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8 fun multiplication games for your math centers

June 28, 2019

I LOVE playing games (not gonna lie, I've been known to get a little too serious about a game or two of Monopoly). But it's not just me. My students LOVED playing games. I've never seen such an engaged group as when we played math games during Funday Friday. Do you want to know the best thing about math games for the classroom? Math games are not only fun, but they're an incredibly good way to practice math skills! They turn boring ol' math practice into a fun, motivational exercise. In fact, games are so much fun that students don't even know that they're learning! Sshhh..just don't tell my students. I want to share 8 fun multiplication games that you can use in your math centers. One reason I love these multiplication games is because they don't require you to buy anything special. You can use materials you already have in your classroom. So dig out the dice, playing cards, math counters, and let's play some math games!

How to teach multiplication facts: proven strategies in special education

June 28, 2019

Those days of forgetting their math facts? Staring blankly at a multiplication problem? Adding or subtracting when they should be multiplying? Done. Gone. Over. Those days are in the past! Today we’re going to learn how to teach multiplication facts to our students with disabilities so that they build conceptual knowledge and retention.

Tag:
multiplication

How to boost fact knowledge and retention with these tested strategies

December 07, 2018

You’ve been teaching your students their multiplication facts. It’s been a couple weeks but they seem to be getting it by the end of math class on Monday, so you’re feeling pretty good. Your students come back to class on Tuesday and you throw out some easy warm-up problems: 4 x 2, 3 x 5.

And...crickets.

It’s as if you never taught the concept! In my classroom, I sometimes felt like I was teaching and reteaching the same math facts over and over again.

What’s your next move?

Devote 5 minutes at the beginning of math class to practice verbally skip counting.
Find some storybooks in your library that are related to multiplication. Use these storybooks for your read aloud the next few days.
Whip out those counters and start making groups: 4 groups of 2 counters and 3 groups of 5 counters, etc.
Spend 15 minutes twice a week playing multiplication board games with your students in stations.

My answer might surprise you! Keep reading to find out what it is...

Avoid the confusion: attack tricky math vocabulary head-on

November 18, 2018

What an odd number those odd numbers are! And the even numbers are even stranger!

Learning the language of math is hard!

Today, we'll take a closer look at some examples of the kinds of math vocabulary that trip up our students, especially those with learning disabilities and English Language Learners.

We'll talk about WHAT kinds of math words are tricky and HOW to help students overcome the confusion so they can communicate mathematically. Keep reading to learn more and download a free math vocabulary toolkit.

Tag:
math vocabulary

The truth about fact fluency: what your 3rd-grade teacher didn’t know

November 06, 2018

Too often, we overemphasize speed and underemphasize understanding and fluency in the math classroom. Learning math facts can be especially tricky for students with disabilities, who might have difficulty memorizing facts and trouble seeing relationships between related facts.

Remember those timed fluency drills your 3rd-grade teacher assigned? Turns out those drills aren't great at building true fact fluency!

Today, I want to share what it really means to acquire “fact fluency.” Keep reading to find out why speed isn’t important and why flexible thinking is at the core of fluency.