Friday Game Day.... Tower Addition

I hope you've had a great week... I can't believe it's Friday again!

I might have chosen (ok... did choose!) this game because it uses unifix cubes... I bought this cute clip art from Mel at Graphics from the Pond in the sales this week and was looking for an excuse to use them! ;)

This week's game is one that's really handy to reinforce counting and addition skills... It's great to use at the beginning of a lesson as a bit of a warm up.

To play, you just need a die, a heap of colour blocks/counters or unifix cubes and something for kids to write on - I usually give them their little whiteboards to work on. When I've played it with older kids, I've sometimes given them calculators as well so that they can double check their answers.

To start with, everyone takes five unifix cubes (or three, ten etc... Depending on how easy or difficult you want the game to be) and makes their tower. As a class, we then roll the die (1-6 maybe to start with, but you could use a 1-3 or 1-10-depending on how difficult you want the game to be) to allocate each cube a value.

Then each person works out how much their tower is 'worth' by adding the value of all of their cubes... the person with the highest value tower is the winner! I find kids really get into this game... you can also play it where the person with the lowest tower is the winner. Just a hint... make sure all the kids have their towers built before you assign values to the colours... otherwise you'll get some 'strategic' players who purposely choose the high value colours! ;)

Friday Fun day... Place Value game

This game is one that I learnt from an AWESOME Maths educator, Professor Di Seimon. She has done some amazing work around teaching number, when I've heard her present, I've been in awe of how much she knows about teaching and learning Number... if you ever get the chance, definitely so see her!

This game is designed to reinforce place value. Here's a link to the original game board, that I've used with Yr 2/3s. The great thing about this game is that it can be adapted to any level so easily, and can be used for decimals, fractions, whole numbers... so many things!

The original download is much clearer... I wasn't sure how to upload a clearer image.. sorry!

The game needs two players, two 0-9 dice and a game board each. The aim is to be the first person with a number in each of the boxes. Player 1 rolls the two dice and then makes a number with the two numbers rolled (for example, if I roll a 3 and a 5, I can make 35 or 53) and then chooses a box to write the number in. Player two then has a turn and this continues until one person has all their boxes filled. If you can't make a move, you skip a turn. 

There is so much strategy in this game! Kids need to have a sense of where a number is in relation to 0 and 100 so they can estimate a box to write in, so there is a lot of calcluated guessing!

When I play with game with littler kids, I use a one 1 - 10 die and a simpler board. The concept is still the same, but obviously only working with the numbers 1 - 10. 

At first, we have 9 boxes on the game so that all the numbers 1-9 are written, as they get into the swing of things, we use a game board with less squares so that they need to start making strategic decisions about where to place the numbers that they roll (this can get quite tricky!)

Once they have the gist of this, we use two 1- 9 (or 1 - 10) dice and add them together. For this, we use a 0 - 20 game board - I either give the kids a game board, or I get them to draw one that looks something like this....

This is a great game to play as a part of your lessons, or for kids to play when they have some spare time... I always find it's a really popular one! :)

Friday Game Day... a fun and easy card game

It's Friday again!

Today's game is one that I learnt from the lovely lady I team teach with. It's a really simple card game that you can use to develop a whole range of number skills. It's originally meant to reinforce number recognition, but you can use it for ordering numbers, number bonds, doubles, adding on... the list is endless! It's a really easy game to differentiate, so I love it!

The game is played in small groups, 4 or so is best. You need a pack of cards (minus picture cards, and Ace is worth 1), and one person to be the 'dealer' they deal each player a card (face down) and on the count of three, everyone turns their card face up. The first person to say the number on their card is the winner and collects everyone's cards from the round. This continues until there is only one player left with cards, and they're the winner! Simple but effective and kids LOVE it.

Here's a couple of ways you can modify the game... I'm sure you can think of more ideas too!

Ordering numbers - when all the cards are turned over, you say the card with the highest value.

Number Bonds - when the cards are turned over, say the number that goes with it to make 5/10 etc.

Doubles - Call out double the number on your card

Adding on - Agree on the number you are adding on before each round (or the whole game (for example, 2). When the cards are turned over, each player adds on that number to their card (so if I had a 4 and the number was 2, I would call out 6)

Times tables - choose the table you want to work with (say, 3) and then players call out 3 x the number on their card.

 Great to use for small group work, for working with Buddy Class or with helper in your room!

 If you give this game a try, I'd love to hear about it!

1 - 20 Freebie :)

Today is our last 'official' day of holidays...school starts in South Australia tomorrow! 

I thought I'd share a little freebie that I'm planning to use with my littlies in the first week back. It's a simple 1 - 20 pegging activity, but is one that's always popular! I think it the tactile nature of pegging that kids seem to love... and it's a great way for me to get a snapshot of their understanding about recognising numbers 1 - 20, counting collections to 20 and ordering numbers to 20.

Graphics c 2012 KPM Doodles

Graphics c 2012 KPM Doodles

To use, you simply need to print off the sheets (which you can download here) and laminate them then grab some pegs and write the numbers 1 - 20 on them and you're ready to go!

You can either keep the sheets whole (so that kids are practicing number recognition and counting collections) or cut them out so that they can be ordered once pegged, to add another dimension to the activity.

With my brand newies, I will only use the 1 - 10 sheet, but for those kids I had last year (so they've had 1 - 2 terms of Reception already), I'll use both sheets (which means they'll be pegging 1 - 20).

Also, I just had to quickly share one of my (many!) purchases I made when I went to Spotlight yesterday. That store is SUCH a dangerous place! So many things to buy! Luckily I had my two little ones with me so my trip there was fairly short... not to much damage to the hip pocket!

I saw these little cut outs, they're only $1.95 a packet. I thought they'd be perfect for matching games.. I've already made a 1 - 10 matching game (To go with my number focus for this week), but really the possibilities are endless! I'm planning to make an Uppercase/Lowercase Letter Match, skip counting cards and a number pegging game (have the numeral on the card, the student pegs that number of pegs to it).

To make, I simply glued the number/ten frame on..

 ....laminated, and cut out... all ready to use! I made one set where the pairs also had matching characters (simpler version)

... and one set that didn't have matching characters (more difficult)

I'm really looking forward to this week... beginning of the year is such an exciting time! I hope every one has a wonderful week too, whether it be your first for the school year or not :)

Friday Game Day

Hi everyone :)

I love playing games with my class... such a fun way to engage them in their learning! We always start our Maths lessons off with a game and often will have a quick Maths game when we have a spare 5 minutes -  its a great way to pack a little extra learning into the day.

So... I thought I'd start sharing some of these games with you every week. I'm calling it...

Friday Game Day!

For my first game, I thought I'd share an oldie but a goodie... no matter which year level I'm teaching, kids LOVE this game and ALWAYS want to play it! (Not just during Maths, but pretty much any time!)

Maths Chasey

This game is based on the traditional school yard chasey, but with a twist! The aim of the game is to be the last person standing, and you can 'tag' people by answering a question correctly. The rules are as follows....

 Students spread around the room. The teacher calls out a maths question, and students put up their hand to answer. The teacher chooses a person; if their answer is correct they may take a step and try to ‘tag’ others. If a student is tagged, they are out of the game. If they answer the question incorrectly, they are also out (though sometimes I don't use this rule, it depends on the group). This continues until only one person is remaining.... they are the winner!

I also play with the rule that kids can re-enter the game if they can answer a question that another student guessed incorrectly. I find this really helps keep those kids who were out early engaged in the game... they are busting to get back in!

I tend to just make up the questions as I go, incorporating whatever is relevant to the kids at the time. If you find this a bit tricky, you could easily use questions from a Mental Math book instead

 I have a Ten Minute Math Games pack on TPT, click here if you'd like to have a look at it :)

  I hope you find this game useful... let me know if you try it with your class!