Rolling Arrays
Engage your students in a dynamic multiplication exploration with our Rolling Arrays activity. Utilising two dice and our Rolling Arrays Grid Page,' students create arrays to grasp multiplication models. This low-prep, exciting game fosters array-building skills, making it an ideal warm-up, rotation, or fast-finisher resource for your classroom.
Learning goals
- We are learning to recognise and represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays.
- We are learning to divide a set of objects into equal sized groups to solve simple problems.
- We are learning to recognise and represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays and to divide a set of objects into equal sized groups.
- We are learning to solve problems involving modelling addition, subtraction, equal sharing and grouping, using different strategies.
- We are learning to recall multiplication facts for twos and apply to related division facts using doubling and halving.
Curriculum alignment
Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.
Differentiation
Modifications
Recording: Direct students to record the array as repeated addition, groups of, rows of, the product of or as a multiplication fact, depending on the focus in your classroom. See the Example page for suggestions.
Extensions
Partitioning: Students may partition the multiplication facts if they roll a total that do not fit on the grid. For example, if a player rolls a 6 and a 4, they can shade in a 2x4 and a 4x4 array instead of a 6x4 array.
Larger grid: With this modification, players mark their arrays on one grid. One player shades in their arrays with Xs, the other with Os. Alternatively, players can use different colour pencils to tell their arrays apart.
Multiplayer game: Any number of students can play, and the more players you have, the more likely the game will result in a tie. Each player has their own grid. Taking turns, they fill in their arrays. As players lose the ability to shade in a score on their array, they are out. The last person left to be able to shade in an array is the winner.
Single-player game: One player attempts to fill in as many squares of the array as possible before throwing a score that no longer fits on the grid. The player focuses on multiplication skills as well as a good strategy for filling up their grid.