What About Math? 3 Great Math Resources You Can Use TODAY!

I have posted several blog posts about Reading and it's time for Math to get its fair shake! ;)

I have a math resource group in the afternoon consisting of one third grader, two fourth graders, and two fifth graders...all boys!  These guys have IEP goals in either math computation, math reasoning or math fluency (or some combination of the three).  I have found that the best way to accommodate the various needs and levels of the students in this group is to divide the 45 minutes I have with them into center type activities, with each "center" focused on what is on the students' IEPs.  Today I just want to share with you some great activities that I have found that meet the needs of my students and that you can get and put into practice immediately.

1.  Math Duel


 
A great app, Math Duel, is perfect for practicing math fluency.  This app is split screen app that pits one player against another (or can be played as a single player) to answer math fact questions.  You can customize the game to play any of the four mathematical operations.  In the picture above, you see two of my guys working on their multiplication facts.  I also allowed them to use a multiplication chart, but you can't see that in this picture, as they are just beginning to be fluent with multiplication facts beyond 2, 3, 5, and 10.  This app is available on the iTunes app store for $2.99.  I was lucky enough to download this for FREE during a promotion for the app.  Keep your eyes on it, because it may go free again.  I would still recommend it for the $2.99 price tag...totally worth it!  Especially for my guys that are obsessed with anything technology or iPad related!

2.  Money Essentials Bundle from Christine Reeve

If you are familiar with, Christine Reeves from Autism Classroom News, then you may already be familiar with this product.  I have a student really struggling with money and this pack is engaging and perfect for my student.  This activity uses tasks cards with coin values on one card and then a picture of something found in the grocery labeled with a price tag on another card.  The student counts the change, matches it with the food card, and then records the task card number on the tracking sheet.  This is giving my student great practice with a real world task, counting money amounts, and meeting the math reasoning goals on the IEP.  Perfect combination!!  I bought the bundle available at Christine's TPT store.  It includes this activity along with another Grocery Money Task Card activity and 3 more activities for the next dollar up activities!

3.  Math Challenge Task Cards from Rachel Lynette

These amazing task cards are from the Task Card Queen, Rachel Lynette!  Each card has a challenging multi-step word problem.  For most of my centers, the students work alone or with a partner, but for this activity, I lead the activity.  These task cards are made for fourth, fifth and sixth grade, but they work well for my students when they are guided through the problem solving process (which all of my students have as a goal).  The problems are challenging and they are real world!  Perfect!  I have my students look for key words in the problems and use strategies, such as drawing a picture or diagram to solve the problems.  As a group of two, the students and I work completely through one problem during this activity.  These cards are great, because they are stretching my students to think mathematically to set up and solve the problem.  They are also great practice for the types of problems they will see on state testing.  No surprises when the end of the year comes and they have those incredibly hard math problems with five different steps...these guys will be prepared!  You  can get yours HERE or by clicking the photo below!

Go try one of these resources today!  They are great products!!

What are your favorite math products?  Share with me in the comments!  I would love to hear about the things you can't live without!

Mathy Monday-Crossing the Decade *freebie*

Today's math game is about crossing the decuple in math.  If you don't know this means going from one decade of numbers to the next, for example 28, 29, 30.  My math group has great difficulty crossing the decade when counting back.  This is important, because the students will need this skill when learning to do subtraction and counting back to answer subtraction problems.  Also, some of my math kids have difficulty recognizing and naming the numerals 13 and 30 or 15 and 50.  This activity shows them where 15 and 50 (for example) are in a series of counting numbers.  

Materials you will need:

Board game, dice or arrow cards (if you use dice-write the numbers 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90, if you use arrow cards use 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90) , markers or pawns to move on the game board

Find a copy of the game board HERE

Directions:

Student 1 rolls the dice or draws out an arrow card. Student will move pawn to the space on the game board that is the number before the decade number they rolled or pulled out.

For example:  Student rolls 60, student will move pawn to the 59 on the game board.

Student 2 takes a turn, following the same directions.

The first person to the finish wins.  This game goes quickly, but I have my student play several times with a different partner each time.

Modifications: Have a numeral roll available so the student can look back to find the number and see what is before.  Have the student start at a higher number and count back, to get the rhythm and pattern in mind before moving his or her pawn.

I'm also linking up for Made It Monday!! :)  Hope you enjoy this game!

Bead Stems (Math-y Monday)

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've posted any Math-y Monday posts!  The days really get away from me sometimes and I lose track of time and this blog, unfortunately.  Today I want to share with you my math activity for the week and get back on track with the Mathy Monday!

This week we are working on adding within 20 and the activity we are using this week is called, Bead Stems.  In this activity, students are learning to move from using manipulatives or physical object to making a mental representation of the number of objects when items are screened.  This is an important skill in connecting a written amount to the understanding of a quantity.

What you need:  beaded chenille stems (5 to 15 beads), large cup, cover, card set
  *Notice the different color beads.  I put five blue and then five red to help the students see how many are there without counting from one.  There are ten stems, beads number from 5 to 15.

What you do:
1. Place beaded stems in a large cup. Shuffle cards and place in a stack face-down.
2. On your turn
a. Draw 1 beaded stem and determine the number of beads.
b. Place stem under a cover.
c. Draw a card. Look at it briefly and then turn card over (or place it under a cover).
d. Determine how many in all.

In this picture you see the setup of the tools you will need for the activity.

In this picture you see the tools in use.  Notice that the bead stem is covered, screening the beads.  The student must remember how many are on the stem to be able to count on the bead that would need to be added.  We are working mental math here! :)

Modification:
Leave either the bead stem or the card uncovered, allowing the student the ability to count the beads if needed.  You can also determine which bead cards you use and limiting what the students add to 3 or 4 beads at a time.

Enjoy!
Kim

Math-y Monday & Freebie!

Today's math intervention game is:  Fill 20

Materials: Game Board (click the picture to download a game board), number cube, counters

Directions:

If your students are working on counting to 20, follow these directions:

1. Get a game board and bag of counters for you and a partner

2. Student 1 rolls the number cube and puts that many counters on the game board.

3. Student 1 tells partner how many counters are on the game board altogether.

4. Partners take turns

5. Players tell partners how many counters are on your game board after each time new counters are added.

6. The first player to fill a game board wins.

If your students are working on adding two groups of numbers that will have a sum less than 20, follow these directions:
1. Get a game board, bag of counters, and a cover (this could be a piece of cloth)
2. On the first turn, player 1 rolls the number cube and puts that many counters on the game board.
Player 1 tells the partner how many counters are on the game board and then cover the board.
3. Student 2 does the same.
4. On the next turn, player 1 rolls the number cube and makes a prediction on how many counters
will be on the board altogether when the rolled number of counters is added.
5. Take the cover off game board, put the counters on, and check the prediction.
6. Student 2 takes a turn
7. The first player to fill a game board wins!

If your student is working on subtracting within 20, then follow these directions:
*For this one you will need a number cube numbered (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)
1. Get a game board and bag of counters for each player
2. Fill the game board with 20 counters.
3. Player 1 rolls the number cube.
4. Player 1 tells the  partner how many counters will be on the board after player 1 either adds or
subtracts the number rolled.
5. Add or remove the amount of counters from the roll and see if the answer is correct.
6. Player 2 takes a turn.
7. The first player to empty a game board wins!

This is a picture of Fill 20 in action!

These recording sheets are the way I track student progress (with anecdotal notes).  We do activities for structuring (making 5 or 10), addition and subtractions, numeral identification, and forward and backward number word sequence each week.  I take formative assessment notes on each activity and corresponding day, so I remember how certain students do on certain days.  This helps me to know if I need to keep with a certain activity, go back in the progression of skills, or if my students are ready to move on.  This has been extremely helpful for me this year!

Remember to link up your fun math activities!!

New Linky=Math-y Monday

I am a math convert.  I used to hate math, I mean really hate math.  I was never good at math and when I was in school I always dreaded math.  I had a hard time understanding the concepts and would be totally confused if someone understood math in a different way and tried to show me in any other way other than the way my teacher had shown me.  Then two years ago now, it happened, I found a love for math.  I participated in a yearlong math professional development and it lead to a whole new understanding to math for me.  I could finally see how to do those different techniques teachers would try to teach me and I could finally understand all of the ways to teach math.  I became certified in a program call Add + Vantage Math-Math Recovery through the Kentucky Center for Mathematics.  The whole time I was learning a new way to learn and teach math, I always thought, "Why didn't someone teach me to teach math this way when I was in college?"  In a new blog series, Math-y Mondays, I will be sharing with you some of the intervention techniques and activities that I have learned and implemented with success to my math resource students.
Without further ado, I introduce to you:

My intervention/game for this week is all about forward and backward number sequence.
*PS-You will see a theme develop with my posts.  The strands that are introduced and taught in AVMR are Forward and Backward Number word sequence, Numeral Identification, Addition and Subtraction, and Structuring.*

Math Scrabble
Materials:  100 board/chart
number tiles (1-100)

Setup:
Place up to 10 tiles on the hundreds board
Put remaining tiles in a container (I used a drawstring bag that students couldn't see through)

How to play:

1. Each student draws 7 tiles from container
2. Direct the students by saying, "You are looking for the (number before or number after--you decide beforehand what you need to work on) and placing the number tile on the board (in front of or after) the number tiles that are already on place on the board.  You're goal is to place all of your tiles before the other players."
3. Students take turns placing number tiles in appropriate places on the hundreds board.
4. When a student places a tile in the correct position, have the student count back or count up to the next tile on the board.  For example, when I play this game with my students we are working on backward number sequence.  If the number tile on the board is 53 and the student lays down 52, then they are correct and they count back from 52 down to 45 (if that is the next tile up on the board).  Depending on your students you can cover the board with a cloth to cover the numbers so they have to count back without support from the manipulatives.
5. When a student does not have a tile that will work, the student draws a new tile and play is passed on to the next person.
6. Continue following directions from step 3 on.
7. Play ceases when a player runs out of tiles or the board is full. 

My students loved this game and ask to play it everyday!  That is success right there!!  Fourth and fifth grader love something = awesome!! :)  You could adapt this for younger grades that are not fluent to 100, by using only numbers to 30.  

Enjoy!  Link up below and share your favorite math games!!  I hope you join in on some new weekly fun!

Here are the ground rules:
1.  Grab my Math-y Monday button and add it to your math game post
2.  Link up your math game post
2.  Make a new friend!  Check out the link before and after yours and leave a friendly comment :)
3.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this new linky! :)