Kindergarten & Grade 1 math games – mastering fives & tens

I am, as many of you know, a great fan of the games produced by the good folks at BEAM. They are conceptual, strategic and focus on the big math ideas across the grades. One of my favourites is “Totally Ten Snake”, in which two players take turns covering pairs of digits that add to 10 along a “snake” of numbers. When all the digits are covered – each player using his or her own coloured counters – the winner is the one with the longest string of digits covered in their colour. In the example below, red wins, with 4 in a row at the end of the game against purple:

Well, I love this game a lot, and when played strategically it can engage kids across the grades (and even adults at my workshops!). That said, I thought it was worth re-jigging the game for children who are younger, and for those who need support to focus on quantity rather than on the digits as set out in the original BEAM game.
These edited games are geared towards understandings of 5-ness and ten-ness, and use dots in place of digits. The rules are the same as in the original.  You can download your own version of Terrific Ten Snake or the easier ten frame 10 snake and/or the Fabulous Five Worm by clicking on their names…

Enjoy!  Carole

PS – If you’re looking for more ideas like this for K and grade 1, consider purchasing a copy of my book: Number Sense – A Combined Grades Resource for K, K/1 and Grade 1 Math Classrooms.  It’s set up to support teachers in addressing the number PLOs in mindful ways while keeping their Kindergarten and Grade 1 students together. Games, tasks, problems and meaningful practice opportunities are included in English and in French. To order online, click here.