Multiplication Strategy Freebie

As my students are learning their multiplication facts, I teach them to begin with a combination they already know. Since I teach fourth grade, many of my students already know the 5s and 10s facts.

A couple of years ago, I had a handful of kids that didn’t know their multiplication facts. Every time they were presented with a problem they started at one skip counting it out on their fingers.

Finally, I came up with a plan. I told them I was going to introduce them to couple of my friends. Mrs. 5 and Mr. 10. If they were given a problem such as eight times seven, they would call up Mrs. 5 and ask her, “What is 5 eights?” They would then start skip counting at 5- 40,  6 – 48 , 7 – 56 .

I now have a set of t-charts which I can use in my math centers or project on the board. To get your free copy click here!

Rounding Freebie

We started the year off with place value and rounding. My kiddos learned to round on a number line by finding the benchmark numbers on the number line. For example, if they were rounding 3,567 to the nearest hundred. They would find the two closest hundreds to this number 3,500 and 3,600. They would also find the midpoint between the two hundreds, 3,550. Using these three numbers they plot the number 3.567 on the number line. Since 3,567 is greater than the midpoint, my kiddos know that it is closer to 3,600. I want to share a review center I created for my students. Click here to get your Freebie!