Big News, people!

It's official! I have a TPT store!

It is fully stocked [with one item!]

SO, in celebration--> You can get a bonus entry in my giveaway by following my TPT store! Let's get that followers number above 0! This probably sounds SO lame to the people who have stores and sell stuff and make actual money from it. Hopefully I'll get there!

My giveaway that is going on is for $25 to Teachers Pay Teachers! I know I'd love to win that, so hopefully you do, too! GO ENTER! There are less than 15 entries right now. I'm no mathematician [welll, kinda], but your odds are pretty good, right!?

Sorry I'm hopping all over the place in this post!

Back to my freebie! The item I just posted is a set of task cards for third graders to practice multiplication and division skills. Each card hits on a different skill or application of a skill. I would SUPER DOOPER appreciate it if you lovely followers of mine could go take a look at it, even if you don't plan on using it. Just because it's my first document, I'd really benefit from feedback about the description, the document itself, etc. I know we are all crazy busy, but if you have a sec I'd totally appreciate it!!

The freebie includes 10 cards and a recording sheet.

a preview of one of ten cards

***ANOTHER QUESTION: How do you make the cute little graphics so that people can kind of preview your freebie. Ya know, with like tiny images of the pages?

So to summarize this post [oh learning focused strategies, how you've taken over my life!]
1. Check out my freebie at my TPT store by clicking HERE!
2. Enter my give away by clicking HERE. It ends on Sunday!
3. Earn a bonus entry by following my TPT store & commenting about it!

Multiplying by Multiples of 10 Activity

During our Rti block, I currently have a middle-high group for this two week cycle. My topic is multiplication, and I taught them this standard today:

3.NBT.3. Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 (e.g., 9 × 80, 5 × 60) using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

I taught the students both the way I learned [the step by step, multiply the bottom number by the ones digit in the top, then the bottom number by the tens digit in the top. hey, it works for me], as well as the explanation through place value. For example, in the problem 30 x 4, four groups of 3 tens 120. Because this was a higher group, I extended past the standard and included multiples of 10 higher than 90 [up to 120, as I teach up to the 12 times tables].

[So as I'm typing this, I'm kind of thinking it doesn't make sense in writing! But I swear, it worked well in class!]

[I use brackets a lot without realizing it.]

So tomorrow, we are going to play bingo. I try to play a game with each skill, because as my administrators say "WORKSHEETS DON'T GROW DENDRITES." However, worksheets do help practice math skills for the DCAS next week, so this is part worksheet part game. I aim to please!

Each student gets a game board [there are six different boards, so 2-3 monsters will inevitably get bingo at the same time if they get all the products correct, but honestly I ran out of steam to make more boards tonight]. They must answer all of the problems. Once they are finished, we play bingo with the answers. I call out a number, they cover it if they have it. You know the drill. The last page contains all of the products included on all of the boards for the caller. You can cut them out and pick them out of a hat. OR you can be like me, a cheater. Walk around and choose which products you call, trying to avoid certain kids getting BINGO or helping that kiddo who doesn't have a lot of confidence get a win. =)

So here it is. Fo' free. My second freebie! Woooop! Let me know if you like it or use it or whatevs! The fonts are Bows and Boots and Howser. 

Multiples of 10 Bingo

Another quick and exciting note, a whole slew of bloggers are having a giftaway extravaganza! Yes, I said extravaganza! And yes, I typed extravaganza veeery slowly. It's a hard word to type. Click on the pic to go check out day one from one of my faves [&fellowmeghans] Farley!

TGI[almost]F!

Bear With Me..

So this is my first attempt at posting something I've made, so as my title asks, bear with me! I found the outline to this game online somewhere, but I can't remember where. So if it is yours, PLEASE speak up! I added to it & made it my own. I thought the game was great, so I wanted to make an easy to work with recording sheet to go along with it.

This game is great to reinforce the concept of multiplication, and my kids are loving it. You can play in pairs or small groups. Each group needs two dice, but the dice need to be different. One dice stands for the number of groups, and the other dice stands for the number in each group. Player 1 draws their picture, writes the equation the picture stands for, and writes the product. Player 2 takes their turn, following the same steps.

When it is player 1's turn, they roll the dice again and fill out their sheet. This time, they add their product with their previous product. All players take 5 turns, and the person with the highest total wins! It also helps my students practice addition with regrouping, as some of them need all the practice they can get.

Is this something you would use in your classroom? Let me know!

Star Groups

Multiplication Fun!

I see so many bloggers who say that literacy is their "safe place" and that they love teaching children to read. I, however, am the complete opposite. I totally struggle with teaching reading! Math is my happy place!

During RtI, my grade level is trying something new. As always, we broke up the students according to level, but we aren't exactly doing small groups for everyone. The highest and lowest are remaining in small groups with specialists. The others are in groups of 15, and they will rotate through the 3rd grade teachers on a 2 week rotation. Each of us is focusing on a different skill.

I have multiplication/division. YES! My favorite thing to teach! This cycle, I have one of the higher groups, so in the two weeks, I went through Arrays, Repeated Addition, Drawing a Picture, and Knowing your facts as strategies.

Here's what I did for arrays. And let me tell you, I was talk of the hallway! Remember these from your childhood?

Perler Beads? (sp)

Okay, me either. BUT, when I was an arts&crafts teacher at a summer camp a few years ago, this was the bee's knees. The cat's meow even.

I was browsing through the craft store, came across these, and BOOM. An idea! Students were in pairs, and every pair had a cup of these beads and the board that you use to shape them on. After introducing arrays the day before, they were ready to practice. I started small, asking them to make an array that represented 3 x 3, and I eventually built them up to 12x12. At the end, I let them each make their own array, but it would not be ironed until they correctly identified the array that it represented. Every 3rd grade friend walked out with an array that day!

They couldn't stop talking about it. They won't forget what an array is any time soon! This was an inexpensive project, as I didn't let them make an array bigger than 10x10 to take home. I can use these beads for a looong time before they run out! [These pictures are from google. I didn't take a picture this rotation, but I definitely will next go around if those friends can handle this project!]

How do you make multiplication hands on?