Boosting Math Skills with Posters: Rounding and Divisibility Rules

Let’s talk about two awesome visual tools that can make math more engaging and easier for our students: a poster to help with rounding and a set of posters for divisibility rules. These posters are not just informative, but they also add a splash of color and fun to your classroom.

Poster 1: Making Rounding Fun and Easy

Rounding numbers can be a bit tricky for some students, but with a colorful and clear number line/poster, it becomes much simpler. This visual tool is designed to help students understand and visualize the rounding process with ease.

Spanning numbers from 0 to 100, each non-multiple of 10 is marked with an arrow showing the direction it rounds. This feature provides clear guidance, helping students make accurate rounding decisions.

When teaching rounding, I have students count just how far away their number is. For example, 57 is three hops away from 60, but seven hops away from 50; therefore, 57 rounds to 60. It might take repeated examples, but this strategy has really helped my students understand the concept of rounding.

Poster 2: Mastering Divisibility Rules and Key Math Vocabulary 

Divisibility rules are essential for understanding factors, multiples, and simplifying fractions. A set of posters outlining these rules for numbers 1-12, along with some key vocabulary, can be a game-changer in your classroom.

Each poster includes the rule of divisibility, the factors of the number, and the first five multiples of the number. Numbers are clearly displayed to make finding the needed rule fast & easy.

Why are these Divisibility Rules Posters a game-changer?

• Complete Coverage: No need to hunt for additional materials – you'll have all the divisibility rules and key terms you need in one convenient set.
• Encourages Independence: With mini posters for student notebooks, learners can take charge of their own learning.
• Flexible Use: Whether you're teaching in a classroom, homeschooling, or tutoring, these posters fit seamlessly into any learning environment.
• Supports Everyone: From struggling students to math whizzes, these posters cater to all levels, ensuring no one gets left behind.

Making Posters Part of Your Daily Routine

• Daily References: Refer to the posters during lessons to reinforce what you’re teaching to help students become familiar with the posters.
• Student Use: Encourage students to refer to the posters when they need help to promotes independence and confidence in their math skills.
• Interactive Activities: Create activities or games that use the information on these posters. You might pick up a set of task cards that focus on the skills and let the students play games during center time.

Using these posters, you can create a classroom environment that’s not only more engaging but also supports all learners in mastering essential math concepts. They turn tricky topics into visual, fun, and memorable lessons that stick with students long after class is over.

      

Use the posters while working on Math Centers.

Using Games with Your Task Cards

I absolutely love using centers in my math class. They give me the opportunity to meet with small groups of students and focus on their specific needs. Meanwhile, the rest of the class can work on practicing the skills they need to improve. After many years of teaching math and understanding what students really need to practice versus what they quickly grasp, I began creating a large variety of task cards.

Many teachers use my task cards to play Scoot, but this whole-class activity doesn’t quite fit during small group time. That's where Game Time comes in.

What I love about these games is that once the students learn how to play them, you can easily swap out the task cards to change the skill they're practicing, without having to teach a new game each time. This variety keeps the students engaged and makes them feel like they’re doing something different with each center rotation, when they’re actually just using new task cards. And setup? It couldn’t be easier!

A Few Game Ideas...

     

Tic-Tac-Toe (FREE): Print out a couple of boards for partners to use and then leave them in the center. Change out the tokens every month to go with the season.

Boom (FREE): Not mine, but a favorite of my students. You'll need an oatmeal or Nesquick canister (large, cylinder kind) and then you're good to go. My kids love this game.

Jenga (FREE): You need a Jenga set you don't mind writing on - check Goodwill. Number each block. Play like regular Jenga, but in order to pull the block, kids have to answer the question on the corresponding task card.

Game Boards (Very Inexpensive): I have a bunch of game boards in my store that can be used throughout the year to go with the different seasons. Each set comes with multiple board layouts so things can look a little different when students visit this center. But, with the rules being the same, kids won't be up at your desk asking questions about how to play.

Set Up

I keep a manila envelope for each game, with the rules on the back for reference, and simply drop in a new set of task cards each week. For the Boom set, I just drop a new set of cards into the canister & it's ready to go. Even Jenga gets its own envelope so that the instructions & cards stay together. 

If students are struggling with a skill, I'll move that set of task cards from one game to another for additional practice during the next center rotation. Otherwise, I rotate through what we just learned, something everyone is struggling with, multi-step word problems, and something related to number sense (rounding often shows up in our rotation).