Math Game Monday: Football Season Games

I don't know about you, but my students LOVE sports. And every fall, with the start of football season, I start thinking about how I can capture their love with some sports-themed activities. One easy way is through the use of football centers. 

Football season begins around labor day and it is the perfect time to introduce these football activities to my class. 

Football Multiplication Worksheets

I love this set because it comes with some worksheets where students can practice basic facts, equal groups, arrays, commutative property, and more multiplication strategies as well. There are 17 different multiplication activities from cut and paste, to writing, to flip books, there is a lot of value. 

Football Multiplication Games

Also included are three different football multiplication games that are perfect for math centers. I love finding ways to keep my students learning while the other students are in small groups and the use of centers is the perfect activity. 

I love a quick and easy game of War, and this bundle includes that with a fun football theme. It also comes with a spinner bingo-style game that has students practicing different multiplication strategies. It includes another game that is a touchdown game that allows students to move back and forth on a board scoring touchdowns as they solve multiplication facts. 

All of these games are so easy to put together with minimal cutting. I would suggest that you laminate because it will highly extend the life of your games for years to come. 

More Football Multiplication Games

If you are interested in even more football games, I have this companion set that has three additional games. 

All the games are easy for students to learn and engaging to play. The first is a game one that is called Four Yards in a Row. It is played very similarly to Connect 4. The next game is a card game that has a few surprise cards thrown in and may have you giving a card to your opponent or losing all your cards, so be careful with that one. The final game is a dice-rolling game where students are racing to be the first to cover all the products on their team jersey. 

Where can I get These Games?

I'm glad you asked. I will leave the links below. Be sure to stock up for the season!

Football Worksheets and Game Bundle

3 Football-Themed Games for Math Centers

Print, Cut, Go

Teaching Art & Loving It

Even though I am working in a self-contained classroom in a small school (we have 3 teachers K-8), I am excited that we decided to do some electives together instead of independently. I was named the "art" teacher for the school, and I have big plans. I am having so much fun. I love the project we recently finished in my 3rd-5th grade class and are finishing up in the 6th-8th one next week. 

We created these super cute graffiti walls. Students used a graffiti generator online to write their names. They took a screen shot on their Ipads and then traced it with tracing paper. They used tongue depressors and hot glue to build fences. At this point they could decide to paint their backgrounds or keep them plain. Afterwards, they used carbon paper to trace their names (that were written on tracing paper) onto their fences. Then they used paint markers to color their names. They could add some designs to their fences if they wanted to. 

Finally, we painted some foam to look like grass, cut a slit in it and glued in their fences. Then they added plants and rocks. They turned out so cute and the students loved them too. 

Here's a little peek at the ones that are done so far. 

Math Game Monday: Find Five

If you are looking for a fun way for small groups or partners to work on multiplication skills, the game Find Five is a fun way to get in some practice. There are three different boards for different levels of play. Each board has just a few sets of the multiplication facts so students can review as they master the sets. The sets are 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. 

If you like the game Sequence, you will love this game. It is based off of Sequence, but with a spy theme and multiplication facts. 

How to Play the Game Find Five

Students will shuffle the deck of cards, placing them upside down. Teams or players will take turns flipping one card over. If the team or player answers correctly, they can cover the product on the board with one of their game pieces. The other team or player will go and play will continue until one team or player covers five spaces in a row. The corners are free spaces and be careful of the word cards, they may remove one of your pieces or allow your opponent to add a piece anywhere. Each product is shown twice on the board, so players can choose the best spot.

Here's a look at the board game and you can find it in my TPT shop over here.  I bet your students will love it as much as mine do. 

How I Teach Students to Play Math Games Independently

Do you ever wonder how to teach students to play center games independently? It comes down to a few different things for me. Let me show you how you can easily and successfully train students to play center games independently. 

1. Teach the Game

When I introduce a new game, I try to give my students a little sample of it by playing through one round with them. I explain how to play and then actually play a quick round. If it is a longer game, I might just play for a few minutes until they get the hang of it. 

2. Include the Instructions

Including instructions for each game at the center is a good idea. Students will be able to refer to the instructions if they forget a rule. 

3. Partners are Best 

I especially like to have students play with one other person. It keeps things quieter during math rotations and the two of them can work out the rules if needed. 

4. Repeat Similar Games with Different Themes or Math Topics

I have a lot of games that follow the same instructions or style. It helps students play them even quicker and easier. I change out the math skill or the theme (for holidays or seasons). Keeping games of a similar style is great for independence. 

Those are a few of my favorite ways to keep things simple at my math rotations and help students be more successful with playing independently. 

If you are looking for some center games to get you started check out these links.

Place Value Game

Rounding to 10's & 100's Math Game

Addition & Subtraction Game

Multiplication Game

Division Game

Fraction Game

Math Game Monday: Tic Tac Toe War

I'm here with another fun and easy game to put in your math centers. This game is called Tic Tac Toe War and it combines the best of both Tic Tac Toe and War together in one game. In this game, students will practice multiplication facts to build fluency. 

How to Play Tic Tac Toe War

Choose one Tic Tac Toe War board to share between two players. Mix up the cards, deal them all out, and place them face down in two even stacks (one for each student). At the same time, both players flip one card and place it at the bottom of the board. Students will each solve the card they flipped over. Whoever has the highest product will place a counter on the board. I like to use two different colored army guys that I found at Dollar Tree. It makes it more fun and students stay with the theme of war. 

Students will continue to flip cards, solve, and place an army guy on the board. The first player with three in a row wins. 

Teacher Prep for Tic Tac Toe War

It's a cinch to set up for this game. Teachers will print whichever boards they want. There are six different color options. There is even a blackline option for ink saving. Print and cut one set of multiplication cards. I like to laminate all my games so that I can use them year after year, but that is totally up to you. Add in some type of counters or mini erasers. I like to use two colors of army guys to make it more fun for my students. 

Give me the link!

If you have students who would love this game, look no further. Just click the link below to be taken to the game. You can find it right here. 

My Newly Designed Sports-Themed Classroom

This year I totally revamped my classroom (at the last minute, as I sometimes do). We had a fabulous start to the new year and the students were thrilled with the new classroom vibe. 

Some of the things I did to make it special:

First, I created a whole vibe with different sports ball paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. I purchased a soccer field rug to place under my table. I got a basketball hoop that I mounted to my whiteboard. It will be perfect for games. 

At open house, I passed out our team playbook. This was definitely a labor of love and completely matched our theme. The students and families each got one of these to take home. It told all about the classroom and me as their coach (teacher). It told about some of the special ways we will celebrate together. 

For a welcome back, I gave each student a little soccer pouch that was filled with snacks. I placed a World Cup Little Debbie snack cake inside as well as a bag of Pirate's Booty.  These were so fun and the class loved them. On a side note, my dad went to school with the real Little Debbie...Debbie McKey. So fun!

For birthdays, I have tall plastic soccer cups with straws that I will pass out. inside each one will be a soccer ring pop as well as a sports pencil and eraser. They are super cute. This coming week I will be giving these out to all of my summer birthdays. Can't wait to see their reaction to that. 

We are using a mini-economy, so even the classroom money has a sports theme. We are using "All Star Dollars." Each money amount has a different sports featured with an equal amount of female and male athletes. 

It's going to be a great year! I hope your year is just as great.

Math Game Monday: Place Value I-Spy

I am back again to introduce you to another place value game for Math Game Monday. I LOVE this one. It gets the energy flowing with my students and gets them excited. Place Value I-Spy is a fun and easy way to practice those place value skills of the three different number forms: standard, expanded, and word. 

Students start by putting the large board together to form a rectangle. They each choose some sort of colored counter, different from the other players, to mark their spaces on the board. Then they shuffle the deck of cards and place it upside down. The students will then take turns flipping one card at a time and trying to be the first to spy the answer on the board. Whoever finds it first will place one of their counters on that space on the board. 

Students continue flipping cards one at a time and finding the matching answer on the board. Whoever finds the most answers wins the game. 

This is such a fun game that can be played with one partner or even a small group. 

Be sure to snag this one right away for the school year. Your students will enjoy it so much!

You can find it right here.