One of my favorite activities to do in class is to give students task cards with different arrangements and ask them how they see/count the objects. This activity offers a great opportunity for discussions. I later ask the students to write the equations or just the expressions for the arrangements, which is great practice for multiplication and division. We also use them as pictures/diagrams for word problems. The dots can be anything. In a previous post, I shared some simple array task cards where the students had to write the expressions and practice the properties of multiplication. Today I would like to share with you some more array task cards, this time with the arrays placed in different shapes and arrangements like the ones below. My students seem to like these new arrangements more and they love to create their own.
The first group of cards (like the above) requires the students to draw lines and group the dots how they see them/count them. The second group requires the students to complete or write the expression or equation for the arrangement based on how they see the arrangement. (They can use all operations)
In the second type of cards (like the ones below) the arrangement is partly marked with different colors to guide and encourage the students to make different equations and practice the properties of multiplication with these different array shapes. For example, for the first card below the students might write (2×4)+(3×4) or (4×2)+(6×2)
In the third type of cards, the students are asked to color or circle the arrangements based on a given equation or color the arrangement and write the equation themselves. In the google slides version, the students drag and drop numbers and operation signs.
Example
The cards are provided without the expression as well so that the students can color the arrangement their own way and write the expression based on that.
In the google slides version the students are asked to create the arrangement based on a given expression.
You can use the card as warm -ups, group work, practice, to initiate discussions, as pictures for word problems, and more. Dot markers work great for the students to create their own arrangements.
We hope you find these activity cards useful.
Find the free and premium version below. The premium version includes 90 digital activities and over 100 print activities
