[booray]

I am working with my class on Fact Families but would like some fun ideas. I will be observed on a lesson in the near future and would like to have some exciting ideas. If you have any, please share! Thanks!!

[fudgie]

I went to this workshop, in which we made dominoes with graham crackers and icing for the dots. We also used index cards and those garage sale dot circle stickers in neon colors to make dominoes, and recorded the fact families involved.

[luvnjesus]

Here are 2 ideas...
1. This is not a new idea but it works. Draw a house on the board (the usual square with a triangle on top). In the 2 bottom corners of the triangle (roof) write the 2 addends and in the top corner write the sum. You can draw a "road" with many "houses" and make a "fact family neighborhood". Explain that in this neighborhood, each family can only have 3 members. My students have always "gotten it" this way. OOO...you could actually cut out squares and triangles and have the students "build" this neighborhood and make a bulletin board or display of some sort for your observation. Hmmm...I like that idea. I, too, have an observation coming up...
2. I have those inflatable math cubes with addition (or subtraction) facts on them. We play "Because". We all sit in a circle and I begin by throwing the cube to someone. When they catch it, whichever problem their right thumb lands on is the problem they have to answer AND give the subtraction fact family problem for. For example, if their thumb landed on 9+3, they would say, "9+3=12 because 12-3=9." They catch on very quickly and understand that "because" simply means they have the same family of numbers "working together". (I hope that wasn't confusing.)

[msamyb]

Maybe you could use this fact family worksheet - someone here on Proteacher shared it over the summer. I love using it with my second graders.

[KarinT]

My kids love making fact families by rolling dice to get the two addends. I went to really good stuff's web site, printed off the teacher resource guide for their fact family poster, it has a work sheet that I adapted as a recording sheet for the dice activity.
Also, mathwire http://www.mathwire.com/archives/df.html has a fun sheet for fact families.
I turned this into a math center once I knew all the kids "got" it.

[mht]

Similar to the dice idea, which I do use and the kids love. I have also used playing cards where in pairs, each child picks a card and then they randomly select from a bag (they can also be faced down) the symbol as whether to add or subtract and then they find the the 3rd number in the family and they then do the math. The kids enjoy it and you can pair them up by capablities so the higher level learners can help those that struggle.
Good luck

[Jennypie]

I play a game with my students called "find your family." We discuss before playing the game, that there must be four members in your family (unless it's a double fact), and that each member has to share the same three numbers. Each student is given an index card with a fact on it. (no one else sees it). I play music, and when the music stops, I say "find your family." Once students have found all the members of their family, they sit down. The children love playing this game, and it helps them to remember what needs to be included in each fact family.

[booray]

These are awesome ideas. I plan on using many for my lessons!!

[calumetteach]

candy corn fact families. This would still tie in with Thanksgiving. You make a big orange pattern (about 10 inches tall)for the candy corn. Lightly write in the middle of it:

_____+_______=
_____+_______=
_____-_______=
_____-_______=

Then I gave them 3 numbers for their fact family. (6, 7, 13 etc.-- I tried to give everyone a different fact family) They wrote them on the lines I provided. Then they added yellow paper on the top and bottom and put the two smaller number on the top two corners and the big number in the "point" of the candy corn.

[lenarmc]

We also did the dice thing. Luckily for me, I had enough dice for each child to get their own. I found a sheet online entitled Dice Fact Families. I can't remember where I got it from.

[txblonde]

I found these links... not sure if they will help, but I too am (possibly) teaching fact families for my observation and have been scouring the internet looking for ideas!

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/work...ctfamilies.pdf

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/units/add_sub_unit.htm

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=10985

On this last link, there are printable pages for dice fact families, unifix cube fact families, and domino fact families.

Good luck!