Christmas time and holiday seasons are a GREAT time to use excitement as a major motivator! Truly – ANY excuse to practice multiplication facts is wonderful and very necessary!
We all know how very, very, very, very, very important it is for our students to learn their multiplication facts. I taught 7th grade for 13 years and a good portion of my students STILL didn’t know their facts! I know, your heads are nodding in agreement. How can we motivate our students to study and learn multiplication facts?????
Many of my students are struggling to learn multiplication facts despite my repeated efforts. We use interactive games on the Smartboard, I-Pad games and apps, time tests, beat-your-own-time challenges, spinners, dice, etc., etc.
I’m forever on the lookout for fun, new ways to learn and practice. With Christmas approaching, I wanted something new to keep them focused on facts.
So here is another fun activity to keep the learning fresh! And dice are ALWAYS fun!
Here are some pictures of the game boards. My students haven’t used it yet, since I just created it and it just wasn’t cool to play Christmas games before Thanksgiving!
Notice the dice options. Two twelve sided dice work best for this game, but regular dice can be used by covering the numbers with stickers and writing new numbers on them (like I did with the orange dice above. There are also I-Pad apps that allows you to “roll” dice, and that is fun for students, also.
I like this game for many reasons – one is that it creates “safe” learning for students working on fact memorization. The answers are right there on the page, which means that they don’t have to remember the products themselves – they are gently reminded by the choices on the ornaments.
One student can play by himself, or two players can compete by using two different games cards.
This game is great for individual students, in centers, small groups, early finishers, guided math, indoor recesses, and to be sent home with students for practice.
Anything that helps with fact memorization (and is FUN!!) is a winner, in my opinion! Here is a link to this game:
Christmas Multiplication Facts Dice Game – Print and Play!
Take care, and come back again!
