Free Subtraction with regrouping Tic-Tac-Toe

I was in a classroom this week and the students were learning how to divide with 2-digit divisors. Over and over, I saw students get wrong answers. As I looked over their work, the problem wasn't that they didn't know the steps to division. They were having problems subtracting, especially when they had to re-group.

Even though this was a 5th grade classroom, it is always necessary to fill in gaps that students have. If students can't subtract without making lots of mistakes, they can't divide. Even students who were dividing using the partial quotients method have to divide.

I made this quick tic-tac-toe game for the teacher to use so students can practice subtracting without using just a worksheet.

Download it for free here.

Are there gaps that you see in your grade level that you have to go back and teach again or have students practice? What are they?

Free Editable Math Game for Middle School or Elementary Math

One thing my students liked to do is create challenges for each other. When they do that, the get practice in two different ways. First, they have to create problems/games for others to solve and then they have to solve and play other student's games. In my experience, students usually try to stump their classmates.

I created this template that you could use to have students create a Spin and Cover game for others to play.

You can give students this blank template and and topic to create a game for. Give them some time to make the game and then when they are done, they can switch and play. 

Some topics they can make the game on: 

• Integer Operations- students pick 8 numbers to place in the spinner. Then they have to write enough integer operation problems where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 
• Multiplication facts- Students pick 8 numbers and write multiplication problems where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 
• Equivalent Fractions- Students pick 8 fractions and then they fill the circles with fractions that are equivalent to the 8 they selected. 
• Solving Equations- Students pick 8 numbers to place in the spinner. Then they write equations where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 

Some topics will be more challenging than others, but you can vary it based on what your want your students to practice. 

Here is a completed game board where students will compare numbers. 

Finally, here is an editable version of the game so you can add your own numbers and problems. 

Digital Escape Room through Google Forms

Has the craze of escape rooms hit your school yet? We started using them for STAAR review last school year and they were a hit. Even if the challenges were something the students would do in a station or as an assignment, suddenly putting it into an escape room made it fun and exciting.

There are a few ways to do escape rooms. On my campus, we've used Notebook from Outlook to "lock" pages and Google Forms available on Google Drive. Even if you have a paper escape room, it is possible to add questions, or question numbers to a google form to have students verify answers and codes themselves.

It is pretty easy to set up on Google Drive. I have some screenshots below to show how to require students to input a specific answer before they can move on to the next question.

1. Start a new Google Form in Google Drive. 

2. Type in the title and the question. Change the answer type to short answer. 

3. In the bottom right hand corner of the question, there are 3 dots. Click on it and select "Response Validation". Also make sure to select "Required" so students can't skip the question. 

4. Once you turn on "Response Validation" several option come up. The one I use most often is to select "Number" and "Equal To". I have also used "Text" but since the option is "Contains" it is possible that if a student puts in ABCD but the answer is really BCD, google will say it is correct because their answer contained the correct one. There are ways around it, but using numbers causes less errors. 

5. Put in the correct answer and type in your Custom Error Text. If you don't type in a custom message, the students might not know they need to fix their answer. 

Continue adding questions. You can actually type in all the questions with open-ended responses or just put the question numbers and the correct answers and students fill in from there. 

I'll share some more ideas for Escape Rooms in another post--like what type of activities make good escape rooms!

If you are interested in some pre-made escape rooms, I have some in my TPT Store here.

Four 4s--Week of Inspirational Math

I did this activity with my students at the beginning of the year two years ago. It was part of the Youcubed week of inspirational math. This is a week of activities that promote growth mindset in math and thinking of math beyond word problems but as relationships between numbers.

I had a great time doing the week of inspirational math with my students. There are now even more lessons then when I first started this.

This activity was called Four 4s. Students had to create expressions using only four 4s that equaled numbers 1-20. They could use any expression and any math they wanted. They loved it and I think it would be a great before a holiday activity. Students wanted to learn new math to keep creating expressions. I taught them square roots and exponents and they just gobbled that stuff up.

There is nothing that says this has to be done with only fours. If your students find expressions for all these numbers, move onto a another number!

Posts I Love--Part 7

I love reading math blogs. I like reading what math teachers try in their classroom and reading their reflection on how it went.

Here is a collection of blog posts I love!

Fraction Ordering Activities from Math Fireworks-- The students will be practicing ordering rational numbers this week.This activity from Math Fireworks only talks about fractions, but I would like to expand it to include decimals and percents. I like the ideas of having students share their reasoning and discuss mistakes with each other.

I found this game which is a very basic but necessary beginning practice for graphing in all four quadrants. Stock the Shelves

I Speak Math shared this game. I will have it as a small group station to practice integer operations and absolute value. All I'll need is a deck of cards.

Finally, I love this activity about volume over at No. 2 Pencils.  She poses the question "How many starburst can fill our classroom?" and students go about measuring and formulating plans to figure out the answer. Definitely a thing I want to try.

Hopefully you are inspired to try something new!

Valentine Activities--Ways to use Matching in Math

I haven't ever done holiday themed activities in my classroom before this year. For Thanksgiving I did a turkey color by number, for Christmas I did a few others. The activities were not time wasters, or busy work--they reviewed previous skills that needed reviewing. The students liked it. It was different than normal--so I made some things for Valentine's Day. 

Coming back from Christmas break means students forget what they know. 

Integer Operations is something that they know but need reviewing. 

On our benchmark math test in December--making equivalent forms of benchmark fractions, decimals and percents was one of the lowest performing TEKS for my students. So they need some practice with this too. 

Go here for the Fraction, Decimal, Percent Matching--It is FREE right now. 

Go here for the Integer Operations Matching

I am going to use these matching activities in 3 ways. 

1. The students just match them. Turn all the heart pieces face up and find matches. 

2. Play a memory game. Turn all the heart pieces face down and find matches by turning 2 cards over at a time--I will reduce the number of cards I give the students so they aren't spending forever finding a match

3. Play go fish. Each student will get a 7 cards and then ask their group mates for matches. If they get -25+26=, then they will ask their group mates "Who has 1?