Math Madness Wednesdays: Factors and Multiples

How do you teach factors and multiples?  Whew!  What a question!  While the concepts may not seem that difficult, kids seem to have a problem remembering which one is which!  And, they don't really understand WHY they need to learn them in the first place!  Please tell me I am not the only one with this problem!!

BrainPop has come to my rescue, once again!  Our family uses these videos often, especially my son.  He is visual (and has a TON of questions) so these videos are great for him.  Plus, he is discovering humor right now (he's 11, but his autism prevents him from figuring out humor sometimes) so he likes the funny parts with Moby!  Here is a link to the Factoring video (this is NOT a free video, unfortunately, but if you already have a subscription or your school has one, you can access it!).  

Another way to help students understand factors is by creating arrays.  You can create arrays with any kind of manipulatives (cubes, beans, counters, lids, etc.).  But, if you are allowed to bring food into the classroom or you are practicing at home, it is always fun to bring in edible "counters" to practice factoring!  Skittles, M&Ms, goldfish, marshmallows, and grapes are all perfect for this.  Just have the kids count out a certain number of counters and show you all of the different arrays you could make with them.  You can track what numbers were used and reinforce the word "factor" while doing it.  

For multiples, you can use a hundreds chart.  Kids can color in the multiples for a certain number or they could put the manipulatives they were using for factors directly on the hundreds board.  It is fun to see the patterns show up!  In this picture, you can see the diagonal lines that show up with the multiples of threes!  If you have multiple colors of highlighters, they can do more than one pattern at a time!  If you want a FREE version of a blank hundreds chart, click here (I have a version that begins with 0 and a version that begins with 1).    

SALE TIME!!

If you are looking for some more practice with Factors and Multiples, check out my BUNDLE.  It includes all you need to teach factors and multiples, as well as practice finding Greatest Common Factors and Least Common Multiples.

This bundle includes:

*A poster showing the difference between factors and multiples

*Color-By-Number pictures to practice finding GCF and LCM

*Practice pages for finding GCF and LCM

*A cut-and-paste activity to show the differences between factors and multiples

*A Monster Mash game board and instructions

You can grab this bundle from Educents for only $5 this week (it is normally $10, so it is a great time to snag it!).  That means it is under $1 per activity!!  

I would LOVE to hear how YOU teach factors and multiples!  Leave a comment or link up below to share your ideas.
   Until next time,

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