3 FREE Math games your class will love!

Hey y'all! This is Kristen from Chalk & Apples. I hope everyone is settling into a fantastic school year. Today, I wanted to share a few quick and easy (and of course FREE) math games that my students are loving this year. They're all free and require little to no prep. Check them out!

Mindreader

This is my go-to game for the end of the day when we are lined up, waiting to be called for dismissal. My class loves it! Beth from Adventures of a Schoolmarm blogged about it in detail at Classroom Tested Resources a little while back, so you can read all the details in her post.

Basically, I think of a number, tell my class how many digits it is, and they start guessing. After each guess, I tell how many digits are correct and how many are in the correct place value. We also discuss whether guesses are logical or not based on the previous information. This is a great time to build some common sense skills! (For example if a student guesses 325 and I say that 1 digit is correct AND in the correct place value, 476 is not a logical next guess because the student has changed all of the digits when we knew one was correct.) Grab all the details & instructions free in Beth's TPT store!

MathAGories

This is another student favorite! I use it mostly during centers, although it made a great whole-group time filler when our power suddenly went out - for TWO hours! It's played much like Scattergories, where the most unique answers win. Students learned quickly that the easiest answers would likely get used by many of their classmates, and that they needed to think outside the box if they wanted to win. This freebie is for different ways to make a number, but the same game rules can be applied to lots of math concepts, like equivalent fractions, multiples, etc. Get the recording sheets and game instructions in my TPT store!

Odd One Out

This game was shared by Cassie from Funky in Fourth last year on Teaching Trio, and my class loves it! She has all the details in her post, plus a free game sheet. Students place 15 chips onto the game board. Then they take turns removing chips from only one row. The goal is to NOT be the last person to remove chips from the board. I love the way it gets kids thinking about their strategies and adjusting mid-game. Grab the freebie here!

What games do you play with your students? I'm always on the lookout for new games for our math workshop time! 

Calendar Math...in the Upper Grades??

One of the BEST things I have done in my 5th grade classroom has been to implement Calendar Math.  I know what you are thinking.....isn't that something they do in primary grades?   Well, when I started teaching, yes.  It was pretty much exclusively for primary grades.  But, after seeing what it could do for the little kids, I was bound and determined to bring it to my upper grade classroom.

Now, if you follow my blog, you know that I am a HUGE proponent of Calendar Math.  In fact, I have written about it on my blog more than any other single subject.  I just feel like it is the one thing that has saved my math instruction, and kept my kids on top of the testing score scales.

So what exactly is Calendar Math?  Basically, I take all of the major standards that the kids need to learn throughout the year, and put them on to one sheet of paper.  The kids manipulate the numbers, practicing the skills they need on a daily basis, with all of the numbers revolving around the calendar date.  Each day the skills stay the same, with the numbers changing.

This constant review (that we go over daily together) takes about 15 minutes per day (though it does take a bit longer in the beginning to get it going).  This 15 minutes is the most productive 15 minutes of our whole day.  Really.  It is SUCH a good use of time, that we never miss. 

Would you like to try Calendar Math in your classroom?  Here is the recording sheet that I use with my students.   Here is the routine sheet that I wrote out too....so that you can know what to do with it all!

Want to know more about Calendar Math?  Come over to my blog to read even more in detail and pick up even more Calendar Math resources! 

Happy Holidays! Constructed Response Task Cards

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Are you read for December to be here? I'm really not! We're on the countdown to state testing now, so I'm excited to work in some practice on multi-step, constructed response problems.

This freebie includes 8 cards for you to use to practice these difficult problems in your classroom. Each card is holiday-themed, so your students won't even realize they're doing difficult math!

Two Digit Multiplication Game and Quiz Freebie

As our fifth graders are starting the year, I am focusing my 5th grade intervention groups on making sure they can multiply.  Last week, I worked with a group of students that needed some practice multiplying two digit numbers

When students come to me, I give them a pretest and we set a goal.  This weeks goal was Multiply Two Digit Numbers Precisely.  

I taught the students a game to help them practice.

I've uploaded a free copy of the quiz the kids were trying to ace and this graphic to TPT.

If you'd like to read more about how I used this quiz and game, you can check out this post on my blog.

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Mentor Text & Interactive Notebook Pages: The Perfect Combination!

Hi everybody! I'm April from Performing in Fifth, and I'm so excited to bring you a freebie for your 5th grade Reading block! I began using interactive notebooks during Reading, Writing, and Math in my classroom a couple of years ago. Interactive notebooks are a great way to allow students to be creative in the classroom, while taking notes that they can use all year! 

One of the issues I had when I first started using interactive notebooks during Reading time was that my notebook pages weren't necessarily filled with concrete examples. I had cute pages for theme, character traits, plot, and more, but none of the pages had examples from actual books. I love using novels in my classroom, but I needed something quick and easy to go with my interactive notebook mini-lessons.

After using Mentor Text in my classroom to model writing, it dawned on me that I could pair this same text with my interactive notebook pages to give great examples of the standard in a short, understandable story. Then, I could transfer this learning to different chapter books at differentiated levels for each student. Below is a free download of the mentor text mini-lesson for Common Core Standard RI.5.3. 

Do you use Mentor Text in your classroom?

FREE Division in the Real World

How will I use this in real life?

I asked that question all the time in school. 

This activity gives the students a chance to see how important division can be. 

What do we all wish would happen in the real world?  Finding a pile of money, of course!

I gave my students a pile of (fake) money and this worksheet and let them figure it out. I made sure the pile had different denominations.

 My students weren’t very efficient.  If I found a pile of money with some friends, I’d count it, do a division problem and we’d each get our share.

My students took forty five minutes figuring this out.  Most used the one for you, one for you, one for me method.

The discussion they had involved the need for problem solving and logic which was a challenge for them.

The key to this was walking around and prompting them.  Here is an example of one conversation I had.

  “You have a remainder of $211?” I asked surprised.  “If this were real money would you leave that just sitting on the ground?”

  “We only have two hundred dollar bills and there are four of us,” they replied.

  “Hmmm.  There has to be a way to solve that problem,” I said while walking away.

The debrief was key.  Each team shared their methods and I did the long division with them on the board.  The students had an “Aha!” moment when they realized it took them 45 minutes and it took us 2 minutes to do it with long division.

  They hadn’t realized long division could make their life easier.

I hope you enjoy the discussions that this project can bring.

I’ve provided a blank in case you want to have them find something like a bag of candy or almonds. 

The possibilities are endless.

Click here to download the freebie.  If you enjoy it, please consider leaving feedback.

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I'm linking up with

A monthly REAL WORLD math blog link-up hosted by

 4mulaFun, The Teacher Studio, Teaching to Inspire in 5th, AND MissMathDork,

Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices

 Have you looked at the 8 Mathematical Practices?  I'm getting ready to introduce them in my classroom and made a freebie to share with you.

I blogged about this during a blog hop.  Click here to read more.

I'm linking up with

Free Foldable

Simplifying fractions is so challenging for my students!

I recently created a PowerPoint to review the vocabulary needed and teach three strategies for simplifying fractions.  My PowerPoint contained two foldables and I thought I'd share one with you as a freebie.   This foldable is meant to have the students take notes on three strategies for simplifying fractions.

Click here for your Free Simplifying Fractions Foldable.




If you are interested in the PowerPoint, you'll find it here.

Math Project: 500 Wheel Brigade

This is my first time posting on Fifth Grade Freebies, and I'm excited to be a part of it! One thing you should probably know about me is that I love math projects. Another thing you should know is that I love critical thinking activities. When I can find a project that requires students to think critically and it happens to be about math, I especially love it.

Here is one I created called 500 Wheel Brigade. Students must design a parade of vehicles that has exactly 500 wheels. It is harder than it sounds because they have to use 5 different types of vehicles. You can even go totally crazy and have them design the parade so that the vehicles form a pattern.

Visit me over at UsingMyTeacherVoice to learn more!

Sarah

Rounding Numbers

I'm excited to say, we have some wonderful people that have volunteered to contribute!  I look forward to seeing their posts soon.

In the meantime, check out this link for a little rounding numbers freebie.

Welcome to Fifth Grade Freebies

Hi!  One challenge for me as a new fifth grade teacher has been finding fifth grade blogs.  I've been seeing a lot of grade level freebie blogs, but where was the one for fifth grade?  Well, here it is!

I'm looking for contributors.  If you are a blogger that is willing to post a freebie once a month, please contact me at surfingtosuccess@yahoo.com.  If you have freebies on your blog that would appeal to 5th grade teachers, your post can link to that.

Of course, I need to get us started with a freebie...

One of the challenging skills for my students have been placing decimals and fractions on a number line.  Click here to download this document and to read about how I used this freebie in our math journals.

Thanks for stopping by!