ROLL IT! ROUNDING GAME

Welcome Back Guys!!!
This week I did a lesson on rounding that I saw the my third and fourth grade students still had difficulty with. I have tried many strategies and sayings to help them understand what happens when we round. Within searching for a better way to explain rounding to my students, I came across a cool center activity on Games4gains.com

The materials needed for this activity is: 

• Roll It! Rounding Game Boards (see below)
• Dice (the number of dice needed depends on the game level being used)
• Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Ten = 3 dice
• Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Thousand = 5 dice
• Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Hundredth = 3 dice
• Cup for holding the dice
• Small counters or beads
• Personally, I use the cheap "glass" beads that you can buy at the Dollar Store.
• 
  

1. Download the Roll It! Rounding Game Boards: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0955/2452/files/Roll_It_Rounding_Game.pdf?15451005149111052132

Choose the game board that's best for your class!

2. Determine which level you'd like your students to play.  Each page in the download is a different level.  There are two of the same game board on each page.

3.  Print the game board page.  You'll need one game board (1/2 page) for each 2-player game.  I recommend that you laminate the game board so that you can use it over and over again.

4. Grab the correct number of dice for the level your students will play (see "Materials needed" above).

5. Grab some small counters for each player.  Each player needs a different color.

Playing the game:

Object of the game: To be the first player to make a line of four in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) on the game board.

Number of players: 2 

1. To decide who goes first, each player rolls one of the dice.  The player with the highest roll goes first.

2. On your turn, roll all of the dice.  I like to have my students roll the dice into a small plastic container so that the dice don't roll onto the floor.

3. Use all of the dice that you just rolled to create a number.  You may place the dice in any order to create the number.  For example, if you rolled 4, 1, and 6, you may create 416, 461, 146, 164, 614, or 641.

• If playing "Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Ten," you'll create a 3-digit number.
• If playing "Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Thousand," you'll create a 5-digit number.
• If playing "Rounding Numbers to the Nearest Hundredth," you'll create a 3-digit decimal by placing a decimal point in front of all 3 digits (i.e. no whole numbers).

4. Depending on the game that you are playing, round the number that you created to the nearest ten/thousand/hundredth.  Then, place one of your counters on top of that number on the game board.  If your opponent's counter is already on that number, you may not place your counter on the game board.

Some examples:

5. Players continue taking turns until one player creates a line of 4 in a row of his/her own counters on the game board.

Reflection: Rounding is one of those lessons that no matter how simple it may seem, has been difficult for many students to understand. Students understand the begging procedure to rounding, such as underline the digit you are going to round then circle the place to the right of the underlined digit. Where I lose the kids is what happens to the underline digit and the circled digit. I believe using activities such like these almost to drill the students will hopefully assist them in memorizing what to do with each place. I am finding more and more, that students do best when they are having fun while learning. 

Diffrent Strategies to Divide

Welcome Back!!
    Division is an operation that my students still struggle with from time to time. They struggle with LONG DIVISION especially. So this week I researched different strategies to assist my students with division


CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.A.1: Find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

What I did on my own....

Reflection: What I like about the different strategies is that it will expose my students to different ways they can master division. Growing up I was expected to learn division one way and that is all. I believe that using place values and models to help students divide will also help students build on their conceptual understanding. What exactly is happening when you divide? I am excited to try some of these strategies with my students and hope this was helpful. 

Division as Sharing

Welcome Back Guys!!
This week I will be discussing one of the operations that brings probably the most anxiety to my students, DIVISION!! Although multiplication is a hard unit for me to get through, Division feels impossible to teach sometimes. However the lesson that my students get the most into is Division as Sharing. This is where you get students to understand that division is sharing out a whole number into groups.

Content Standard: 4.NBT.B.6: Find whole number quotients and remainders with up to four- digit dividends and one digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using the equations, rectangular arrays, and/ or area models.

Mathematical Practices: MP.2, MP.3. MP.4, MP.5

DIVISION AS SHARING

First: Give students a division equation to solve

Next : Ask the student to show you (using the place value blocks) what does 238 look like?

Then: Ask the students to Divide the hundreds into two equal groups

Next: Divide the tens into two equal groups

*The students will notice that because there are 3 tens (30) that there was a ten left over. Here is where you would guide them with understanding that they have to unbundle 1 ten for 10 ones.

10 ones + 8 ones = 18 ones 

Divide the 18 ones into two equal groups.

Ask the  students how much went into each group

So 238 divided by 2= 119

Reflection: Doing this unit, I came with the understanding that in the third grade, students learned the concepts of division as sharing and as repeated subtraction. They applied these concepts only to basic division facts. In Grade 4 students use models and drawings to find 1- digit quotients with remainders. In this lesson, they use drawing to find 2 digit quotients, with and without remainders, building on their understanding of division as sharing. The students really engage in this hands on approach to division. It really fascinating how they approach times when they have to trade to a smaller value. For example when they traded a 10 for 10 ones, having them physically and visually see the blocks being shared out helped them to conceptualize what happens when you divide. 

Multiplication War

Hey Guys,
 Welcome back!!! This school year I am making it a point to make the fluency portion of my math block more fun, while educational. With in researching ways to achieve that goal, I came across a fluency activity called MULTIPLICATION WAR (CARD GAME)

Multiplication War Card Game:  How to Play 

1. Remove the Jacks, Kings and Queens from a regular deck of cards.  
2. Shuffle.  
3. Players place cards face down in a pile.  
4. At the count of three, both players flip over their first card.  
5. The first person to say the product of the 2 cards receives both cards and puts them in a separate pile.  
6. If both players say the answer at the same time, the cards are put in the middle of the table. 
7. The next player to win the "flip" gets the cards in the middle of the table in addition to the cards just played.   
8. The winner is the person with the most cards at the end of play.

Reflection: In Grade 4, one of the instructional focuses should be on students developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication. I do believe activities like this will open the students minds and horizons when it gets to mathematics, and especially multiplication. It is something that will hopefully engage our students and keep them wanting to learn and master there multiplication facts more.

Addition Center

Welcome Back Guys!!
This week I came across an awesome addition game that can be used to engage students in mathematics and the addition operation.

The name of the game is called RACE TO THE SUM : A MULTI DIGIT ADDITION GAME

Materials Needed:

• 30 round magnets
• (can be purchased from amazon)
• Round Labels
• (Dollar Tree has a pack of 315 colorful labels for $10
• Cookie Sheets
• Timer

Setting up the game:

1.Game pages here: 

2. Print the image you would like to use. You'll need one game board (1/2 page) for each 2 player game. I recommend that you laminate the game board so that you can use it over and over again.

 3. Prepare the magnets by placing a round sticker label on one side of each magnet. Then, label each magnet with the numbers 0-9. You should have three magnets with each number.

Playing the game: 

Object of the game: To be the first player to earn 15 points

Number of Players: 2

1. Each player takes a game page and places it on his/ her end of the cookie sheet

2. Players turn all of the magnets over so that the numbers are not showing and mix them up.

3. Each player randomly selects 10 magnets and keeps them face-down.

4. Players set the timer for 2 minutes (note that this time can be adjusted to better fit your students).

5. As soon as both players are ready, they start the timer and flip over their magnets to reveal their digits.

6. Players work as quickly as possible on their own game board to fill in the boxes to create a correct addition equation. When the timer ends, both players stop working.
Note: A player does not need to use all 10 magnets to create the equation. If the best equation that a player can make is a 2-digit + 2-digit equation, that's okay. The player's goal should be to have a completed equation by the end of the 2 minutes. However, the more magnets that he/she is able to use, the more likely it is that he/she will receive points during scoring.

Scoring the game:
​When time is up, both players share and check their addition equations. Then, they tally up their points. The maximum number of points that any one player can receive in a round is 5 points.
1 point is awarded to each player who has created a correct addition equation, regardless of how many magnets used.
2 points are awarded to the player who created the equation with the greatest sum. 2 bonus points are awarded to any player who used all of his/her magnets.

In the example above, Player A's sum is 560 and Player B's sum is 822. Player A receives 1 point for having a correct equation. Player B receives 1 point for having a correct equation and 2 points for having the greatest sum, for a total of 3 points. No players used all of their magnets.
Players record their points on a piece of paper and then begin another round of play. The first player to reach 15 points wins the game!

Reflection:
What I have come to love about this activity is the kids enjoyment of doing it. I have tried this with my students and they really get into. It makes it a friendly competition amongst the classmates. Games like this will assist students in building their fluency and quickness in addition. It also gets them to play with numbers. It leaves a lot of room for differentiation and focusing on certain facts. My next goal is to attempt the same activity but with multiplication. My goal is to always have kids learn while having fun.