Unit 6 Math Centers

Next week, Room 8 will be wrapping up our math unit 6. It has been a tricky one for a lot us - tackling adding three addends, subtracting double digits, comparison stories, multiplication, and starting next week.....division. *Gasp!* To review the skills they have been building on for the past couple weeks before introducing division, I decided to have a fun math class today. 

We love centers!

To review multiplication (and slyly introduce division) we started off math today by playing a game to break up the class in several equal groups. I would say a number, four for example, and the students would make groups of four and link arms. We would then discuss how many equal groups there were, how many people in each group, and how many people in all. Then we would recite, 4 times 4 equal 16. With some numbers, the students realized that all 18 were able to form equal groups, and with some there weren't. 
 I then broke them up into four groups with four centers. 

Center #1 had a game of adding three addends where they would flip over three cards from a deck and add them together.

Center #2 had students practicing double-digit subtraction using base 10 blocks.

Center #3 had the students finding equal groups around the classroom.

Center #4 had students breaking down comparison stories using unifix cubes.

Counting ceiling tiles

Once all the groups had rotated through the centers (about 7-10 minutes each), after cleaning up, each student got a calculator and met me on the carpet. Using all the strategies and skills for multiplication and adding multiple addends, I gave the students the challenge of quickly (and quietly) adding all the ceiling tiles in Room 8. It was so funny to watch them tiptoeing around the classroom with their pointer fingers in the air counting the tiles. Once they had the answer they would come check with me.  If they were pretty close to what I got for an answer, I had them take a seat on the carpet. After everything, we learned that there are 120 ceiling tiles in Room 8!