Trash to Treasure!

Have you ever wondered how you could recycle plastic water or soda bottle caps in the classroom?

I saw a post on Pinterest a while back where a teacher made a math station for multiplication facts using bottle caps and well, let's just say I gave it a try and it was a big hit in my classroom!

Go from this!

To this!

Problem on the top of the cap and answer on the inside of the cap.

Just be sure to clean the bottle caps in the dishwasher!

I store them in a crystal light container that I taped directions to and I included the number of caps the station should have.

I have quite a few of these stations, so for easier sorting I used the same color caps, same color dot sticker for problems and same color dot sticker for answers.  So if students mix them up (You know that they will find a way!) it will be easier to find the caps that belong to their station.

The dot stickers come in so many colors, so there are many color combinations that are possible.

My tactile learners LOVE this activity.  They work in pairs and take turns answering.  If they get it correct, they get to stack their cap in a vertical tower (one on top of the other) or triangular tower (staggered one on top of the other).  The student that causes the tower to fall looses the game.

Hey! It works for me!  They start the game over and their integer fluency increases!  

I have some for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of integers.  So easy to make that my students even offered to make some for me!  How cool is that?!

Here are some other quick and easy prep integer activities that you can find at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Integer Fluency Circles

Exponents with Integers Matching Card Set

Christmas Tree Negatives and Positives - Mixed Computation with Integers

Integer Fluency Circles

I'm from Texas, and as some of you already know, many of the math standards have been rearranged to different grade levels.

As a 7th grade math teacher, it was my job to teach 7th graders addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of integers with and without models.  It was brand new to them in 7th grade until (insert horror music here) standards were changed.

Now, they are supposed to learn computation of integers with and without models in 6th grade.  Well, let's just say there are many gaps that still need to be filled, in all grade levels including 7th.

That's when I came up with Integer Fluency Circles. It's a spin off of multiplication circles I saw a few years back (okay, way waaaayyyy back).

I'm not a big fan of making thousands upon thousands of copies of worksheets for my students while standing by the copy machine fighting the urge to fall asleep due to the soothing rhythm it creates. Therefore, I made Integer Fluency Circles for each of my students and laminated them so that they could keep them in their "pencil" bag for easy access.  They also have a dry erase marker in their bag and small felt square they use as an eraser.

Students LOVE this activity!  I made it a bit of a competition within their group.  I first tell them what number to write in the center of the circle, then I announce "Ready? Set? ______!!!" Insert add, subtract or multiply in the blank.  Then, it's a race.  The person to get the most correct at the end of the round earns a point.  They keep score on their desk with their dry erase marker.

I post answers on the screen so that they can check.  For further review, I have them discuss mistakes made and what they need to do to get it correct next time.

You can find this activity HERE.  I've provided different sizes, as well as blank circles to create your own.