Multiplication Bingo is a great way to get students practising their multiplication facts in a fun and competitive nature that doesn’t leave the student who needs a bit of extra support out. In this lesson, students learn tactics (tricks) and find out which one is more efficient to them when solving multiplication timestables.

• Recall multiplication facts of two, three, five and ten and related division facts (ACMNA056)
• Represent and solve problems involving multiplication using efficient mental and written strategies and appropriate digital technologies(ACMNA057)
• Recall multiplication facts up to 10 × 10 and related division facts (ACMNA075)
• Develop efficient mental and written strategies and use appropriate digital technologies for multiplication and for division where there is no remainder (ACMNA076)

Preamble: This lesson can be adapted depending on which strategy you are focusing on for the week/day. In this case, the only thing that changes is how you teach the strategy in the introduction.

1. Write the multiplication timestables up on the board in a list (See below).
2. Then ask the students to be really honest and to think about the ones that they struggle a little bit with.
3. Take a blind vote (ask students to close their eyes and raise their hand) by reading through the list of timestables and asking the kids to raise their hands when they feel they need a bit more help.
4. Record the number of votes and use the most voted for as your starting point for the day.
5. Explain that “Today we are going to work on our ______ timestables / multiplication facts (if you want the correct language) by playing a game called Multiplication Bingo.
6. Next, explain the rules of the game and model how to rule up a 4 x 4 grid:

• We will be using a 10-sided dice to roll to tell us what the question will be (e.g. If I roll a 6 and we are looking at the 4 x timestable / multiplication facts, then the question will be 6 x 4 = or 4 x 6 = )
• For the multiplication fact / timestable that we are learning you must write the as many of the answers that can possibly come up as you can in the  grid (e.g. For the 4 x you would need to write 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36,  40).
• When you have written these all in, you will need to fill in 6 more squares with those numbers again, but a number can only be written twice in your grid. (some students will think about the probability of numbers coming up without even realising it).
• The winner of the game is the person who can make a row, column or diagonal of 4 numbers in a row (feel free to change this to the whole grid or corners as well).

1. Explain to the students that before we start the game, we need to work out some TACTICS/STRATEGIES for solving the _____ multiplication facts / timestables quicker.
2. Ask students if they have a strategy for working out the _________ multiplication facts / timestables.
3. Record all methods on a board where the students will be easily able to see.
4. Discuss which methods would be ‘more efficient’ to help us work out our answers.
5. Now tell students to go back to their seats and begin the game of MULTIPLICATION BINGO.
6. Ask (perhaps a more able student) to record the questions that get rolled in order to check for winners later.

Conclusion:

1. Once you have your top 5, ask them to call out the answers that they used to create bingo.
2. Once verified, bring students back to the floor and discuss which strategy they used and whether it was more effective than what they were previously doing. Ask them to explain how they worked out the ____________________ timestable question.

 

Assessment:

• You could do a pre-assessment on their timestable facts, but it’s really not a necessity.
• Conduct a self-assessment of their quickness to answer questions (e.g. out of 10 I’m a ______ with my speed)

Resources:

• Pencils/Pens
• Workbooks
• Timestable Tricks from http://www.floratorra.com/Documents/Tricks-to-Learning-Multiplication-Tables.pdf
• Timestable Tricks from http://www.abcteach.com/free/m/mulitplication_quicktricks_elem.pdf

 

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