Super Fun Fourth Grade Math Games

What is a great way to get your students to practice key math skills and stay engaged?  Games!  Here are a few of my favorite games for Fourth Grade Math!

  1.  Multiplication by 10s & 100’s Task Cards and Game Board – This collection of 40 task cards is perfect for solving problems multiplying by 10 and 100 and multiples of tens and hundreds. There is a Board Game included to print or you could use the cards for a Scoot or Scavenger Hunt! Record sheet and answer key included!  mult by 10 and 100.jpg
  2.  Place Value 4 Score – Written Form This includes 24 cards with written form of numbers in the thousands, millions, and up to 1 billion. The students find the number in standard form on the game board. Players earn tallies for completing rows of 4. The game is good for 2,3, or 4 players.  place value 4 score.jpg
  3.  Place Value Task Cards and Game Board: Your students will love these cute task cards for reading and writing Whole Numbers in standard form, expanded form and expanded notation as well as describing the relationship in base 10 through the 1,000,000,000 place. Use the task cards in centers, small group, or as a scoot game! Students can work independently or with partners to solve the problems. There are 32 Task Cards. There is also a coordinating game board included.  Also includes record sheet and answer key!  place value game.jpg
  4.  Comparing & Ordering Card Games  Your students will have fun practicing math skills of comparing and ordering whole numbers with these game cards. This download includes printable pages for the game directions, cards, record sheets and suggestions for use. compare order square.png

For more great Fourth Grade Math activities, check out my Pinterest Board!

 

Easter Egg Math Activities

Spring is in the air and Easter is right around the corner, so why not have some fun in your classroom?  I am planning on having an egg hunt later this week to get my students moving while practicing word problems! I found a few ideas from other bloggers while looking on Pinterest this morning! Thought I should share! I hope you find at least one activity to try this week!

For more great Easter Egg Ideas check out my Spring Pinterest Board:

Free Estimating Sums & Differences Game

Estimating sums and differences is a skill I have found students need a lot of opportunities to practice! I love to create engaging activities to help keep my students motivated while they practice! This game is great for students who need extra practice or a review! And today I would like to give it to my blog followers for FREE!

Materials Needed:

Teacher Prep:

  • Download free resource
  • Print game cards and game board on colored paper or card stock
  • Cut cards

How to Play: (directions are also included in FREE download)!

game card

  • Students work in groups of 2,3,4 based on teacher preference
  • Students each need their own color of crayon or marker
  • Player one turns over a card
  • Solve on record sheet or scratch paper
  • Find the answer on the game board and color in the square
  • The next player follows the steps
  • The first player with 4 in row is the winner
  • Players can keep playing to see who gets the most 4 in a row!

estimation game record sheetfun game estimating

Discovering Multiplication

Multiplication can be a daunting concept for some students. But in my many years as a teacher I have learned that starting out with a discovery activity can help students to understand the process of multiplication and relieve some of the stress.

I like to start off with a real world problem such as “Jessie has 4 plates of cookies. There are 5 cookies on each plate. How many cookies does she have in all?” I have students work in groups or with partners and with counters or color tiles to solve the problem concretely.  I will walk around the room and discuss the methods used, and give a lot of praise for effort.

cookies multiplication

After working out the problem with the counters we will have a class discussion to recognize that there are many ways to solve the problem. Some students count, some skip count, some use repeated addition and some might already know a few multiplication tricks. I validate each method and move into the next phase, drawing pictures… Again I let students work in groups to find ways to draw pictures and then we share. After sharing I show the the way I like to make my pictures:

cookie groups.jpg

I continue this process with several more problems and then name multiplication as a way to solve problems with equal groups more quickly than adding.

We practice with picture problems as well and I reinforce vocabulary…

cupcakes.jpg

And, as with any skill, we practice, practice, practice!!!

stars.jpgbutterflies

I would love to know what strategies you use to introduce multiplication in your classroom! Add them in the comment section below!

 

How to Have Fun When You Don’t Have Time for Fun!

Some of my favorite memories of my elementary school years involve making crafts and playing games! My favorite craft was making gingerbread scented salt dough ornaments! But, anyone who teaches in this day and age knows we don’t always have time to do the fun stuff, right! So, to make the most of the season I sneak in a little holiday cheer as often as possible! Here are a few of my favorite ways to sneak in some fun when you have too much curriculum to cover or a dreaded math assessment to review for!

As simple as it sounds, white printer paper, colored markers and stickers or stamps can add a little holiday cheer to even the most dull math tasks! Here is an example of a Math Review I did yesterday with one of my Fourth graders. She has a test this week so we needed to spend some serious time reviewing fractions, but you can see that we still made it fun!

fractions holiday mixed and improper lines.jpg

I bet you can figure out what my third graders are reviewing this week!  Check out this simple array activity to practice multiplication! This could also be used for fact families!

holiday stamps arrays cropped

But what if you have to work on a review with word problems? No problem! You make that into a present too! Take any review or set of task cards and have students make a cheerful answer sheet like this:

holiday word problems boxes.jpg

Well, if you know me at all, you know I LOVE MATH GAMES, so I will have to mention that you can turn any math skill into a game!  Here is one of my favorites from my TpT Store:

santa game math 2.jpg

I would love to hear some other ideas people have for adding a little holiday fun to math class! Leave a comment below with your favorite activity!

Holiday Math Craftivities and Activities!

‘Tis the season to be jolly … but, if we are in school we still have math skills to teach and review! Here are some awesome Holiday Math Craftivities and Activities to help your students have fun while still learning!

Have your students measure and cut strips of paper in specific lengths and use the strips to make Christmas Trees! This can be as simple as 1 inch, 2 inch, 3 inch or as complicated as area and perimeter or fractions depending on your students’ age/grade level.

How about fraction snowmen or “symmetries”?  Cute, fun and educational!

This stacking cup game is designed for addition facts, but it could really be modified for any math skill!

These math games are lots of fun too!  They are low prep and easy to play!

 

For more great Holiday Math Ideas check out my pinterest board!

Candy Shop Math Centers

holidaymathgames

I am getting excited about the holiday season! I have made some new games/activities to play with my 3rd and 4th graders using some really fun clip art! Seriously, the elves are so cute!

The four newest games/activities I have created are:

  1. Addition Bingo
  2. Subtraction Matching
  3. Addition and Subtraction Balancing Equations
  4. Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

Addition Christmas GameSubtraction Christmas Matching GameAdd and Subtract Christmas Word ProblemsBalancing Equations Christmas Activity

The four activities can be purchased individually or as a bundle in my TpT store!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Math Ideas for Turkey Time!

Well, I am a bit behind on posting, but I have a good excuse! I have been working on some new resources for November! I finally uploaded my two new Thanksgiving themed games to TpT.

The first one is a Word Problem Scavenger Hunt! Your students will get a chance to move around and work collaboratively with partners while solving one and two step addition and subtraction problems. The problems all have a Thanksgiving theme and have great clipart to go with the questions.

Thanksgiving math hunt.png

The second one is called Turkey Tic Tac Toe! It is a Thanksgiving themed multiplication game.  Make fact practice a little more fun with this game.

Square Cover Turkey Tic Tac Toe

I will be creating more Thanksgiving math activities so keep your eye on my Fall Pinterest Board or Visit my TpT store.