Fun Drill Activity

It's Multiplication time! 

 

When I was in school I always dreaded when the teacher mentioned that we would be doing math drills. I could not grasp the concept of solving multiplication and remember having to stay in a recess as I failed my multiplication test. I find that learning math drills are still a dreaded word today for many students. If I mention to my students that they will be learning multiplication in math I hear a lot of sighs across the classroom. There are many activities you can bring into the classroom to turn math drills into fun activities!

Activity: Speed Dating

You are probably thinking "a speed dating game in a math classroom"? You heard me correct, this game is called speed dating but multiplication style. 

How to Play 

For this game, you start with a number. The number I started with is 48. You will have three columns on a piece of paper. My number, my partners' number and multiply them columns. In my number column, you write the number that you started with all the way down. Then you find another person in the class and put their number in my partner's number column. Next, you multiply the two numbers without using a calculator anyway that you want. You compare the number you got to your partners as it will be the same and then you put it in the multiply them column. Once you completed these steps, you move on to another person in the class and repeat the same steps. 

Benefits of Implementing Activity 

- A fun way to learn multiplication 

- Gets students collaborating with other students they may not have before 

- Gets students in engaged

- Students can collaborate to help understand how to solve multiplication 

Negative Aspects of Activity

- Students might not be mature enough to handle the name of the game 

- Students need to understand multiple ways to solve multiplication before they play 

- Students may become discouraged if they get the question wrong and group member doesn't or if their group member solves it faster 

Personal Experience with Activity 

I incorporated this activity in my grade 6 class. The students always do a math drill type of activity in the morning when they first arrive in the class. The students always seem to be disengaged in the activity and I often have to walk around the room and remind them to get back on task. I have a class that is very talkative. I debated implementing this activity because I thought that my class would not be mature enough to handle the title of the game and become distracted by the title. When I incorporated it into the class, at first they started laughing and were off task. I decided to change the rules of the game a little bit and I incorporated gamification. I told the class the first person who completed the activity correctly wins a ticket to be put into the draw for the end of the week. The students loved this and they ended up being engaged in the lesson and enjoyed completing it!

Now when you mention math drills...

Before Miss Mueller's Fun math Activity

Students After Implementing Miss Mueller's Math Activity