Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Factors or Multiples??

Each year, I find that my sixth grade students have great difficulty distinguishing between factors and multiples. A colleague of mine shared an idea that I love!! She suggested telling the students that there are only a few factors but there are millions of multiples! I always find myself stuttering the words ffffew ffffactors and mmmmillions of mmmmultiples!! It is amazing how reciting this has helped so many of them remember the difference!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the idea. I will try this in my remediation sessions with my 8th graders. I will also apply this idea to other concepts in all of my classes.

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  2. This is great! I find my students struggle as well and your suggestion may help a lot. Thank you!

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  3. I try to remind my students that when they hear the word multiple to think of multiply. Multiples are like the times tables.

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  4. In addition to using this method with my students, I also exaggerate the way I say the words multiples and factors. When I say "multiples" I stretch the word out so it takes a long time to say it. Then when I say "factors" I say it very quickly. This will help them to remember that multiples go on forever and factors are very limited.

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