Mastering Math Facts, Winners, and a Sale!!

A little while back in the end of year school frenzy, I was contacted by Laura Candler's publisher to review:

Mastering Math Facts: Multiplication and Division aligned to the Common Core.  

Laura Candler is also the master teacher behind the Classroom Book Clubs product that I just LOVE!  I blogged about that here and here and will be sharing more soon (hint, hint...as soon as I get my freebies ready to share!).  Since my 4th graders NEED to know their facts and I just love Laura Candler's products, of course I said yes!!  I just had to wait a little while to post the review when I knew I would have more spare time on summer break (although, I THINK I am going to have all this spare time and it has really not happened yet!).  

I downloaded and printed this amazing, jam packed, 209 page resource while school was still in session and I was able to try a few of the activities with my math intervention students.  The book is just FILLED with creative methods for teaching, reinforcing, and providing practice for students learning their multiplication and division facts.  I love how the concepts are presented in a variety of ways and it is not just "drill and kill".  Students will understand the PROCESS and MEANING of multiplying and dividing while using these activities!  Here it is printed out:

The first activity we tried was "Graph Paper Arrays."

This was a great review of arrays and their relationship to multiplication and division!  

The graph paper squares were the same size as linking cubes.  

 Here students created a 4 x 3 array (or 4 rows of 3). Each row was created using a different color linking cube to really demonstrate "rows".  Then, the students colored the graph paper to match their linking cubes.  What a great visual!  We labeled our arrays (difficult to see in the pictures) and then I asked them questions as described in step #4 such as:  

How many rows are there?

How many columns are there?

What are the factors?

What is the product?

We also tried "Rectangle Race".  

In "Rectangle Race," players rolled two dice and created an array based on the numbers they rolled.  Each player colored in their arrays with different colors.  The "product" of the array was recorded in the center of each rectangle.  Play continued until there was no space remaining on the board and players counted how many squares they had total.  The one with the most squares won.  The students loved this game and it was a fun way to review multiplication facts for my intervention students!

Finally, my students tried "Tic-Tac-Toe Products".

 We have played a game similar to this before (learned it at a workshop) and the students love this one too!  It really gets them thinking because there is a lot of strategy that goes into it!  Students use the paperclips at the bottom of the page on the "factors" part and cover the product of the two factors on the gameboard.  The next player can only move ONE paperclip to come up with a product they can place their game piece on.  Play continues until one player makes a row of 3 horizontally, vertically, or diagonally (or you can change this up to 4 or 5).  Of course, players try to block other players like in Tic-Tac-Toe and they need to be careful about what numbers they move the paperclip to in order to anticipate what factors their partner needs to win!

Check out this awesome resource aligned to the Common Core by visiting this site.  While you are there, you can download a 43 page printable sample of this book for FREE!!

Drumroll please! Here are the winners for the Bloglovin' Giveaway!!

Congratulations to:

Kristin: Grand Prize Winner who wins two items from my TPT store and a BIG BOX of some of my favorite things in the mail!!

Natalie H.: Two Items from my TPT Store!

Heather K.: Two Items from my TPT Store!

If you had your eye on something from my TPT Store, please check out the 20% off sale from now until July 4th!!  I just uploaded editable versions of my APPR binder dividers for Danielson and TED rubrics last night (thanks to the wonderful tutorial by Jivey...I will post more about that later:).

 Thanks to the amazing AMC at Looking From Third to Fourth for the Cute Button!!  Check out her site for links to other stores hosting a sale too!