If you are looking for ways to help your 3rd graders practice multiplication during the winter season, I have a fun math center for that! Winter Multiplication Bingo Games are quick and easy to prep and will give you 4 different math centers.
When 3rd graders start learning multiplication, they feel like such a big deal! They dive right in with gusto to learn their multiplication facts! In reality, though it isn’t a fast process, but a gradual learning curve of understanding what multiplication is through repeated practice.
Providing practice that builds conceptual understanding throughout third grade can be a challenge. What activities and strategies should they be using? What resources are rigorous enough?
Teachers have to make pretty quick decisions week in and out about how to provide this practice. Because we also have to teach other concepts like division and fractions in third grade, we can’t stay on multiplication until everyone gets it. However, you can use these exit tickets for formative assessments periodically to check for mastery.
Multiplication Math Centers
One thing that I find helpful is to have multiple types of multiplication centers that I can put into the rotation. I like to always have some type of multiplication center – fact fluency, using math models, and word problems going each week. In order to do this effectively, I like to have centers that are quick and easy to prep – but also engaging for my students. Practicing the same things over and over is boring.
After the Winter Break, I love to use winter-themed activities just to change it up a bit and the students enjoy it. Here in Florida, we don’t experience the snow and winter activities like most of the country does – so we pretend.
This winter-themed bingo activity fulfills all requirements for my students in January:
- Rigorous multiplication practice
- Engaging winter themed activity
- Easy Prep
How To Play
This bingo game has a twist! It starts with a board game that is focused on one of these strategies: drawing an array, counting an array, finding the missing number, or fact families. It can be played by 2 – 4 players using markers and one die. Each player rolls the die and moves around the board landing on winter characters. They find that character on their Bingo card and complete the activity in order to claim that spot. The first student to complete 3 in a row wins the bingo game. In the meantime, they are getting valuable practice with one of the multiplication strategies.
There are four different game boards that include 4 bingo cards each. You could rotate them weekly or differentiate your centers based on student data (that you gained from formative assessments).
**If you want to learn more about formative assessments, this post can help!**
How to Differentiate Using Winter Multiplication Bingo
Some of your students who are struggling with the concept of multiplication can benefit from working with arrays – either drawing or counting them. Two of the centers are entirely focused on giving them this specific practice. The more they draw and count arrays, the deeper their conceptual understanding will become.
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| I always love to use fact families! Understanding the relationship between multiplication and division really helps conceptual understanding. |
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| Four different game boards with 4 bingo cards give you so much flexibility for math centers! |
