OpenEd.com

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Tech Thursday page for details on how to link up!

I am so excited about this new resource! Okay...new to me anyway. I can't wait to explore all it has to offer! Where has this been all of my teaching career??? I am talking about OpenEd.com!

Top 5 Multiplication Apps {Tech Thursday}

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Tech Thursday page for details on how to link up! Today I am going to share my 5 go-to apps for practicing multiplication facts.

Monster Math

My first app is Monster Math. The whole game is built around a story of a monster trying to get his friend back. Students are walked through various stages to find the monster's friend. Teachers can edit the number ranges, operation and so much more! 

Times Tables Quiz

Up next is Times Tables Quiz. This is your basic multiplication drill app. I love that the numbers are easy to see, the score changes in the upper right corner (the more quickly they go the higher their points) and the app itself is easy for students to maneuver.

Times Tables Game

My next go-to app is Times Tables Game. This app has a fun"ninja" style and my students love it! Teachers have the ability to set the range of numbers for the multiplication problems. There is also a timer, so if students are taking too long- it times them out and their turn is over.

Math Monsters Bingo

The next app is definitely a student FAVORITE. it is called Math Monsters Bingo. Students are given a multiplication problem at the top of their screen and they click the product at the bottom. A little monster marker shows up! Their goal is to get 5 in a row. For each product, there are numerous places a student could pick so they need to not only know the product, but be strategic in choosing one that will help them get to 5 in a row. 

Multiplication Flash Cards Match

The last app is called Multiplication Flash Cards Match. Students play a memory style match game with the flashcards! One flashcard will show the number sentence and the other shows the product. The levels keep changing as students progress through the game. As they make a match the flashcards "explode" into little bits of confetti! So much fun!! 

I hope that these five apps will be helpful in your classroom! I know that my students always need a bit of practice with their math facts. Using new apps helps to keep their interest up and each app offers a different challenge! Do you have any go-to math apps for multiplication?

Link up below with your own Website or App recommendations, Tech Tips, Tutorials, or anything else tech-related! We can't wait to learn from you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Math Sites I Love {Tech Thursday}

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Linky Parties page for details on how to link up!

Today, I am sharing some of my favorite math websites. These are staples in my classroom, and my students love them as much as I do!

XtraMath.org

XtraMath is a great way to get students practicing basic math facts daily. I have used it in class as a math station and also as homework. Students like it, and it keeps them practicing those all important facts over and over. (Did I mention it's FREE?!)

Students practice assigned facts for 7 minutes each session, and take progress quizzes throughout the program. Teachers can easily see how students did with the easy color coded grids.

As the teacher, you can select a program for your students, choosing from a variety of combinations of operations as well as single operation programs. You can also customize the time limit students are given to answer. The default setting is all four operations, with a three second time limit. When students master a set of facts, you will receive an email notification and a certificate to print!

IXL.com

IXL offers practice activities for every math skill imaginable for Pre-K through Precalculus. This one isn't free, and it's actually quite expensive, at $249/year for a class membership. Our school's PTO purchases a site license for the entire school every year, and we love them for it! IXL has also recently added Language Arts activities, but our school hasn't started using them yet. 

I assign IXL skills based on the concept I am currently teaching, and reward students with a ClassDojo point for completing a skill. My students are very motivated by this, and often complete skills at home on their own, without me even assigning them! 

IXL has tons of report options for teachers, too, so you can easily see which students are struggling or excelling. Reports are available for student usage, student performance, trouble spots, progress monitoring, and standards mastery.

StudyJams.com

StudyJams is a Scholastic site with videos & tutorials for math and science concepts, mostly in the intermediate grades. Skills are grouped by categories, not grade levels, but I am always able to find what I am looking for using the search function. 

Each skill has either a video or a step-by-step tutorial that is engaging and relevant to students while teaching the target skill. Also included is a short quiz to check for student understanding.

I often use StudyJams videos for students who missed instruction due to absences or pull-out appointments. Many times, the video can help "catch up" these students, and free up some of my time to work directly with them on the skills.

What are some of your favorite websites? I am always looking for new sites to keep our learning fresh and fun!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Odd One Out- Math Strategy Game {With A Freebie}

Do your students like to play games? Do they like to play math games? Do they like strategy games? I am going to share a math strategy game with you. It is called Odd One Out. I learned about this game last year at a workshop. There wasn't a game board or a recording sheet, so of course I *had* to make one. We started playing it during the first few weeks of school this year and it is still one of the favorite games during math workshop. My students last year, figured out the strategy pretty quickly. My group this year... not so much. A few of them "think" they have a strategy figured out, so I challenge them to a game and prove their strategy wrong!

To play the game, students need 15 math chips. You could use just about any sort of counter or chip that you have in your classroom. Students are in groups of two to play the game. If you have an odd number, you can play too! Another option would be to put three students in a group and have them rotate each game (two students playing, one student recording). Students also need the Odd One Out Game Board and the Recording Sheet. I have uploaded these as a FREEBIE for you! Click here to download them.

The way the game works, students place all 15 chips onto the game board where the little snowballs are. They should have 3 in the top row, 5 in the middle row and 7 in the bottom row. Color doesn't matter. Then they take turns removing chips. They can remove any number from any one row. They cannot take chips from multiple rows. This means that they could remove all of the chips in one row in one turn or only take one chip. The choice is theirs.

When they have taken a chip or chips from a row, they need to record it on the sheet. My students got a system figured out... if you are taking the chips, the other player records for you. It works out really well. Let's look at this picture so that I can explain what I mean by record their move.

This student is going to remove two chips from the top row. They would record under player one, 2 T. You can totally have your students write the full word (top, middle, bottom), but for me a T, M or B does the trick.

Then it is the next players turn to take chips. This continues until one of the players clears the last chip(s). Let me tell you, the first few moves are fast... then all of the sudden playing comes to a near standstill while a player is trying to figure out their move. Talk about deep thinking!!! They have to plan ahead and try to guess what the other player might do. Here are some pictures of my students mid-action.

You can see little plastic cups in the pictures? These are portion containers that you can find at most grocery stores in the plastic cups/paper plate aisle. These little containers have lids. I use them to keep my math chips in specific amounts for certain games. I have a few different sets of these containers labeled with a game title on the lid. This one is for a game called Bump which requires each player to have 8 chips (2 different colors). I put 16 chips in each cup and labeled the cup Bump. With the game, Odd One Out, the color of the chips doesn't matter and they only need 15 chips... so my kiddos know to just grab a bump chip container and they are good to go. So slick!

My favorite part about this game is seeing the strategies that my students come up with. They are all very interesting and most of the time the strategy is one I would have never come up with. Students can show me their strategies on Fridays during math workshop. This is their chance to "challenge the teacher-master". Basically... that means they get to explain their strategy to the class and then face off against me under the document camera. Only once has a student figured out the strategy (and that was last year). I let my class keep trying over and over again. A few of my students said that they have played the game at home with random things like legos as the chips. *insert thrilled teacher here*

I hope that this is a game that you can use with your students. It is definitely a game that is fast and you could use it in between instruction times if you have a few extra minutes. I know with testing looming over all of us, there is always a few minutes here or there. Make sure you grab the freebie to use with your class. The recording sheet is totally optional. I like to see the steps my students take, but it could easily be skipped. Hope you love it!

TPTCYBER sale - What's on your wishlist?

By now I'm sure you've heard that the TPT Cyber Monday & Tuesday sale starts TODAY! I'm excited about getting home from work and clearing out my wishlist full of amazing products!

It's always fun to see what everyone else is buying for their classrooms, and I discover some of the best products this way, so today, we're linking up with Jivey to share what's on our wishlists...

At Chalk & Apples, my #1 wishlisted item is an oldie, but a goodie...my very first TPT product EVER... my Turquoise Dots Teacher Toolbox Kit! It's been updated several times, but it remains my best seller & top wishlisted item.

The top wishlisted item at Cassie's Funky in Fourth store is her Layers of the Earth Unit. Buyers love all the graphic organizers and the included lab activities!

Most wishlisted at Juliet's store, Tech Crazy Teacher is her Island Treasure Map project. In this fun and engaging activity, students use many different map skills to create their own island and hide a treasure on it! Includes everything you need, even antique paper, and a rubric for easy assessment. 

#2 from Chalk & Apples is my Word Work for Big Kids! I created this product out of a need in my own classroom for some challenging word work activities that I could use over and over with our vocabulary words in my 5th grade class, and I still use it daily! PS - It's also included as a freebie with my Growing Vocabulary Roots: Morphology Word Study Unit 1, so don't buy it twice!

Second from Funky in Fourth is Cassie's STEM Challenge Series Bundle. This bundle is still in progress, but will include TEN great STEM activities by January.  Each challenge includes complete lesson plans, student recording sheets, and tips.

Juliet's second most wishlisted item is her Rapid Words Sight Word Fluency Program. This complete program provides fun and engaging weekly homework for practicing sight word fluency throughout the entire year! Everything you need is included. 

This one is HUGE, so I've been waiting for a sale to buy it... I can't wait to get Blair Turner's Interactive Math Notebook Bundle for 5th Grade! It is chock full of interactive notebook templates & lessons for everything we teach, and I can't wait to start using it with my fifthies! 

Cassie can't wait to start using The Brown Bag Teacher's Reading Response Letters. These look like such a great way to start conversations with each student about the books they are reading! Juliet is looking forward to challenging her students to think more deeply about what they've read by using Anna Brantley's HOTS Reading Response Sheets. I love them too... if she made them for 5th grade, they'd be on my wishlist in a heartbeat. What's on your wishlist? Head over to Ideas by Jivey to link up!