Shareables
Grades K–2
Roll to 7
What You’ll Need:
Roll to 7 printout
Number cubes (1–6)
Craft sticks
Counters
Cut out one 10-frame from the Roll to 7 printout for each pair of students playing. Give each pair of students 2 number cubes, about 10 craft sticks, a 10-frame, and 10 counters. Then share these instructions with students:
Play in pairs. The first player rolls the 2 number cubes and counts the total number of dots shown. If the total is 7, that player gets 1 craft stick. The first player rolls the pair of number cubes a total of 10 times, adding the numbers on the number cubes each time. The second player keeps track of the number of rolls by putting a counter on the 10-frame every time the first player rolls. Once the first player has rolled 10 times, the second player takes their turn, with the first player keeping track of how many times the second player rolls the pair of number cubes.
After both players have rolled the pair of number cubes 10 times, the player with more craft sticks wins.
Example:
Sara rolls the number cubes. Anthony keeps track of how many times Sara has rolled with the 10-frame and counters. Sara rolls a 5 and a 2. These numbers add to 7, so she gets a craft stick. After rolling a total of 10 times, she has 3 craft sticks.
Anthony rolls the number cubes. Sara keeps track of how many times Anthony has rolled with the 10-frame and counters. Anthony rolls a 3 and a 6. These numbers do not add to 7, so he does not get a craft stick. After rolling a total of 10 times, he has 2 craft sticks.
Sara has more craft sticks than Anthony, so Sara wins.
25 Pickup
What You’ll Need:
Number cube (1–6)
Toothpicks (or other small objects)
Play in pairs. Roll a number cube. The number it lands on is the number of toothpicks (or counters, buttons, or other small objects) you must pick up. Each player rolls 5 times, taking turns. Each player counts their total number of toothpicks after 5 rolls. The player closest to 25 gets a point. If both players have the same number of toothpicks, they both get a point. The first player to 5 points wins.
Example:
Franklin rolls the number cube 5 times and gets 2, 4, 4, 1, and 6. He adds his numbers and gets an answer of 17.
Arin rolls the number cube 5 times and gets 3, 6, 2, 1, and 3. He adds his numbers and gets an answer of 15.
Franklin’s number is closest to 25, so he gets a point.
Least and Greatest
What You’ll Need: Number cube (1–6) Work with a partner. Take turns rolling a number cube four times. Place the four numbers into these four spots: ☐☐ – ☐☐. Try to make the expression with the greatest answer possible and then the least answer possible. Your partner will decide if you are right or wrong. Example: Samira rolls 2, 6, 5, and 1. For the greatest answer, she makes the expression 65 – 12 = 53. For the least answer, she makes 25 – 16 = 9. Jordan rolls 3, 2, 5, and 5. For the greatest answer, he makes the expression 55 – 23 = 32. For the least answer, he makes 53 – 52 = 1.
Glyph Guesser
What You’ll Need:
Paper and pencil
A glyph is a visual representation that uses one or more symbols to show information. A fun activity for younger children is to let each one create a stick figure such as the one below.
As a group, you can agree on the information the glyph might show. For example, you might decide that the shape of the eyes indicates the colour of its eyes—a circle for brown, a square for blue, and a triangle for green. The number of short hairs coming from the head could tell its age. The shape of the nose could tell if the stick figure takes a bus to school or not—a circle nose for a bus and a triangle nose if it gets to school another way.
Then have students share their figures with one another tell what information they can see about the figure they are looking at. If students don’t want to make stick figures, they can use other glyphs based on objects (such as apples, pumpkins, bunnies, etc.) to convey different pieces of information.
Grades 3–5
Geoboard Builders
What You’ll Need:
Geoboards (physical or virtual)
Elastic bands (if the students are using a physical geoboard) Geoboard Builders printout
Give each student a virtual or physical geoboard (with elastic bands if students are using physical geoboards). Then share these instructions with students:
Create shapes meeting the criteria below. Then figure out the area (in grid units) of each shape.
Shape 1: The shape touches 5 pegs, and 2 pegs are inside.
Shape 2: The shape touches 8 pegs, and 3 pegs are inside.
Shape 3: The shape touches 10 pegs, and 8 pegs are inside.
Sample answers:
Sample answer images for the questions above can be found in the Geoboard Builders printout.
Mountain Math
What You’ll Need:
No materials necessary
A three-digit number with the highest digit in the tens place is sometimes called a mountain number. For example, 782 is a mountain number because 8 is the highest digit and is in the tens place. How many mountain numbers are there between 100 and 500? If you want to give students a challenge, have them explore five-digit mountain numbers.
Answer:
There are 160 mountain numbers between 100 and 500.
Remarkable Riddles
What You’ll Need: No materials necessary Riddles are a great way to get students to think about attributes of number. Provide some riddles that students can react to. Then have students create and share their own riddles. Sample riddle: I am between 2000 and 3000. My tens digit is an odd number. My digits add to 12. What is the least number I can be? What is the greatest number I can be? Sample answer: The least number it can be is 2019. The greatest it can be is 2910.
Unmovable Multiplication
What You’ll Need:
Number cube (1–6)
Play in pairs. The first player rolls the number cube and places the number rolled in one of the blanks in the following equation: ☐☐ × ☐☐. A number cannot be moved once it is placed. The player continues until the four blanks are filled.
The player determines the product. The number of points scored is the value of the hundreds digit in the product. The players take turns rolling and recording their scores. The first player with 25 points wins.
Example:
Ashley rolls 2, 5, 1, and 4. She makes the equation 54 × 21. Her product is 1134. She gets 1 point.
Umer rolls 2, 4, 3, and 1. He makes the equation 23 × 41. His product is 943. He gets 9 points.
Grades 6–8
Mindful Means
What You’ll Need: Number cube (1–6) Have students roll a number cube 12 times and record the numbers their cube lands on. Then, have them predict the mean of their set of 12 numbers and justify their prediction. Lastly, ask students to calculate the mean of their set of numbers. Example: Deborah rolls 6, 4, 2, 5, 3, 1, 1, 4, 5, 2, 6, and 4. She reasons that a prediction of 3 or 4 might make sense since 3 and 4 are the “middle” numbers that can be rolled on a number cube. She also notices that her numbers seem evenly spread out between 1 and 6. A mean of 3.5 feels like an even better prediction. She calculates the mean of her numbers, and it’s close to 3.6.
Hat Plots
What You’ll Need: Graphing paper Pencil There are many kinds of graphical representations. One is called a hat plot. It looks like a hat.
There are variations on where the main part of the hat is placed. It could be between the 25th and 75th percentile, as is done with a box-and-whisker plot. It could also be the middle third of the data. Other variations are also possible.
Have students create various sets of data and compare the representations as they change the definition of what’s inside the box part of the hat plot. For example, you might use data that describe the heights of students in the class.
Concentration: Fractions and Percents
What You’ll Need: Concentration: Fractions and Percents printout
Paper and pencil
Cut out and shuffle the Concentration: Fractions and Percents cards. Place the cards face down in four rows of five. Then share these instructions with students:
Play with a partner or in small groups. Take turns flipping over two cards at a time. If the cards are a percent and a matching equivalent fraction, pick up those cards. If they do not match, place them back in their original position and end your turn. Use paper and a pencil for fractions that are difficult to calculate. Play until all the cards have been matched. The player with the most matches wins.
