Friday, March 6, 2020

Multiples Math Game

I recently played a game with my students to practice their multiplication skills and think of a strategy to challenge their fellow students.  My students had so much fun with it, that I thought I would share it with you so that you could play it with your students as well!

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To begin the game, I wrote out factors on a handful of index cards. I used the digits 2-9.


When we first started playing, I had my students work with their table groups, then we switched to a whole group format.

The object of the game is to write a multiplication fact or sentence that no one else has written and solve it correctly to stay in the game.  Each table group was assigned a factor to use in all of their facts.



Using whiteboards, the students all quickly write a multiplication fact using their factor.  They reveal their fact all at the same time.  If all students write a different fact, and solve them correctly, all students continue to the next round.



For example, one table was assigned the factor 9. Students could write any multiplication fact with 9.  As you can see above, the students wrote:

9 X 9 = 81
9 X 8 = 72
and
9 X 11 = 99

Students try to think of a fact that no one else will write.  If two students wrote 9 X 8 = 72, they would be out of the game.  If a student solved the fact incorrectly, they would be out of the game.  The game continues until you are down to one or two students.





My students began to push themselves to think beyond the basic facts to multiplying by hundreds, thousands, and millions.  Some of them used double digit multiplication such as 18 X 9.  It was a great game with a low floor and a high ceiling so that each student could play at their own level.

Once my students were "pro" at the game we played whole class as you can see in the video below:






1 comment:

  1. This looks like fun. I'm going to use it with my class but do division problems instead of multiplication.

    ReplyDelete

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