Multiplication Fun

Let's pretend that it hasn't been  a while since I blogged.  Yeesh!

It could be because...

I am expecting another precious little boy.  His name is still being decided upon.  His dad and I can't make a decision.  So, I've been beyond EXHAUSTED.  Teaching all day, keeping up with the house (attempting any way), and playing with a 2 year old has kept me busy, busy.  So, my poor little blog has been left alone.

We have been busy learning for the last couple of months.  I've been adjusting to life in 3rd grade.  It's going well by the way.  I do miss 2nd from time to time but I'm loving the independence these 3rd graders have. :-)

Yesterday, we started our unit on multiplication.  I racked my brain trying to figure out how to make learning our multiplication facts fun!  I decided that my kiddos would be going through Multiplication Boot Camp for the next 4 weeks.  My mini lessons consist of "drills" where they are learning and memorizing their facts.  Then, they break off into centers and I teach them strategies to help them to multiply.

Let me tell you that they are EATING THIS UP. I dressed up in my daddy's army pants yesterday and bought myself a plastic camo hat.  They thought that was the funniest thing ever.  No picture of me sadly...I forgot to have someone take my picture.

I bought them all "dog tags" to wear during their math centers and they know that their rank will change depending upon their math quizzes.  Love it!  We started out easy this week with 0,1,2,5, and 10 facts.  They are doing great! 

Here's a couple of pictures to show you what it looks like in action.

Here we are using strategies to help us multiply.  I brought out the army men and they used them to show equal groups and arrays.

Here you can see that I bought "dog tags" and camo tables to engage them even more. I still wear my camo hat every day for math.  The picture also shows us practicing our facts.  If my soldier gets the problem right, everyone must complete an army exercise.  If my soldier gets it wrong, they complete the exercise alone.  

I hope y'all have a great week.  I'll be back to share some of the other fun things we've been up to later this week.  

Lots of love,

Jeannie