SKILL BUILDING MATH GAMES & ACTIVITIES (Dave Gardner, Head Teacher, Explorations in Math)
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[email protected]) NOTE: When played at the beginning of a math period, many of the games and activities that follow serve three important purposes: they get students’ attention, they focus students on math, and the game/activity puts students in a positive frame of mind prior to starting the math lesson.
PRIMARY SKILL-BUILDING GAMES & ACTIVITIES Addition Bingo (STRAND: Number Sense-Addition): Pass out 4x4 grids to students (16 squares total). (Or, have students fold a piece of paper twice the hot dog way and twice the hamburger way.) Instruct students to put down any numbers from 0 to 20 in each of the squares. The same number cannot be used more than once. The instructor calls out addition problems from flash cards but does not say the answer. If the student has the answer on his or her card, the student marks out the box or places a marker on the number until there is a bingo. The instructor should write down the answers to the problems to make sure the winning students answered correctly. Cross the Line (STRAND: Number Sense-computation): Students line up facing the teacher. The teacher says, “Cross the line if____”. If the students agree, they cross to the line on the other side. If they do not agree, they stay put. For example, if the teacher says, “Cross the line if one plus one equals three,” students have to decide whether to cross or stay put. Any student who crosses when she shouldn’t (or fails to cross when she should) sits down. Continue until one person is left. As students are eliminated, make problems more challenging. Hokey Pokey with Shapes (STRAND: Geometry): Cut out basic shapes and laminate them (to use each year). Students hold the shapes in one hand. Then, instead of singing put your "right hand in" students sing put the "red square in" or whatever shape and color it is.
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I’m Out! (STRAND: Number Sense-Subtraction): This is a two-player game that requires a deck of cards (all face cards removed) and 15 markers (beans, paper clips, etc.) per player. Twenty cards are dealt to each player, face down. (Variation: place the deck between players, each player draws a card.) Both players turn over their top card and find the difference between the two numbers. The player with the lower number pays the difference in markers to the other player. The game ends when all cards have been played or when one player has all the markers. EXAMPLE: Player #1 turns up a 3 and player #2 a 5. Player one pays two markers (5 – 3 = 2) to player two. Play continues until one player is out of markers and announces “I’m out!”. VARIATIONS: More than two may play but on each turn only the players with the highest and lowest cards pay markers on that turn. Stop or Go (STRAND: Number Sense-Addition): For 2 or more students, one six-sided die needed for each group of players. The object of the game is to be the first player to reach a designated number of points (25, 50, 100). Player #1 rolls the die. If a 1 is rolled, the