Have you ever wondered how you can build math fact fluency in your class without putting forth a ton of effort?
There are so many ways that you can build math fact fluency. It’s beneficial for your students, and that’s why I want to share these seven fun activities for building fluency in your classroom.
Bullwinkle
Remember the show The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends? This show was hilarious, and if you don’t remember, it’s probably because you’re not old enough.
The main character was Bullwinkle. He was a moose!
In this game, students act like a silly moose by creating fact family antlers using their fingers. This works for addition and subtraction.
The teacher calls out a number and the students hold up a number pair on their head to create their antlers. This only works with numbers that are less than or equal to 10. And students can only show addends that are less than or equal to five.
Back to Back
This game is so much fun! It requires three players. Players one and two stand back to back at the whiteboard. Player three sits in front of them. Players one and two write a secret number on the board. Only player three is allowed to see this number. Player three then gives clues to players one and two on what their number could be. For example, if player one writes 5, then a possible clue for player three would be, “This is the sum of 4 + 1”. The player to find the mystery number first wins.
Math Bingo
This is a fun game from abcya.com. I like it because students are able to select their subjects. They can also select their difficulty level and the size of their grid making it really easy to differentiate.
Students are given an equation at the bottom of the screen. They cover the answer on the grid and get bingo when they cover all spaces in a row or column.
This game is fun and has nice music, but you will need a device and reliable internet for it. There are also some ads that pop up on the side, so be sure you check them out before you assign them to students.
XtraMath.org
This is a great tool for keeping track of your students’ fact fluency. I don’t recommend this as being the only way you teach fact fluency, just because some of your students will find this program boring.
I like this because it tracks your students’ progress throughout the year. We like to measure our growth at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. It’s really quite amazing.
I also like the fact that you can change the timing for responses for some students who may need extra time. Also, it’s self-checking so you don’t have to go back and check anything your students will know automatically if they got it right or wrong.
Puzzles
I like using puzzles. I like to use a file folder to laminate my additions tables or multiplication tables. There are missing numbers in the tables that students must fill in with a wet-erase marker.
I like these because students are able to see the patterns as they work. This helps them make connections when solving the opposite operations.
Math Facts Folder
This math facts folder is so easy to use and super helpful. Anytime students finish something early, I’ll have them pull out their folder and they can practice their facts for a few minutes. They can also use them to practice with a partner at the end of the day for about three or four minutes. They are interactive and really easy to use.
Digital Math Games
Of course, I love digital math games that I created where students select the correct answer to feed the monster. These games are super easy to play and are very interactive and fun. If you purchase this, you can download it from Google Slides and save it as a PowerPoint. Then you won’t need the internet to play; however, you will need a device.
Simply STEAM Math Games
These math games are probably my absolute favorite way to play. The reason why is because there are multiple ways that you can use this deck of cards. They are self-checking and each card has a value so you don’t need dice.
Students can use cards to play independently or to play with partners. Plus, they can play in multiple ways!
Check out my post here on when to play them in your classroom.
For even more benefits of playing math games, check out my post here!
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