students create the question cards and answer keys instead. Partners then take turns drawing for cards, building the array, and checking each others' correctness.
This activity focuses on a kinesthetic learning approach for students to practice their proficiency at visually representing double-digit multiplication through the manipulation of base-10 blocks (Gr.5 N4, N5). This approach can be used to build arrays of double-digit multiplication (of multiples of 10 as shown below), or also for practicing expanded-notation double-digit multiplication as well. For setup, the teacher would need to make up a few "question cards" ahead of time that have a basic equation on one side, and then a simple array sketch on the back side so that one partner can act as the "judge" as the other partner builds their array. Teachers could also have students create the question cards and answer keys instead. Partners then take turns drawing for cards, building the array, and checking each others' correctness.