Multiplication - Scary or Sweet?

Scary or sweet?  Tricks or treats?  How do your kids see multiplication?

Each and every year we work...and work...and work...on multiplication!  It is a big focus for our kids after Christmas, but I'm starting early with our review this year!  Our third graders should come to us knowing how to multiply by 0's, 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's, but you know how that goes!  Thanks to Fern Smith, of Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas, my kids had a great time reviewing their 1's, 2's, and 5's this week with some Halloween fun!

Jessica Stanford is hosting another wonderful product swap, and I was paired up with Fern! 

 Looking through her TPT store, all of the great products made it so hard for me to make a choice, but I absolutely loved her Thirteen Halloween Multiplication Center Games!

Here's Fern's description of her product:

"This 110 Paged Halloween Themed Center Game has one game for every times tables ~ Zero to Twelve!!

* 13 Different Halloween themes in full color with student directions included.

* 110 PAGES of printable center games including a variety of different ways to play the game.

* Distinct Cover Sheet to glue on folders, or place in a Ziplock Baggie.

* Each theme has two pages of Matching Problems & Answers in Color to be cut apart as playing cards. Or use one page as a game board and one page cut apart as the matching playing cards.

* Everything also comes in Black and White if you want to save on color printer ink!

** Extra Bonus! A Cover Sheet for your students to organize their own folder for individualize center games.This center game is designed to be printed, cut apart for your classroom and laminated if desired. It is cute, colorful and is completely designed to be an independently led student activity. EXCELLENT for when the teacher is working with small reading or math groups. It also contains the ENTIRE file in a black and white version so that you can copy it and send it home as weekly homework. Great for the students to cut out and practice fine motor skills as well as reinforcing their multiplication times tables! Placed together or apart, the concepts in this center game helps a child learn to have quicker mental math!"

Not only do you get thirteen great multiplication games with cover (title) pages and student directions, but you get them in color and black and white and you get extra ideas for different ways to assemble and use the games!  I didn't take pictures of my preparation (I forget so many things lately!), but it was super quick and easy.  It took me maybe one 45 minute planning period to print, laminate, and cut out the color game pieces, title pages, and directions for three games!  I started with the 1's, 2's, and 5's because, like I said, that should be review for my kiddos!  I used large manilla folders to store the game pieces and directions with the game's cover/title page on the front. (forgot to snap a picture of that too unfortunately...)  But on to the game!

Check out these cute game pieces that can get us all in the Halloween spirit!

I loved Fern's tip for making the games self-checking!  I have TONS of small stickers/chart seals that I used to label matching cards.  Thanks for the idea, Fern!

The kids had a great time reviewing these multiplication facts when there was a fun game to help them out!  And with the self-checking cards, they all had the chance to be successful and make their own adjustments and corrections!

Fern has so many great products and tons of freebies in her store!  Be sure to check them all out.  She has great Halloween themed addition center games too if you're kids aren't quite ready for multiplication!  

Visit Fern's blog to check out her review of one of my products and to find all kinds of great ideas!

And don't forget to visit Jessica's blog to read reviews of lots of great teacher created products!
Come back here tomorrow for a quick giveaway if you like my product reviewed by Fern!

Multiplying - Sharing Ideas and Freebies

Well, I got the privilege of being a guest blogger today for the first time!  I helped out Courtney at Miss Third Grade while she is vacationing...wish I was there!  But anyway, I shared my thoughts on the importance of teaching multiplication and starting early!  Check out that blog post to get a couple of freebies!  One is for skip counting, and one has a great graphic organizer (and more) that we use for writing our very own word problems for multiplication facts in my class.

My post was getting really a little long, so I had to cut myself off!  I thought I would just come on back to my own little blog and share the other two freebies I wanted to give to all of our readers!  On Courtney's blog I talked about how we learn the multiplication facts we need to know, but now I want to share more about what we do after we've learned them!

After we have studied and learned all of our multiplication tables, we take timed tests!  With each test they pass, the kids earn a part of a banana split, yes a real one!  It never fails, when I tell my students about this, one of them always asks me if they get a real banana split!  They love doing this and look forward to it all year (we usually do our tests in the spring).  It always surprises me how well they do!  The quizzes I give are 40 questions long and cover only that table (all 2's or all 6's for example).  This year we set a time limit of two and a half minutes and required a 90% (36 correct) or better to pass.  In my homeroom 16 out of 18 students passed EVERY test!!  Everyone got their bowl and banana and at least one scoop of ice cream to enjoy!  It is really set up so that everyone can earn those basic parts!

My "Multiplication Madness: A Trek to a Treat" Unit is for sale in my TPT store and my TN shop.  Even better though...I'm giving one copy away in my 100 follower giveaway (along with items from other great bloggers)!

But today, I have a couple of freebies for you that can be used with this unit or on its own if you do a similar activity with your kids!  On banana split day, we serve the kids, and in all the hustle and bustle, it can be hard to remember who got what.  These helped me out last year!  

First, these stickers will let you see quickly and easily who earned their whole banana split!  These were made using an Avery Print-to-the-Edge Round Label template and they are compatible with products 22807, 22817, and 22825.  Just click on the picture to download the PDF from my Teacher's Notebook shop and print onto the labels! {tip: do a test print first :)}

The second freebie is to help you remember what the other kiddos did earn.  You can highlight the parts a student earned on these notes and have them carry their note through the line.  I didn't make these into stickers to avoid embarrassing any students who didn't pass some of the timed tests.  If you prefer to make them stickers they could easily be printed onto full sheet labels and cut apart.  Click on the picture to download your copy!

Be sure to check out Courtney's blog if you aren't following her already!  

And don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

How do you teach multiplication in your class?  

What really makes it stick??