We have been working on building our conceptual understanding and fact fluency through games. The first game I introduced to my students is called Sums of 10. This game encourages students to explore the number combinations that make a sum of 10.
Supplies:
1 deck of cards
Before play: remove all the jacks, queens, kings, and jokers. (I do this prior and have the needed cards ready in a zip top bag)
Players: work in pairs, or for a quicker game work in groups of 3 or 4
Play game:
shuffle cards
deal out all cards to players
on each player’s turn lay down a card on the work mat that makes a sum of 10
if you cannot make a sum of 10 match then you lose a turn
game is over when first player gets rid of all their cards
When I introduce a new game to the class I do so by playing the game against the class under the document camera. After a brief explanation of the rules and some modeling I give the entire class the opportunity to play the game with a partner. Only after my students are well-versed in playing the game do I put it in my math rotation as a center.
I just love hearing my students discuss strategies and number relationships while they play the game. The class has been playing this game for 2 weeks so now the students will reflect on the game in their math journals about the skills they have practiced and the strategies they used while playing the game.
*This was first published on September 25, 2017 at hometownhappyteacher.com
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