Circle and X's (adapted from "Circle and Stars" by Marilyn Burns) is a great way to help students understand multiplication and vocabulary related to multiplication.

This flipchart has directions, worksheets and recording pages to teach Circle and X's. Teachers can use the flipchart, dice from the tool bar and the recording sheet to play against their class

To introduce the game the teacher will roll the number cube (on the Promethean Board) 2 times. The teacher will drag premade circles for the first roll and put X's in each circle for the 2nd roll on the yellow recording sheet. The teacher will write a sentence and an equation for each turn. Example: 3 groups of 4 is 12, 3x4=12. A student from the class will do the same on the green recording sheet. The winner is the person with the most X's.

My class played the game everyday for several weeks and then it was placed in a center.

Included are worksheets to introduce how to record for the game, a recording sheet and a practice/assessment worksheet.

This game along with Understanding Multiplication Part 1 (What Comes in 2's, 3's, & 4's) and Understanding Multiplication Part 3 (Arrays) gave my students a good understanding of multiplication. This is what the Common Core expects from 3rd and 4th graders.