Addition Treasure Hunt

By Julie Williams

It’s a rare kid who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt, and a rare teacher who doesn’t want kids to be able to learn the fundamentals of money math. Here’s an activity that puts them all together for learning and fun.

What You Need:

• Coin jar of loose change
• Couple of curious kids

What You Do:

1. Figure out a treasure hunt route around your home or yard with four or five destinations. Then, use the Secret Code Key (below) to spell out a clue card for each location. Let’s say, for example, you place a clue under your bed. Spell out “under the bed” in code, and send your child there to find the card. Then, under the bed, place another card listing the next destination, and so forth.
2. As you can see from our example, the treasure hunt clues have two “levels.” First, the child matches a number to a letter. Then, the child will count up all the “cents” to make a total.
3. At the end of the treasure hunt, have your child bring all five cards to a table, and finish all card totals. Now, to bring it all home, have him count out the totals in real money! Using pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, can he make $1.06? $1.25?
4. Then, with all five piles of coins together, what is the grand total?
5. If this is allowance day, or if your child has just completed some special chore you’re paying for, you might even allow him to keep some or all of the total. Just beware: you’ll most likely be asked to repeat this treasure hunt many, many times.

Here's the Code Breaker with an example of a coded message:

____   ____  ____       ____  ____  ____        ____  ____         ____  ____!  

.25      .15    .21           .03     .01   .14           .04    .15        .09    .20  

 Secret Code Key:

A = .01

B = .02

C = .03

D = .04

E = .05

F = .06

G = .07

H = .08

I = .09

J = .10

K = .11

L = .12

M =.13

N =.14

O = .15

P = .16

Q = .17

R = .18

S = .19

T = .20

U = .21

V = .22

W = .23

X = .24

Y = .25

Z = .26

Julie Williams, M.A. Education, taught middle and high school History and English for seventeen years. Since then, she has volunteered in elementary classrooms while raising her two sons and earning a master's in school administration. She has also been a leader in her local PTA.

Make Your Own Abacus

By Amy Brayfield

Looking for another way to practice basic math skills? If so, have your kid make an abacus. Countries all around the world have been using the abacus for thousands of years to make math problems easier to visualize and calculate. Even children who claim to hate math will be fascinated by this old-fashioned and incredibly simple tool. This abacus is surprisingly easy to construct and is a great way for visual and tactile learners to practice their arithmetic.

What You Need:

• Pencil
• 9 craft sticks
• 56 large pony beads
• 8, 4-inch bamboo skewers (if yours are longer, you can cut them to the right length)
• Wood glue

What You Do:

1. Lay three craft sticks down so they are parallel. Use the pencil to draw eight matching lines on each stick, evenly spaced and centered across the length of the craft sticks.
2. Take the bamboo skewers and align them with the pencil marks. There should be one craft stick at each end of the skewers. The third craft stick should be in the middle, about 1 inch away from one of craft sticks on the end.
3. Put a thin line of glue on each of the pencil lines you've drawn.
4. Carefully thread seven beads on each of the eight skewers. Place the skewers on the glue lines, arranging the beads so that two beads fall into the 1-inch space between the two closely-placed sticks and the other five fall into the larger space between the middle and end sticks. Let the sticks dry.
5. Glue three craft sticks on top of the bamboo skewers so they line up with the sticks below, taking care to keep the beads divided. Let the sticks dry.
6. Glue the last three craft sticks on top of the sticks you've just glued down. Let dry.
7. Flip the abacus over so that the stacked sticks are on the bottom. Depending on the size of the beads, you may have to add more craft sticks to the bottom. The stacked sticks let the beads slide smoothly on the skewers and prevent them from scraping along the surface you're working on.

Now your child has a homemade abacus to practice important math skills! The abacus is a great tool to visually teach your child about addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and even place value.

Step On It!

By Carrie Ann Cain

Help your child “step up” to math challenges with a fun game in your very own kitchen. Not only will this help your child learn basic addition and subtraction facts in an engaging way, it will also get her up and moving--with math!

What You Need:

• Heavy paper, such as oak tag or construction paper
• Marker
• Masking tape
• Hard floors, such as kitchen tiles

What You Do:

1. Before you start the game, write a complete math fact in large type on one side of a sheet of typing paper. If your child is struggling with early math facts, start with low numbers like 1+2=3. By second grade, however, most kids are working with number facts closer to ten, such as 9+8=17; or with subtraction. Wherever you start, write one math equation on one side of each paper, such as 6+6=12; and write just the question (such as 6+6) on the other side. Make at least 20 facts, and then mix them all up.
2. Set up the challenge: tell your child that her mission, should she choose to accept it, is to cross the room without touching the floor, using only her knowledge of math facts. Tape a square of blank construction paper on one side of the room. This is "start." Explain that you will show her a math problem, and every one she gets right will become her next "step" allowing her to move across the floor.
3. Stand in front of your child, and show her the question side of the construction paper. If she states the correct answer to the math problem, turn it around and tape down the answer side a good step-width away. Allow her to move one space forward. Guide your child through the problems as needed, so that she doesn't become frustrated if the math concept is new to her. If your child does not answer the problem correctly, she must stay on the same space. When your youngster gets all the way across the kitchen, she has successfully completed her mission!

In order to keep the Step Game a challenge, try using multiplication or division flashcards as your child advances in math.

Carrie Ann Cain has been teaching second grade for three years. She is certified in elementary education, special education, Spanish, and ESOL (teaching english to speakers of other languages).

Egg Carton Addition Game

By Victoria Hoffman

Math facts are a fundamental part of first grade math, and it’s almost impossible to get too much practice with them. You can always buy expensive flashcard sets, but there's no need when you've got household stuff and a little imagination. Here’s a way for two kids—or a kid with a grownup helper—to have a blast with nothing more than an egg carton and some small beans or pennies lying around the house!

What You Need:

• Empty egg carton
• 2 “game tokens” (pennies, chips, or beans work well)
• Marker
• 2 pieces of white paper
• Pencils

What You Do:

1. Use your marker to put a number in the bottom of each egg cup in the carton. (If you have a math beginner, start by cutting your carton in half, so you only have six cups; if you’ve got a kid who’s surging ahead, go ahead and use all twelve!)
2. Put a bowl of game tokens (pennies, marbles or beans) in the center of your table or play area and place two pieces into the egg carton.
3. Each player takes turns shaking the carton and then writing an addition problem on their paper using the two number sections the pieces landed in. Let’s say, for example, that the two pieces landed in 4 and 6. The addition problem would then be 4+6.
4. The person with the highest sum after each player has had a turn would then take a token from the bowl in the center of the table. If a wrong answer is given, a token is returned to the bowl. In case of a tie, each child takes a token.
5. Continue playing until each player has collected five tokens. Do this a few times, and be prepared to see steady gains in your young mathematician’s adding confidence!

Victoria Hoffman, M.A. Teaching and Leadership, is an elementary school teacher, writer and mother from Leonardtown, Maryland. She has taught grades K-5 in both regular and special education classrooms.

Play Popsicle Addition

By Mary Anne Edwards

Now that it’s first grade, “Math Facts” are here. This year, you can expect addition and some subtraction; then, when your child hits second grade, get ready for timed tests and even early explorations in multiplication and division. Worried? Don’t be. This is a time to be excited with your child about this new knowledge, and to explore lots of fun ways to develop it. Here’s a hands-on activity that classroom teachers use to help kids get a feel for equations and start building lifelong skills.

What You Need:

• 23 popsicle sticks
• kitchen timer
• crayons or markers
• construction paper
• child safety scissors
• 2 Ziploc bags

What You Do:

Label Sticks. Have your child hold each stick vertically and label it with one number, going from 1-20. Use the remaining three sticks to write a plus, minus, and equals sign (+, -, =) using crayons or markers.

Build an equation. Start with addition. Help your child make problems by using the popsicle sticks and having her hold up the answers. ( Ex. 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4, etc.) Later, using the same popsicle sticks she already labeled, you can have your child practice making subtraction facts and holding up the answers.

If you like, add a challenge. Set a kitchen timer, for example, and see if your child can answer each problem correctly in three seconds or less. Or have your child write a list of problems and keep a “scorecard” of correct equations which you can mark with a happy face or star.

Moving forward, you can also extend the activity by having your child make flashcards using construction paper, child safety scissors, and crayons or markers. She should write one number per card, and make separate cards for plus, minus, and equals signs. Then, she can make addition and subtraction problems using the cards and holding up the answers the same way she did with the popsicle sticks. When you’re done, you can save both the popsicle sticks and the flashcards in ziploc bags—they’re a great game to pull out over snacks, in the car, or even when you’re sitting in the dentist office.

Math is all around us; and with your help, it will be safely inside your kid’s head for the long haul, too.

Turkey Math

By ChristianMiller

This turkey hand activity is a great way to help your child practice patterns and number recognition, important concepts that she'll encounter again and again throughout her academic career. What's more, her little turkey counting hand is sure to inspire some good-natured giggling during the counting and pattern-creating process!

What You Need:

• Plain glove or mitten
• Sticky-backed Velcro dots
• Construction paper
• Markers
• Scissors

What You Do:

1. Using a marker, help your child trace out between 10 and 20 feather shapes onto the construction paper.
2. Encourage her to get creative and use multiple colors, but be sure she ends up with an even number of feathers.
3. Then, using the scissors, help her carefully cut each of the feather shapes out.
4. Next, using a marker, help her number each feather. She'll want to write two of every number.
5. For example, if she cut out 20 feather shapes, then two feathers will have a 1 written on them, two will have a 2 written on them, and so forth.
6. Have her count out how many velcro circles she'll need based on the number of feathers she cut out.
7. Then, help your child stick the “hook” half of the Velcro dots onto the back of each feather (one per feather).
8. To play, have your child place the turkey on her hand.
9. Then, call out a pattern to her with one blank space (for example, 2,4,2, __ ).
10. Your child must then find the correct feathers to stick to the glove, in the correct pattern.

Feeling ambitious? Try out some addition and subtraction if your kid is up to the challenge.

Make a Buck

By Ellen Dean

Get ready to make a dollar...using playing cards! Your child will love practicing addition and decimals with this competitive game. Each card within the deck represents a different cent amount. The first player to accumulate the amount of points equal to a dollar wins.

What You Need:

• Deck of cards
• Scratch paper
• Pencil
• 2 or more players

What You Do:

1. Announce the values of the cards. Cards with the values 3-10 have cent values equivalent to their numbers (threes = $0.03, fours = $0.04 etc.). The remaining cards have the following values: Twos = $0.20 (2 cents), Jacks = $0.15, Queens = $0.20, Kings = $0.25, and Aces = $0.50.
2. Ask one player to shuffle the playing cards and deal 5 cards face down to each player. The rest of the cards should be placed face down in a pile in the center of the table.
3. Players pick up their cards and keep them private so no other players can see what they are holding.
4. Encourage players to add up the sum of their cards. If no one has $1.00, keep playing.
5. Each player should take a turn drawing a card from the deck in the center of the table, and discarding one of their cards face up in a discard pile.
6. Continue playing until the first player has $1.00 in their hand, or the deck runs out.
7. The player who gets $1.00 first wins! If nobody has won and the deck has run out, whoever is closest to $1.00 is the winner.

10 Ways to use 10 Frames

Post Written and Created by Math Maniac

Clip art by Whimsy Clips

My students are so engaged by the changing of the seasons and learning with a theme that I try to incorporate the seasons into what we do each day. Because some members of our school community are not really into celebrating holidays in the classroom, I try to stick with lots of activities around the different seasons rather than specific holidays. Fall is a great time to bring pumpkin, apples and leaves into the classroom. When I saw this great set of 10 frame clip art byGraphics From the Pond I knew I wanted to make a new set of 10 frame cards.

When I made a set of cards and spend time and money putting them on cardstock or laminating them, I want them to serve more than one purpose. Ten frames (andtwenty and five frames) have so many uses in the classroom, so I put together 10 ways to use these cards with kids. These activities work great in Kindergarten and first grade classes and can be used for whole group, math centers or interventions. With the mix of ten frame cards and numeral cards, it is easy to differentiate the activities to meet a diverse group of needs.

10 Frame Flash

This makes an excellent whole group, small group or partner activity. Simply flash the 10 frame at your students for 1-3 seconds and then ask them how many pumpkin seeds they saw and how they know they are right. Read more about this here!

Matching Numerals and 10 Frames

As a whole group game this can be a lot of fun and a great way to work on numbers to 10! Pass out 10 frames and numerals and ask kids to find their match. You can then display them on a pocket chart and talk about what they see. Kids can also do this on their own or with a partner. Spread out all the numeral cards and make a pile of the 10 frame cards. Have the student(s) pick a card from the 10 frame pile and find it’s match in the numeral pile. You can also switch this around and spread out the 10 frame cards and have them pick a numeral card.

10 Frame Memory

An easy twist on a classic game! This game is great for kids to play with a partner or in a small group. Simply mix all of the cards together, do a bit of shuffling and then arrange in a rectangular array. If your students are not ready for all the 10 frames you can pick and choose. Just make sure you have the corresponding numerals and 10 frames!

Note: Your students should be familiar with matching 10 frames before trying this activity!

Sequential and Non Sequential Ordering

These activities can be done as a large group by giving each kid a number (until you run out!) and having them get in order from least to greatest. It also works great as an individual task or a partner activity. Once kids have the cards in order, it is a great time for kids to practice counting forward and backwards. Makesure your students get a chance to put numbers in order that are not sequential aswell. This activity can be done with just the numeral cards or with both the numeral and 10 frame cards together.

Roll and Build

This is a simple and effective game! All you need is some blank 10 frames, 10 sided dice and pumpkin seeds. If you don’t have pumpkin seeds bingo chips or other small markers will work just as well. Students can play alone or with a partner. Roll the die, and build that number on the ten frame. This goes much faster if kids do not remove the bingo chips each time but just add more or take some off as they roll. The pumpkin seeds I used got rinsed off and left out for a few hours on a towel to dry. The kids had a lot of fun with them!

Odd and Even Sort

These cards are a great way to practice odd and even numbers. Using the 10 frame cards is easier than just the numerals but when your students are ready go ahead and use them all! Check out more ways to work on odd and even.

Flip and Write Combinations of Ten

You can never have to many games for combinations of 10 and this is a great one requiring little teacher prep. Give the student a stack of 10 frame cards or numeral cards if they are ready. Have them flip over a card and write an equation showing how many seeds they see and how many more they need to make 10. I usually have kids create their own record sheet for this activity on a piece of scrap paper. It saves prep time and money! You also might want to check out computer games for combinations of 10.

Make 10 Go Fish

This is one of my students’ favorite games for practicing combinations of 10. Mix two sets of the ten frame cards together. Shuffle and distribute 4-5 cards to each player. Have each kid look for matches that make ten. For example the 3 and the 7 are a match and the 6 and the 4 are another one.

When all matches have been found in individual player’s hands, have them play go fish. If I have the 2 card in my hand, I would ask another player, “do you have the 8 to go with my 2 to make 10?” That player would respond “yes I do or no I don’t have the 8 to go with your 2 to make 10. This language can be challenging to students when you first start but they will catch on quick!

Read more about how I use this game in the classroom and see some pictures of the game in action.

Pyramid 10

This is played like the classic solitaire game pyramid. Mix two sets of ten frame cards together or use one set of ten frame cards and one set of numeral cards if your students are ready. Students make a pyramid and find matches that make ten.

Read more about how my students play pyramid and see more pictures!

Mystery Card (Addition and Subtraction)

This is a fun game and a nice challenge when students are ready. This game must be played in groups of 3. Two players choose a 10 frame card and place them on their foreheads. The third player finds the sum of the two numbers on their foreheads and tells what it is. Then each of the players with cards on their heads looks at the other person’s card and tries to determine what card they have. This lets one student practice adding 2 numbers under 10 while the other two students practice solving missing addend or subtraction problems. The 10 frame visual really supports this learning.

I like to change out the 10 frame playing cards with the seasons to keep things fresh for my students! You can grab the pumpkin playing cards here or the spring seeds card set here.

Pumpkin Math

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

Post Written and Created by Math Maniac

This story is about a group of kids who are asked by their teacher to figure out how many seeds are in 3 different pumpkins. They talk about the size of the pumpkins, estimating and counting ideas. Some kids count by 2's some by 5's and some group the seeds into piles of 10. There is also some great information in this story about how to estimate how many seeds a pumpkin has just by looking at the outside.

I love this lesson because it combines my love of math literature with counting and estimating routines. I began this lesson by presenting my students with 2 pumpkins. I did this lesson with second graders but it would work with other kids K-3 with some small adaptations. One was a very small Jack be Little pumpkin and the other was a larger pie pumpkin. I asked them to estimate which one had more seeds. Everyone was convinced that the larger pumpkin would have a lot more seeds. We made some estimates but they were really all over the place ranging from 17-1000.




Next we cut the pumpkins in half and adjusted our estimates based on what we saw. The estimates for the smaller pumpkin ranged from 80-200 and the estimates for the larger pumpkin ranged from 101-320.


The inside of the larger pumpkin



Inside of the smaller pumpkin

Kids worked in small groups and got all the seeds separated from the other guts. When I do this lesson again, I will be sure to have more pumpkins because despite this being a smaller group of students, there were to many kids working on each pumpkin. I would recommend no more than 4-5 kids per pumpkin for optimum working conditions. Kids continued to adjust and refine their estimates as they put the seeds all in one place. It was obvious to all students that there were more seeds in the large pumpkin than the smaller one.


After a quick rinse of the seeds, the groups counted them mostly grouping into 10's. We came to the conclusion that the small pumpkin had 134 seeds and the large one had 285. We spent some time comparing these numbers and wiring them in different ways. We finished up the lesson by reading the book. It was interesting for kids to compare their own experience with counting the seeds to the experience of the kids in the book.

This was a fun fall lesson and definitely one I will be doing in the future! There are a lot of grade levels that I could apply this lesson with.

                                                       

Regrouping Toothpicks

Place toothpicks showing 40 + 3 to begin the question.

Objectives:

1. Learning and practicing regrouping
2. Print examples of regrouping in student math journals
3. Learn term names:  minuend take away subtrahend equals difference/answer (for subtraction) and addend plus addend equals sum/answer (for addition)

Materials for each group of 4-6 students:

1. twenty groups of 10 popsicle sticks or toothpicks gathered with an elastic, plus 10-20 loose popsicle sticks (students can count out sets of 10 on their desks and you can help them wrap the elastics around them)
2. index cards with numerals 0-9 on them, one number on each card, as well as cards printed with  “+” ,  “-”, “Ones”, “Tens”, and “Hundreds”, PLUS SOME BLANK INDEX CARDS (for the answers).
3. math journals for each student
4. pencils and erasers for each student
5. Chalkboard or Chartboard showing an example of one addition question plus one subtraction question, heading up the columns with “Hundreds”, “Tens” and “Ones”.  The title above the two questions says “Regrouping”.
6. Marker for each group (to write the numerals needed for the answer cards)

Regroup showing students the 20 + 9 you've taken away to end up with 10 + 4 which is the answer 14.

1. Each group of students finds an area to sit in a group, either in a gathering of their 4-6 desks or on the floor somewhere.  Teacher gives each group ten numeral cards 0-9, plus cards with “+”, ”-”,  “Ones”, “Tens” and “Hundreds”, plus some blank index cards.  Also give twenty bunches of 10 popsicle sticks gathered with elastics, plus 10-20 loose popsicle sticks.   They each have their pencils and erasers and math journals with them.
2. Teacher tells students, “We are going to practise regrouping.  First we’ll ‘make’ the number with the cards, then we’ll ‘make’ the number with the popsicle sticks.  We’ll learn how to ‘regroup’ the digits so that we can add or subtract the numbers really easily.”(Teacher info:  I mix the grades in the groups, so that all groups comprise of both grades; the grade 2′s LOVE to help the grade 1′s master this.  Grade 1′s just have to add or subtract to 100, Grade 2′s up to 200.)
3. Teacher then calls all students together in a learning circle and tells them that we’re going to do the first few questions together.  Work with the students as a group for a few minutes until they ‘get’ the idea.
4. Put down a card that says “Ones”.  Tell students that only numbers with one digit can go under this card.  Have them tell you all the numbers with one digit (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).  Tell students that therefore only up to 9 popsicle sticks can STAY** under this column.   Once you have 10 popsicle sticks, you need to regroup them into a group of 10 with an elastic around them and move them into another group.
5. Put down the “Tens” card to the left of the “Ones” card.  Tell students that only up to 9 groups of ten popsicle sticks can STAY** there (**This is important because when you regroup later you will have to add 10 to a number in the Ones column so you may have 13 popsicle sticks in the Ones column for a minute or too**).  Once you get 10 groups of 10 popsicle sticks, (100, count by 10′s so they see that it’s 100) they have to go into a new column “Hundreds”.  Put that card to the left of the “Tens”.
6. Ask  a student to give you a two digit number (43).  Teacher puts down the card 4, then the card 3.  Ask for another number  (21).   Teacher puts down the card 2, then the card 1.  Line them up above each other, in tens and ones and hundreds columns.  Put the card “+” in front of the 21.
7. Get students to help you put the correct number of popsicle sticks on each number card.  Example:    3 popsicle sticks go on the “3″ card.  4 groups of 10 popsicle sticks go on the “4″ card EQUALING 43.  Ask students what number this makes.  Have them count the popsicle sticks to make sure it’s correct…10, 20, 30, 40, 41, 42, 43.
8. Do the same for 21….10, 20, 21.  Popsicle sticks sit on top of each numeral card.  Example 2 groups of 10 sit on the 2 and 1 single popsicle stick sits on the 1 card.
9. Now tell students we’re going to ADD 43 and 21.  Put down two blank index cards where the answer will go and tell students this is the answer.  We don’t know it yet.  It’s blank or unknown.  Tell them we always start with the ones.  3 ones and 1 one is 4 ones, so gather up the 1 and the 3 and put the 4 popsicle sticks on the blank card in the “Ones” column.  Now have them help you ‘add’ the 4 groups of 10 (40) and the 2 groups of 10 (20), counting by 10′s….so they get the answer 6 groups.  Put the 6 groups on the card in the “Tens” column.  Ask them what the answer is.  See if they can count by 10′s and add the 1′s to get 64.  When they ‘get’ the answer, print the numerals on each card “6″ and “4″.  Show them how to print the question and answer in their math journals.I’ve done this with quite a few grade 1 and 2 mixed classes.  They always ‘get’ it and it’s super for getting them to understand that the ’4′ in ’40′ is really ’4 groups of 10′ and when you get ’100′, it’s really 1 group of 10 bunches of 10′s.This lesson is a great one to do before you start working with the hundreds flats.After they understand the regrouping concept, you can do this same lesson with unit cubes (1′s), ten rods (10′s) and hundred flats (100), switching 10 single unit cubes for the ten rods and switching the ten rods for the hundreds flats when you regroup.  It makes regrouping so easy to understand when you see it done like this.
10. Do a subtraction question with them before you send them into their groups to work.  Try 51 – 29    Have students put the 5 groups of 10 on the “5″, the 1 single on the “1″, the 2 groups of 10 on the “2″ and the 9 singles on the “9.  Ask them if they can take 9 away from the 1.  No, of course not.  Tell them that you need to “regroup” the popsicle sticks so that you can take away the 9.  Take one of the group from the numeral “5″ , undo the elastic and put the 10 popsicle sticks with the 1 so you now have 11.  Can we take 9 from 11 now?  Yes.  Put the “2″ in the “Ones” column on the blank answer card.  Now we have 40 take away 20.  Have them count the 4 groups and 2 groups of 10, so you take away 2 groups from 4 groups and you get 2 groups.  Put the 2 groups of 10 on the “Tens” answer card.  Have them count the answer and tell you what the numerals will be “2″ and “2″.  Print the answer on the blank answer cards.    On the whiteboard, show them how you cross off the “51″ and write ’4 and 11′ above it so students can see you “regrouped” the “51″ into ’4 groups of 10 and 11′ which still add up to ’51′.  They can see how they got ’2′ when they took away the 9 from the 11, and then they can see how they got ’2 groups of 10′ when they took ’2 groups of 10′ away from the ’4 groups of 10′ which was regrouped into ’4 groups of 10 and 11′.
11. Have students go back to their groups and either have them do a few questions you write on the chalkboard or chartboard, or call them out one at a time, orally, then taking up each question before giving out a new one.  Students now explain to you how they got the answer, explaining how they regrouped their popsicle sticks to you.
12. I start out with adding questions, then go to subtraction questions, keeping them simple for a bit, until I see that they understand the concept of regrouping.  Then I begin alternating the questions for grades 1 and 2.  For example, I’ll say, “This is a grade 1 question.”  The grade 1′s control the cards and the regrouping efforts.  Grade 2′s can help.  Then “This is a grade 2 question.”  The grade 2′s are in charge now and work on the “harder” questions but the grade 1′s can help them still.  I have found that they grasp this concept so well, often the grade 1′s can do the harder grade 2 questions (questions over 200) just as easily as the grade 2′s.
13. You can show students how to double check their answers for subtraction by adding the subtrahend and the difference (for subtraction). The popsicle sticks are still on the subtrahend and the difference (or answer)  (for subtraction).  You can also teach them the names of the numbers for addition:  add one addend to the other addend to get the sum (answer).

For Reference Click Here

First Grade: Race to a Quarter

The first is a money trading game, a lot like the

chip trading game I described here.

This game is VERY simple but powerful for the kids

because it helps them to make those connections that 5 pennies = 1 nickel,

2 nickels = 1 dime, etc...

Each student has a gameboard and there is one student in each group

that I select to be the banker.

I love using these chip trays to organize manipulatives!

Gotta love the Dollar Tree! :)

Students roll dice and collect coins from the banker

and keep making trades.

I call this game, "Race to a Quarter!"

The other game I made so my students could simply have

practice using coins to show different amounts.

It's called, "Piggy Race", because they are trying to

get to the piggy in the middle first to be the winner.

Created by Mrs. Prince and Co.

Third Grade: Real World Math

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8 Awesome Money Games

2.3 based on 18 ratings

By Jane Oh

Updated on May 3, 2013

It's an old adage in the world of education, but it's true: math is all around us. You can try this simple activity with your child to get him thinking about the real world math you use everyday. While you're at it, you're strengthening key third grade math skills that you can expect your child to encounter all year.

What You Need:

• Supermarket ad
• Pencil
• Paper

What You Do:

1. Grab your weekly supermarket ad and look through the advertised specials together with your child. Ask her to circle 5-10 items she likes and then use these sale prices for practice with addition, subtraction, division and multiplication problems. (This activity can easily be substituted with restaurant take-out menus, clothes, game catalogs, or book order magazines.)
2. What's the total cost? Ask your child to line up all the decimal points in order to correctly compute the total cost.
3. How much change? As with addition, line up the decimal points before solving subtraction problems. Then have your child find the amount of change that you would receive from a $100 bill if you bought one item, two items or all items, depending on the price of the items.
4. How much for five? Your child should solve multiplication with decimal problems in the same manner as he would normally solve multiplication problems, but they must remember to move the decimal point over in the answer as many places as are in the problem. Have him find the total cost of purchasing 5 of the most expensive item.
5. How much if we split it? Division with decimals simply requires your child to include a decimal point in his answer directly above the decimal point in the dividend (the number being divided). Then have your child calculate how much each person should pay if 2 people split the total cost of the groceries, rounding their answer to the nearest cent.

While this activity offers lots of fun and challenge even when it's done occasionally, it's even better if you make it a regular feature of your weekly shopping. Do it often, and your third grader will thrive in math--but even better, will be prepared to be a savvy consumer for life.

Jane Oh has taught third and fourth grades for 8 years. She has worked with many diverse groups of students. She has also taught adult ESL and enrichment courses for youth at local community colleges. Most recently, she has written teacher textbook guides.

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Exploring Technology in the Elementary Classroom

Time Math by Recession Apps LLC

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            Time Math is targeted to children in the second grade.  I could see this app used for students beyond second grade if they were still struggling with telling time.  This app is free and can easily be found on the app store for Apple products.  The specific math area of this app is the concept of time.  This app provides five different levels that can be explored.  The first level provides information on how to tell time.  The user learns what the hour and minute hands are used for.  The next level consists of asking the user “What time is it?”  The user then has the choice to select the intervals that will be asked.  These include: easy (hours), medium (fifteen minutes), hard (five minutes), harder (hours and five minutes), and hardest (hours and minutes).  The user is asked this each time they select one of the four levels.  The app generates a clock with a set time in relation to the difficulty selected and the user is asked to pick the correct answer out of three options.  The next level is “Set the Time” and asks the user to drag the hour and minute hand on the clock to the time that is indicated.  The last two levels are “What time will it be?” and “What time was it?”  Both of these levels require students to drag the hour and minute hand around the clock to reach the requested time. The graphics and design of this app is aesthetically pleasing.  The app is also very easy to navigate and allows for some many different difficulty levels, which is great for users who are just being introduced to telling time all the way through students who are more advanced.  When teaching a lesson about time, I think having this app projected on the board and/or giving each student an iPad to use with this app would be a great way to demonstrate time and walk through some problems together.  Instead of doing a worksheet, students could spend some time going through problems on their own. 

Academic Skill Builders http://www.arcademics.com/games/

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            Academic Skill Builders is a free website with a plethora of fun math games.  The great thing about this website is that the user can select whatever grade level and subject they would like.  The grades range from first to sixth and the subject levels include shapes, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, integers, money, time, decimals, fractions, ration and proportion, and algebra.  Therefore, this website is great for all elementary students.  For the most part, the grade levels are on point.  This website appears to be set up to allow students the chance to practice math skills through fun and competitive games.  Parents, teachers, and administrators can also be at ease when having students online because the designers of this website were conscious about online safety. “Private” games can be set up with a password, so a student and his or her friends could organize games to play against each other in a private game.  “Public” games can be joined by anyone at anytime but there is no contact between the outside players and the student. The website also monitors player names and blocks inappropriate ones.  One of my favorite games I stumbled across while exploring this website was Jumping Chicks.  This game would be perfect for kindergarten and first grade students because the purpose of the game is to match the number to a pile of leaves that has the same number.  Your chick then jumps to that pile of leaves and the player is asked to complete the same steps again to keep your chick moving forward.  This is a fun and easy way to practice counting from one to ten. If ever in the computer lab or near computers and students finish their work before others, this would be a great website to have students visit until everyone was completed.  Having a math station in the classroom could also promote the use of this website.  Students would be able to select this math website, as opposed to a math worksheet, and have fun while still practicing their math skills.  This website, and the other website and apps I chose, provide visual learners with engaging animations to look at and allows game-based learning in a fun and interactive way.

Funbrain Math Arcade http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html

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            Funbrain Math Arcade is intended for students in grades one to eight; however, after playing through this game at multiple grade levels, I feel that this game should really only be applicable for students in third grade and higher.  The reason I say this is because I do not think that students in second grade or below would have the proper hand-eye coordination and reading skills that are necessary for this game.  I had a hard time doing it myself so I have a feeling that very young students would struggle with the ability to select the right answer and figuring out how the game works.  Regardless, this website is great because it allows students to play in the format of a board game and has 25 different math games for them to play.  I think this would be great to use as a mini math activity maybe once a week.  Students could login with their saved password and complete five rolls on the game board, which means five games.  I would guess this would take around fifteen minutes. Depending on the grade level entered, the games ask students to add, match, adjust height and distance, subtract, multiply, divide, etc. A few things that I wish could be changed about this game is that the levels do not provide a lot of feedback for students who struggle and may need assistance or a hint.  However, the student is allowed to start that game level again after so many attempts.  I do like that the each game is fairly short and keeps the student motivated to win and unlock the next game.  Each game level also provides so much variety that could be tied into lessons.  For instance, one game level takes place inside a pyramid tomb and has images of Egyptian sarcophagi.  This could tie in nicely with a geography and social studies lesson on Ancient Egypt, as well as, reading aloud or independently reading books about mummies, pharaohs and pyramids.  There are a lot of options for using this website within the classroom. 

Todo Math by Enuma Inc.

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This free app is by far the best math app I came across.  I love this app because the logistics and layout are fantastic.  Additionally, this app is perfect for student just beginning math, as well as for students who are up to second grade.  This app covers many specific math areas, such as: counting and cardinality, number operations, mathematical reasoning, time and money, and geometry.  The intended purpose of this app is to allow students to trace numbers and shapes, practice patterning, subtraction, adding, multiplying, and so much more.  I think the number and shape tracing is a great addition to this app; it’s probably my favorite part about the app because it would be such a huge help for students who are just learning how to write their numbers and drawing their basic shapes. I can easily see this app being used within the classroom because of all the great features it has.  The teacher could demonstrate how to use the app and then the students could follow along and complete each number and shape together.  A lot of the levels seem to follow the same order; therefore, it would be easy to have the teacher and young students complete the lower levels together to make sure that every student understands the process and the content.  This app seems like such a great tool to use because of the way it asks students to select the numbers and then draw them as well.  I feel like it reinforces their learning and knowledge. One downfall to this app is that although it says it is free, there are limited levels that can be played on the free version and buying this app is incredibly expensive.  However, I could justify buying this app for $24 each because it is so comprehensive and of high quality.  It also changes displays according to the seasons, which is cute, but could also be integrated into learning the new season each time it changed.  Lastly, this app was built with the classroom in mind.  If teachers do not have the budget to buy Todo Math, teachers may qualify for the school year’s Todo Math Grant Program.  Additionally, this app has a web-based teacher dashboard that tracks progress, students can play Todo Math at home on parents' iPhone or iPad and their progress is synched to your teacher dashboard, and school level management allows for supporting device sharing between classrooms (cart system) and multi-teacher management of school account. 

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