Today I had some trouble with one of my third grade friends. He is a very smart boy, but has some behavioral issues that interfere with his learning. He is extremely creative and is constantly using his imagination and drawing. These are fabulous traits that I absolutely do not want to stifle, yet when he is focusing so much on the intricate drawings on his notes, he doesn't take in the lesson at all.
Right now, his class is working on multiplication and division. They went through weeks of drawing the arrays and learning about the concept and now they are solving word problems that involve these operations. They also do a 1 minute timed practice a few times a week to see how they are progressing with their facts.
The bottom line with multiplication is that they have to memorize their facts. Yes, they should have a conceptual understanding, especially for solving the word problems, but they also need to put those good 'ol memorization skills to work and know their facts cold.
My friend does not know his facts.
He is very smart, but does not apply himself to school as all. He doesn't seem to like school and prefers to be at home. His organizational skills are lacking, so he frequently does not finish work and/or does not hand it in/put it in the right place.
If something comes easy to him, then all is well. If something is not easy, it is very difficult to get him interested. He gets very frustrated when he plays games with others and they beat him because he doesn't know his facts, but that doesn't motivate him to go home and practice them.
Today the students had to complete some problem sets as a review for their test which will take place tomorrow. While other kids in the class whizzed through Sets A-E, my friend did not even complete set A. Multiplication can be a very quick process, yet if the student does not have the memorization piece in place, it is very hard to move quickly through the exercises.
I started searching for some fun games to play that might help the memorization along a little bit. Remembering comes with continued and repeated practice, so I figure if I can at least get him engaged and interested in playing a game that involves facts, that the learning might move along.
I found a fun site called
multiplication.com that has a lot of fun games to play. Typically you can either choose a level (easy, medium, or hard) or you can select a particular times table to practice. There were games that would appeal to many different interests and both boys and girls. Although I would love to use these games with my friend, I don't really have access to a computer during his class, so I think we need to stick to non-computer games.
Here are some other cool sites for computer games:
Academic Skill Builders
Math is Fun Millionaire Game
Gamequarium
I also came across this site, which I seriously heart!
IXL Math
This site allows you to click on your state and grade level and activities are aligned with the state standards. How cool is that? The only issue is that it seems as though you can get a free trial, but if you want to continue use you must pay a monthly or yearly fee. Free resources are definitely better, however, as a teacher, I would definitely find a "game/practice" site that aligned with my particular state's standards very useful! The cost is $199 per classroom for the year or $80 a year for a parent to purchase. I always hesitate to let my students play computer games, even if they are math related, but if I knew every activity correlated to our standards, I would definitely incorporate more "math game station time."
There are also some games that can be played without a computer which can be more condusive to the classroom environment and having many kids playing in pairs or teams. Some of my favorites are:
Multiplication war (played like war only each player tries to be the first to correctly find the product of the two cards in order to add the cards to his/her pile)
Multiplication dice game: each player rolls one dice and again, tries to be the first to find the product in order to gain a point.
Flashcard games: Students can use flashcards instead of a regular deck of cards to play war or to quiz each other. The benefit of using flashcards specific for multiplication or handmade flashcards is that the students can get a better variety of practice or can really hone in on a particular times table that needs practicing.
I am really hoping that introducing some of these games will help my friend learn his facts so he is not so frustrated in class. I am also to find some other strategies that work for helping out this kiddo because he is a complete puzzle. I really look at him and really wonder what is going on in that brain of his. Not in a bad way, I am absolutely fascinated by his creativity and his ability to get totally lost in what he is thinking about.
