Your elementary students are learning division and multiplication skills. Part of those math skills includes understanding greatest common factor in the math classroom.
GCF is also important in beginning to understand, add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions! Understanding the largest number divides into a set of numbers will help your students practice division and multiplication facts.
Check out these ways to practice greatest common factor in the elementary classroom!
Teach Different Strategies to Find the Greatest Common Factor
To begin, there are two different strategies I teach to help students find the greatest common factor of a group of numbers.
1. In the first method, students list all the factors of each number. Then, they look for the factors that are the same and the greatest for all the numbers.
2. Another method to find GCF is through prime factorization. Sometimes this is referred to as using factor trees! Break down the factors of a number using prime factorization. Next, multiply the common prime factors to find the greatest common factor. Use the lessons and materials provided in the Greatest Common Factor Activities bundle!
Color By Greatest Common Factor
Whenever you can get your students coloring in math, it’s a good thing! Color by Factor sheets allows your students to get creative and use art skills while identifying greatest common factors of given numbers.
Simply color in the numbers according to the key. Fun pictures of animals will help your students enjoy and engage while learning and practicing!
For an added bonus, have your students create their own greatest common factor Color by Number sheets and trade with a classmate! What gorgeous pictures can your creative learners come up with?
Word Problems
I am a huge proponent of making math relevant. Math makes sense when you can incorporate things students will see in their homes and schools.
Even more than making math easy and magical for kids, I want to make sure it relates to problems they encounter in their lives. Using word problems involving school and home situations for third and fourth graders will make greatest common factor problems make sense!
For example, Jack is making cookies for a party. He has 100 chocolate chips, 75 sprinkles, and 50 walnuts. What is the greatest number of cookies Jack can make if each cookie has the same toppings? (Answer: 25 cookies)
Bring problems like this to life by drawing cookies with toppings or even sharing a special cookie treat with the class! Try these Greatest Common Factor Word Problems with your students!
Differentiate instruction by having students write their own greatest common factor word problems using their own names and situations! Get excited about teaching greatest common factor in your elementary classroom!
Resources
More and more I notice my students have challenges with multiple choice questions. Mastering how to answer these types of questions is helpful and can be applied later to standardize testing.
Creating activities practicing multiple choice options (especially when several of the answers are possibilities) can be so helpful when practicing GCF. Click on the picture below to grab this FREEBIE.
My students are never too old for cut, sort, and glue activities. Brushing up on hand-eye coordination, fine motor, and bilateral coordination is a great skill to practice at any age. The printable below can serve as a wonderful review. Like what you see? Click on the picture below to download this freebie.
GCF is so important in multiplication, division, and studying fractions. Using the activities in the Greatest Common Factor Activities bundle will help your students understand and practice GCF as it applies to 3rd and 4th grade math skills and concepts.
What Activities will you use in your math classroom?
Check out the activities and printables below on TPT.
You can always “COUNT ON ME” for engaging, differentiated math resources to help every student shine!
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