Monthly Archives: April 2014

YouCubed – Math Games

I found a new resource for K-5 math games.

The entire website has wonderful resources for teachers http://www.youcubed.org/ , but if you want to jump straight to the games, you can look for this picture –

Image

Some of the games will be familiar to you.

Here’s a game that’s new to me:

Get to Zero
You Need
• two or three players
• three dice
• paper and pencil
How to Play
First, on a sheet of paper, each player needs to write the players’ names and the number 999 under each name.
A player rolls the three dice, then arranges the three numbers (for example, 2, 3, 5) in
some order (for example, 235, 352, 532, and so on) and subtracts that 3-digit number
from 999. The other players also should subtract as a check.
The players take turns, rolling the die to make their special number and continuing to
subtract. The winner is the first player to reach 0, but they must get to 0 exactly. At any time, a player may choose to roll only one or two dice, instead of three dice. If the only numbers a player can make are larger that his remaining score, the player loses his turn.
Adaptations
You can adapt the game by changing the starting number and the number of dice used.  For example, start with the number 99 and roll 2 dice.

 

Doubles No Trouble

Earlier this year, I linked to a post on the Math Coach’s Corner site on using a Make Ten strategy for addition.

http://mathcoachscorner.blogspot.com/2013/11/make-ten-strategy-for-addition.html

Now she has some similar cards for using doubles. It might be helpful for some students to look at pairwise 10-frames as they are using the strategy cards.  You can find more information here.

http://mathcoachscorner.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-using-doubles-strategy-for-addition.html

I’ve been adding videos to my YouTube Playlists.  Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6hz2EDbeF00bV0abNEI9g/playlists

Reading Activities

I learned these two activities at an NCTM presentation by Susan D. Rogalski and Patsy F. Kanter.

  1. Give students a non-fiction reading selection and a highlighter.  (We used a page from the newspaper.)  The students don’t need to be able to read the selection because all they are doing is highlighting the numerals.  If students can read the selection, they can highlight other math words.
  2. Give students a non-fiction reading selection, at their reading level, that has the numerals and math words blacked out.  At the bottom of the page, or on another page, provide a word bank with the words that have been blacked out.  For example, I’ve attached a passage with purple highlighting.  The highlighted sections will be blacked out and at the bottom of the page, or on another page, the students will have a list of the words and numerals that have been blacked out.  Students read the passage and fill in the appropriate numeral or math words. Highlighted Nonfiction Passage