Math must be practiced to be remembered. Practice takes time and patience, and can wear on both the teachers and the students! But games take practice to another dimension. This simple game is designed to help with practice at all levels of math ability. It is easy to learn, but will provide hours of math fun and practice.
Packet Contents:
· Instructions
· 4 6-sided Dice and 2 12-sided Dice
· 5 “Game Boards” – Levels 1 – 5
· Addition and Multiplication Tables
· Prime Numbers List
· “The Sieve of Eratosthenes”
· Skip Counting Charts
Object of Game:
To be the first to cover 3, 4, or 5 numbers in a row (depending on the level).
Playing the Game:
Each player has a different color with which to mark their numbers on one central board. The youngest player rolls the dice, decides what number combination he wants to use (there are usually several to choose from), and covers his number. The dice are then passed to the next player – who repeats the process.
Winning the Game:
For each level, there is a preset amount of numbers in a row that have to be covered. The first player to successfully cover that amount wins the game.
Level 1:
The first level of math is Number Recognition.
The first “game board” shows the numbers 1 – 6 in random order. The younger students match the number of dots on the die they roll with the numbers on their board.
Level 2:
Once students are doing some basic addition and subtraction, they move to the second “game board” – with numbers 0 -12. With 2 dice, each of these numbers can be obtained by addition and/or subtraction.
With most rolls, there will be two choices to pick from, for example:
With the roll of a 1 and a 2,
they can cover 3 or 1
With the roll of a 2 and a 6
they can cover 4 or 8
etc.
Level 3:
It doesn’t take long before students want to start multiplying and dividing, also. With 2 dice, most numbers up to 36 can be gotten with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and/or division, but not all. So we’ve designed this “game board” to include all the numbers that can be made with 2 dice. Now the options for each turn increase dramatically. For example:
With the roll of a 2 and a 6,
they can cover 3 (6/2),
4 (6-2),
8 (6+2),
or 12 (6*2).
Playing this with everyone on the same board, blocking each other is now a consideration also. In addition to practicing their math facts, here they get to practice offensive versus defensive playing, as they strategize where to play.
Level 4:
As students get older, they can start thinking beyond 2 numbers, and one operation, and we introduce a 3rd dice. With 3 dice, it becomes much more challenging. With 3 dice, they have to use all 3 numbers, but they can use them in any order, with various operations. For instance:
With the roll of a 2,3, and 4
options include:
