Hello and happy September!
Hard to believe the summer has flown by so fast. In the spirit of the season (new classes and freshly sharpened pencils and all that) I wanted to share a game that I put together last spring. It’s appropriate for students in late grade 1 (skip counting from zero) through grade 5-6 (using multiples).
To play, students pair up and each one chooses a colour of counter to play with. Player A spins the spinner (use a paperclip and a downward pointed pencil as a spinner) to find out what number she must count by. Player A puts a counter in her colour on any number in the lily pad grid that is a multiple of that number. So if Player A spins a 2, she can cover a 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc – but NOT a 5 or a 15… Then Player B has a turn.
Three in a row in one colour wins the game.
Oh – and if you spin a lily pad, you can put your counter anywhere at all!
Consider using this game as a beginning of the year start up task. Observe your students as they play and listen to their strategies. Chances are you’ll learn something new about your kids….
Have fun!
Carole
Mathematical Thinking 