Multiplication Practice Card Sort: Meaningful Task for Partner Work & Math Talk

Are your students mixing up rows and columns? Adding instead of multiplying?Get all of of that cleared up with these 10 thoughtful no prep puzzles to bring all of your lessons on multiplication together, connecting all different representations!

This no prep multiplication card sort is perfect for fast finishers who need math enrichment activities and problem solving opportunities. Students will deepen their understanding of multiplication by working with arrays, equal groups, and repeated addition.

Please see the preview video to watch the problem-solving skills required to implement this in the best way possible. Create strong mathematicians who beg for more of these puzzles!

In this activity, students cut out and find the star "anchor" cards. Then, they put the rest of the cards into piles that match the anchor card. There may not always be the same number of cards in every pile. Please try out the free one in the preview!

Use for Early Finishers:

Your early finishers will be engaged when they have extra class time in a meaningful way, either working with a partner or small group. While this multiplication enrichment task isn't a typical word problem, they still require critical thinking to promote a deeper understanding of multiplication. The card sorts get more difficult as you go further along.

Much like logic puzzles, students connect a multiplication sentence to a visual model leading to a higher level of thinking. Young children often need a deeper level of challenge work, instead of racing on to the next grade level content.

Use for a Math Warm Up:

I have also used these as a whole class warm up to get those math skills ready to go in their brains. Some students may do well with mental math, but it would be a great idea to provide tools/manipulatives for students that may struggle. The visuals connect to real-world math problems as well, with all kinds of real life application.

Use for students needing intervention:

This resource can also work great for intervention. If you have students who are still adding instead of multiplying, or you just simply want to help them connect the numbers and symbols of multiplication to visuals, this no prep sorting activity is exactly what they need. There is zero prep involved, you print the page, and your students cut them and sort them.

Use for increasing math talk in the classroom:

This resource is here to help students engage in math talk, and is excellent practice for state standardized tests. They also are great for working through the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

Other reasons you may want to try out Piles:

1. You're looking for something meaningful for your students to do.

2. Your students do NOT understand the Equal Sign. They think it means “the answer is”. This activity will totally challenge that thinking.

3. Your students are used to having a pair in a matching game/activity. This mentality won’t work for Piles. They won’t always make a pair, sometimes their pile may have 3 or even 4 cards.

4. For years I’ve watched students thinking that the visual model, number sentence and words are separate things in mathematics. Piles will help connect this for them.

5. This will get them talking! Even your struggling students will start talking about why things fit together, and why they absolutely do not.

6. The activity can be done independently alongside your teaching.

7. You will uncover, and squash all KINDS of misconceptions that you didn’t even know existed.

What age group is this for?

This would be most appropriate for students beginning to learn about multiplication, late second graders needing a challenge, and third graders. I currently use these for fourth grade intervention activities.

Why work on equality activities?

So many students misunderstand what the equal sign means. A big misconception is that the equal sign means “the answer is”, when in reality it means something more like “is the same as” or “the same amount as”. Fixing this misconception at an early age will be beneficial in higher level mathematics.

In addition, the Standards for Mathematical Practice put a focus on the thinking processes of students. There is also some pretty strong research suggesting that students should be engaged in math talk for at least 60% of your math lesson. Giving students these tasks allows them to form their own thoughts, and then work with a team to defend their thinking. If you make it a regular part of your classroom routine (once a week or every other week) students will become more comfortable with math talk. The puzzles are also fantastic problem solving, critical thinking and deduction activities. This is also a wonderful test prep activity for state testing assessments are heavy with problems in which students are asked to think flexibly.

How long does this activity last?

Depending on the ability level of your students, each individual activity can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes (the later puzzles take much longer). In this resource, there are 10 total puzzles with 12 cards to “match” into piles.

How do I assess this project?

You can assess what the students do individually if you have them create their own piles. If you pull together small groups, you could also assess students on their group work skills and level of participation in their group.

How and when do you use this problem type in class?

There are many ways you can use this activity:

•  Math warm up
• Fast finisher activity
•  Morning work
•  Intervention block activity
•  Small group work
•  Homework for students
•  Gifted and talented small groups
•  Whole class activity
•  Parent volunteers can work one on one
•  Center activity

Included in this resource:

Information for the teacher pages: CCSS alignment, and a sample lesson plan.

10 puzzles, and 10 answer keys: the puzzles cover conceptual multiplication like equal groups, rows and arrays.

These puzzles are challenging, and fun! If you have any questions, or find any problems with your purchase, please contact me as soon as possible so that I may fix any errors.

If you like this activity, try out my reasoning puzzles:

Reasoning Puzzles: Activities to Engage in Math Talk