CCSS SPRING MATH GAMES

We officially made it!  Oh, how I love you, Spring Break!  I gave myself the weekend off . . . no school allowed.  I worked in the yard, caught up with an old friend (DVR), hung with family, and helped the hubby with the details of an event he is co-chairing.  However, I woke up today and decided it was time to jump back on the horse and highlight some spring math ideas.  

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.  Math in the spring is my favorite. Your babes have been exposed to the majority of the standards.  They officially have a solid concept foundation (well, most of them) and it’s time to take it up a notch and push them a bit.  

Love me some afternoon white board math. Hit them with an oral word problem and let them fly. It’s the perfect math transition activity . . . but, I digress 🙂

With this said, here are a couple of games that I came up with this month.  All of them target a specific first grade Common Core standard and have a little springtime flavor.  I am going to share the specific steps for some of these ditties.  Yes, I have these (and many more) in a low-prep math station packet, but I wanted to showcase my style a bit and give you something to walk away with today.  

MISSING ADDEND GAME
PLANT IT – Math.1.OA.8
Many of my kiddos need extra practice with missing addend.  I wanted to create a game that kept them on their toes when it came to that missing number. Here’s how you can use this card game in your own room.

• Create a small group set of game boards.  Each board should have 4-5 spaces with a missing addend fact in each slot.  You can easily make squares with text boxes in Power Point.  Here’s what mine looks like (I had to “cute” it up a little with a spring theme) . . . 

• Place a “doctored” deck of cards face down on the table (face cards and tens removed) and place your students in groups of 3-4.
• The first player pulls a card and determines if the number shown can complete one of the missing addend equations on their game mat.  
• If the card creates a true equation, it is “planted” or placed over the top of this equation on the board.
• If the card does NOT create a true equation, it is placed in the discard pile and it becomes the next player’s turn. 
• The next player repeats the steps.  However, he/she has the option of selecting the card on top of the discard pile or drawing a new card.

TRUE/FALSE EQUATIONS
Splashing Through Addition – Math.1.OA.6

Good thing you kept reading as I am going to give you a pre-packaged math game.  Yep . . . I am feeling nice like that today 🙂  This game is played with dominoes and targets true/false equations.  

This game is played with a standard set of dominoes (double six).  I will swing back around and create a double nine set next month.  My goal was to keep the equations simple this time so the kids can focus on what makes equations true and how to use that powerful equal sign.  

Splashing Through Addition Facts is pretty straight forward.  Students draw dominoes, calculate the sum of the pips, and attempt to locate a fact with the same sum on their game card.  (Okay, so that doesn’t give the best picture of this game, but don’t worry, I explain it much better in my write up!) If you are interested in trying out this game, CLICK HERE to snag a free copy.  

THE REST OF THE PACK
If you like the flavor of these two games, check out the remainder of my April Math Stations & More Packet.  Here are just a few of the classroom tested games in this month’s collection . . . 

The kiddies loved this one and it was VERY telling. I was able to immediately see who is still struggling with this tough concept.

I want to keep clocks in front of my crew as much as possible. This particular game tackles graphing and time. They were racing each other . . . it was grand!

My kids are always down with a roll, add, and cover type game. This one upped the ante with 3 addends. Using a triple die had them hooked immediately!

Alright, that be it from this girl.  I hope you were able to walk away with a little something to stick in your back pocket for next week.  I am off to finish doing my hair so I can get to a fun little girlfriend lunch. Thanks for taking the time to visit me today.  I’ll be back soon 🙂