100 grid -- larger size

I have a series of math stations I use in my classroom that use the 100 Chart.  I made copies and put them in plastic protectors to save copy paper.  Students used dry erase markers to play the games.

By the end of the school year, the dry erase markers were more dry than markers and I had spent my budget for supplies.  I decided to make the squares on my 100 chart larger to accommodate the plastic cubes I had on hand.

These squares will work for the 3/4 X 3/4 cubic math materials such as snap cubes, Unifix cubes, and some of the wooden cubes I have in my math material collection.  To download this updated 100 chart, click here.

Here are some of the activities I have used this for:

Gomoku -- five in a row

Sieve of Eratosthenes -- composite and prime numbers

Higher or lower -- Guess my number 

Fractions, Decimals, and Percent on a 100 Chart 

Factors and Multiples Game 

Happy Friday!

Gomoku on the 100s chart

There are many versions of Gomoku online game.  Two players take turns claiming squares and the goal is to get five squares in a row.  Rows can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

Here is a free 100 chart with larger squares so many math materials will fit as markers. 

To use this game to practice number sense, students must claim their number with an equation.  For example, when the red player chooses the space 45, he must claim it by telling the other player 9 X 5 = 45.  The blue player verifies that this equation is correct.

Students may use any process we have learned in class to claim their number.  I have each pair turn in a paper with the two names and a list of the equations they used to play the game.

Update November 2: Now available as a set of seven games in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Gomoku Games is also available in my Teacher's Notebook Store.

More Activities on the 100s Chart

Update: To download a free 100 chart that will accommodate many math material cubes, click here.

Today's freebie is really two activities that you can have students do with the 100s chart.  The first one is called the Sieve of Eratosthenes.  Students take a chart and shade in all the multiples of 2 (not counting 2).  Then they shade all the multiples of 3 on the same chart (not counting 3).  They should notice that all the multiples of 4 have already been shaded when they shaded multiples of 2, so they continue with multiples of 5. The multiples of 6 have already been shaded, so finish up the chart with the few multiples of 7 that have not already been shaded.  The multiples of 8, 9, and 10 will already have been shaded.
 
The result should look something like this:

Those that are left uncolored are the prime numbers.  Prime numbers have exactly two factors, one and itself.  Composite numbers have more than two factors.  One is neither prime or composite.

Once students have completed this chart, they can use it to develop strategies for the Factors and Multiples Game.  I introduced the Factors and Multiples Game on my blog a couple of months ago.

Activity number two is a variation on the game.  Like the original version, the first player chooses an even number less than 50.  The second player chooses a number that is either a factor or multiple of the first player's number.  Instead of using strategies to choose a number that has no uncovered factors or multiples, the students work cooperatively to create the longest factor/multiple chain.  Teams record their chains on a class chart and see who can create the longest chain.

I hope you and your students enjoy these activities.

   

Seven Variations on the Higher or Lower Game

As you can probably tell by reading this blog, I like having sets of simple math games that I can play with my students with minimal supplies.  You have probably played the game Higher Lower.  I often play it as a sponge when we are lined up to go somewhere and the next teacher isn't ready for us.  I have found several variations to play this game.

1. If you have students that don't have the number system in their head, start with guessing a number 1-100 and have them use a 100 chart to eliminate possibilities. (Click here for a free 100 chart.)

2. Many teachers are using 120 charts and they can be used the same way.  (Click here for a free 120 chart.) This link is now fixed so anyone with this link can download.

3. Play teacher against the class with or without visuals.  Challenge the students to guess the number in 10 guesses.  (They have to listen to each other.)

4. Play the game completely silently except for the one person guessing the number.  Use the arrows on a piece of paper to record higher or lower answers. 

5. Play the game 1-1000.  Students who need the visual can imagine each box on the chart divided into 10 parts or they can add 0s to a row or two to visually multiply the chart by 10.

6. Play the game 1-10,000.  Students who need the chart can imagine each box divided into a hundred smaller boxes.  You can even model that on the first box.

7.  Use the 120 chart, but expand to 1200 and 12,000. 

My students can play this game to 1,000,000 now.  They efficiently work together to narrow the range.  (I also get to review the statistical term: range.)
Let me know in the comments if you have other variations on this game.

This year (July 2015) I enlarged the squares on my 100 chart so they will fit some of the math materials I have on hand.  Click here to download.

Happy Friday!

 

Fractions, Decimals, and Percent on the 100 Chart

Last week I officially started a series of math activities on the 100 chart.  The free printables I used for this lesson are available in a Google Doc here.  This week I want to share how I show the relationships between fractions, decimals and percent on the 100 chart.

I have a set of full color charts in my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook store.

Update July 2015: this year I made the squares on the 100 chart larger to fit the cubic math materials I have.

To teach the lesson, I print up several 100 charts and have students color halves, fourths, and fifths.  (I don't have everyone color every chart.  This could be a good jigsaw lesson, or strictly with a small group of students who didn't get it the first time.)  We talk about the numbers where one color ends and the next begins.  I show them with a calculator what happens when I convert the fraction to a decimal and point out the relationship if they don't see it for themselves.

Next I introduce thirds, sixths, and eighths.  We talk about how we have to divide up some of the individual squares to make equal parts of the whole.  Once again, I show them on the calculator what it looks like when I divide the numerator by the denominator. I explain (or remind) that the patterns in thirds and sixths go on forever.  By comparing charts, they can also see some equivalent fractions.

Here is the link to my Fraction, Decimal, Percent Bundle of activities and materials on TPT.  The Fraction, Decimal, Percent Bundle is also available on TN.

Important note: I once spent a bunch of time reteaching a student who filled in a chart converting fractions to decimals.  Her teacher required the class to use long division to complete the table.  Any pattern that this student might have noticed was lost in the long division process.  I might add, this student hates math.  I'm sure this is one of the events that contributed to this.  Please allow your students to use multiplication tables or calculators if they are already struggling with basic facts.  Thank you.

I know how important it is for students to see a math concept multiple ways before it sinks in.  I hope this activity is helpful in your classroom.

Factor and Multiple Game on the 100 Chart

For the free printables I used with this activity,

click here for the Google Doc.

Click here for a free multiplication chart.
  
Update July 2015: I created a 100 chart with larger boxes.  These fit many of my cubic math materials. 

Today I am starting a series of posts about using 100 Charts for teaching different math concepts.  I posted Rounding on the 100 Chart about six months ago, but I didn't realize then how many levels of math I could teach with this tool.

Rules for Factors and Multiples

1. The first player chooses an even number less than 50 and marks it with initials or a marker.  Pinto beans are a good size for this game board.

2. The second player chooses a number that is either a factor or a multiple of the first number and places his/her mark on that square.

3. Players continue to take turns covering squares that are a factor or a multiple of the previous square.

4. When a player cannot find a factor or multiple of the last number played, he/she loses the game.

After introducing this game, and playing a round of teacher against the class, I thought my fourth graders were ready to play in pairs.  I could tell by the questions they were asking and how quickly they got stuck, that their ideas of factors and multiples didn't extend beyond the math facts they memorized. 

I made double-sided copies of the six 100 charts on a page and showed them how to make the multiple patterns for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.  I told them they could use the charts they created to find factors and multiples.

The third day we played the game I reviewed factor trees.  I told them this was another strategy they could use for finding factors of large numbers.

I hope you enjoy this activity with your class.