Students sort and match as they work to add fractions and complete the train. Great for partners. Can also be used for stations, centers, or independent work.

Adding Fractions with Like Denominators Math Talk Activity Review Practice

  Plus a bonus: Exit tickets which can be used for any lesson!

Looking for an authentic activity that inspires mathematical conversations? Try a Domino Train in class tomorrow! 

• Activate prior knowledge
• Use as review 
• Formative assessment
• Differentiated instructional practice
• Scaffolded
• Engage students in academic talk
• Low prep: < 30 mins to print and cut out class sets
• Reusable
• Instructions are intuitive for students
• Low stakes, low stress
• Hands-on
• Can be a tech-free activity (teacher’s choice for extra resources such as whiteboards or calculators, etc).
• BONUS: Exit Tickets now included, usable for any lesson

Domino Trains are great for a quick review or to help students get out of a passive mindset and into a more active one.  They are easy for the teacher to check on-the-spot, but students usually self-correct when they have a leftover domino, since the train design shows students when there is an error. This also encourages further mathematical discussion!

I love using a Domino Train activity to review a topic or inspire students to a higher level of thinking. This activity is differentiated (multiple entry points for students of many levels). Natural conversation tends to take place as students consider how to organize the dominos and find the connecting pieces. The students seem to do well with it, insofar as they persist through the exercises. Whereas they may give up on worksheets.

You will need:

1. a printer
2. Assorted colors of printer paper (one color for each set; one set for each pair of students)
3. Scissors
4. Paper clips or sandwich bags for each set you print out

Teacher prep instructions:

1. Print out 1 copy for each partner pair (consider using colored paper). I like to use different colors so that if someone drops a domino, we know to which set it belongs.
2. Cut the dominos out, along the dashed lines.
3. The solid line separates the answer on the left and the next question to factor on the right.
4. Mix up the dominos so they are out of order and paper clip each set or put each set in a sandwich bag
5. Use as a warm up or review, designed to create dialog between students 

This product is for single classroom use only. This product cannot be shared without purchasing additional licenses. This product may not be copied, edited, or resold in any form without permission from the author. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  Please email me at teach.well.5050@gmail.com with any questions about the use of this product.