Middle School Math Stations or Centers: Factors, Multiples, Prime, Composite

This ready-to-go set of 5 stations will supplement a unit about factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers.

Math stations or centers are a great way to get students engaged as they move about the room and work collaboratively with their peers. Even when students are in middle school or the intermediate grades, they benefit from a variety of teaching strategies including the use of stations or centres!

But they are a lot of work to prepare! Let me do the work for you!

Station 1: Students solve 4 riddles/word problems involving factors and multiples.

(optional: set out white boards for students to use)

Station 2: Students play a game using 10-sided dice.

(supplies needed: pairs of dice)

Station 3: Students choose two numbers to investigate and learn about common factors and multiples.

(optional: set out an anchor chart about factors vs multiples)

Station 4: Students review prime and composite numbers and make prime factor trees.

(optional: set out laptops or tablets for the online game extension)

Station 5: Students apply what they have learned to a real-life problem, and practice writing and drawing about their mathematical thinking.

(optional: set out counters for students to use)

Ways to Use: You can break your class into 5 groups and have them rotate one at a time through the centres, giving them 10-20 minutes at each one. Or, start students at certain centres and then allow them to move around at their own pace as long as no one centre gets too full. I find these are a great resource as you are finishing your unit and preparing for the unit test.

Grades to Use With: These stations work well in grades 4-7 classes or high school special education.

Standards:

CCSS4.OA.B.4

Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1-100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is prime or composite.

CCSS6.NS.B.4

Find the greatest common factor of two whole numbers less than or equal to 100 and the least common multiple of two whole numbers less than or equal to 12. Use the distributive property to express a sum of two whole numbers 1–100 with a common factor as a multiple of a sum of two whole numbers with no common factor. For example, express 36 + 8 as 4 (9 + 2).

If you like these math stations, check out the others in my store:

5 Stations for Adding/Subtracting Integers

5 Stations for Early Algebra Concepts

5 Stations for Area, Perimeter, and Volume

A total of 7 pages in PDF Format

Title Page

5 Stations (one is two pages long)