Skip to main content

Prime Factorization and GCF

What a week! One snow day and 2 late starts so far!
I just realized that I haven't written in almost 10 days.....I guess thinking about writing doesn't get the words on the page, huh?
 
Anyway, we worked on prime factorization at the end of last week, using both the factor tree method and the ladder method. Most of the students prefer the factor tree (I think that's because they've seen it before and feel comfortable with it), but a few like the ladder method. We've been using Prime Factorization Footloose to practice this skill; those who are finished have moved on to using the Factors and GCF Footloose cards.

We have discussed GCF briefly, several times, and it is really a review for them (based on their pretest results); the biggest problem here is that they often skip factors when they list them, and miss the GCF because of missing factors.  Today, we're going to discuss using prime factorizations to find the GCF. I never learned this way when I was growing up, but I really like it because it eliminates the need to find every factor of a number. We'll see how they like it...

Have a great day!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Memory Wheels - First Day, Last Day, and Any Day in Between!

This post has been moved to:  http://www.cognitivecardiowithmsmm.com/blog/memory-wheels-first-day-last-day-and-any-day-in-between

Differentiation and the Brain - Introduction

It's summer-time and time to get some reading done! Myself and my Tools for Teaching Teens collaborators are going to read and review Differentiation and the Brain, How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom , by David A. Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson.We will each be reviewing different chapters, and those blog posts will be linked together as we go. If you're interested in learning more about this book, check back and follow the links to the different chapters:) I'm going to give a quick review of the book introduction here, and then later today I'll be reviewing Chapter 1. According to the authors, differentiation is brain-friendly and brain-compatible! They describe the rise, fall, and rise of differentiation, starting with the one-room schoolhouses, where teachers taught all subjects to all students, of all ages, and HAD to differentiate - there was no other way! As the country's population grew, public schools grew, and students were separat

Love to Doodle (and a freedbie)

Exponents Color by Number For most of my school life as a student (and even as an adult, during PD), I have really liked doodling! During lectures, discussions...it would help me focus, but also give me something to make me look busy, so I wouldn't get called on in class! I always hated being called on and almost never participated voluntarily:) I liked to draw cubes, rectangles, squiggly lines, etc, and color in different parts of the doodles. Download this freebie:-) I really wanted to make some color by number activities. Since I am not good at creating actual pictures, I decided to make my color by numbers similar to my random drawing/doodling. My Exponent Color by Number is most similar to my past doodles, but I thought it was a little too random, so I started using actual shapes. The Integer Operations Color by Number (freebie), as well as most of my other color by numbers are more structured, but so much fun for me to make! Computerized doodling! Anyone else