we are doing fact families in Math. Does anyone have any tried and true activities for average students? We just started flexble grouping. As a new teacher, I am a little worried about having students of the veteran teachers.
I gave each student 3 numbers and had them write the facts they could make then we switched cards and did it with new numbers. I am planning to use fact triangles, roll a 10 sided dice with a partner and build a fact family with the numbers you roll, and fact family turkeys. Anything else I should try???
We used the cards and just swapped around. I am by no means a veteran teacher, but my studetns love when we use the cards during morning reviews. Other than that, basically, we just review what a fact family is, draw a house and add in 2 + and 2 -. the roof has the 3 numbers, and the kids add in the families. They got this pretty quick and it's thier favorite part of the reviews! Good Luck!
This is a whole program which students work on at their own level. Tubs for facts 5-18. She has games, worksheets, etc... all ready to download. When students pass the minute math test for their number they move up to the next set of facts. I really like using it.
Sounds like you have it covered. I would also be sure to include vocabulary such as inverse operation. My kids really love using that grown up terminology and they seem to remember it. Just a thought since you have great lessons planned already.
Donna, thank you so much for the link! I have just spent the last 30 minutes or more browsing through and saving to my computer. Do you do this in your classroom? Do you have a current math curriculum? We use Saxon math and there are so many things I like about it, but it doesn't allow us to see things in different ways too often. I believe these tubs will help my little ones that are struggling with learning math facts! Thanks again for the link!
I always highly recommend manipulatives. I find that kids need to do the math, not just do the right answer.
I like base ten blocks. For a fact family of 7, get out 7 blocks. Break the blocks into fact families and write them.
Fact family greeting cards are a lot of fun. On the front, write the sum number. Inside, paste beans to show a fact from the family. Put one addend on one side of the card and the other addend on the other side. The kids can write all kinds of fun messages to the family.
Breaking kids into fact families while they act out a story is helpful. They get up and moving, and I like to keep kids active at some point in a lesson to get blood into the brain if for no other reason. 10 kids stand up. They are building a fort. One kid goes home to get a hammer. When he comes back, two kids go home to get snacks for everyone, etc.
Pantomime invisible manipulatives such as hamsters, rabbits, etc. The kids really get into this pretending; sometimes someone's invisible rabbit will even escape from his/her desk.
Be careful with triangle cards. They're great, but kids often think of them as a separte type of calculation, in other words, they think the teacher is teaching 3 types of calculation, adding, subtracting, and triangling. They don't always get the connection right away.
As a veteran teacher myself, I would be surprised if your students' parents would be critical. We went through first year teaching, too. Hey, it's tough! I'd recommend discussing your lessons with them for their advice.
Last year I made these little story boards out of construction paper and die cuts for teaching fact families. For example, one of the boards was a pond with a frog family. I cut out blue paper for the pond, drew small waves, some cattails, trees, and rocks around it. Each frog had a number on its belly (the mom had #2, the dad had #5, and the baby had # 7). The kids had fun making up a story about the frogs jumping in the pond. Then we wrote number sentences to go along with the frog family. Other story boards that I made were: snowmen on a hill, sailboats on the lake, fish in a fish bowl, people in a house, and so on. The kids enjoy it because it is hands on, they get to create their own story, and the numbers are on pictures/characters rather than on a worksheet. Hope this helps.
11-06-2006, 07:27 PM
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