Give Me a Clue

This game comes from Education.com

You Need a deck of cards.  Remove face cards and jokers.

1.  Take turns being the dealer and the guesser.

2.  The dealer draws 2 cards from a shuffled deck.  After examining the cards, they must give 2 clues that involve a math operation and relate the cards to one another.  For example, if the dealer has a 3 and a 5, their clues might be:
a.  The sum of the cards is 8.
b.  When you double one of the cards, you get 10.

3.  Now the guessers tries to identify the value of the 2 cards.  If they are unable to guess correctly, the dealer gives another clue.
For example:  The difference is 2.

4.  When the numbers are guessed, switch roles and play again.



Variations:  Allow children to choose 3 cards.  Even more advanced?  Let them choose 4 cards.

Pig

Pig

We are playing Pig this week.  I did not enter my game for last week, because I gave my kids  a Geoboard Challenge instead.  They like Geoboards, but were excited to play a new game this week.

Your students practice basic facts and 2 digit addition while playing Pig.  There is a variation for subtraction also.  I find it particularly interesting to observe the little gamblers in my class with this game.

Materials:

2-3 players
Math journals for keeping score
1 number cube for each group

How to Play:

1.  Roll die to see who goes first.

2.  The first player rolls the die.  If he rolls a 1, his turn is over and his score is 0.
If he rolls any other number, he begins scoring with that number.  The first player can
roll again or keep that score.  Add any additional rolls to the score.  (Most of my second
graders are adding these digits mentally.  However, a few are writing the numbers down to
help with addition.)  His turn ends when he stops rolling, calls Pig, and writes down his score for that turn, or... when he rolls a 1, and his score for the turn is 0.

3.  The second player goes next.  She rolls in the same manner, and writes down her score at
the end of her turn.

4.  Play continues in the same manner with players writing their new scores under earlier totals.
Remind the kids to write their scores carefully with tens and ones aligned to make addition easier.

5.  The first player to reach 100 is the winner.


Variations:
1.  Start the scorecards at 100.  Add the total on the dice in the same way as above.  Subtract
your score from the total.  First player to 0 is the winner.

2.  Play teacher against the class using a smartboard number cube if you have one.  Students
should all keep track of the score in their journals.  Students also take turns deciding when to
call Pig.

Foreheads

Foreheads

This one is a challenging game. Children practice addition facts with missing addends. It helps children understand the relationship between addition and subtraction. I play this game repeatedly throughout the year. It's a great refresher for basic facts.

Also, some of my children are not ready to understand the relationship between addition and subtraction until later in the year. It's very exciting when a child runs over to me after playing this game in April and excitedly explains the connection he just noticed between addition and subtraction.

Supplies

1 deck of cards for each group of 3 children

How to Play

1. Remove all face cards from the deck.
2. Choose one player to be the "teacher" first. (All children will get a turn.)
3. The "teacher" hands one facedown card to each contestant. Children are not allowed to look at their own cards.
4. The contestants hold their cards on their foreheads WITHOUT EVER LOOKING AT THEIR OWN NUMBER. The cards are held face out so that the opponent can see the number.
5. The "teacher" quickly adds the two numbers together and calls out the sum.
6. The two contestants race to identify their own number using the sum and the card they can see on the opponents head.
   1. For example, in this hand, the host would call out the sum, 13.
      
   2. The player on the left knows that his opponent has a 4, so he subtracts 13 – 4 to identify his number, 9.

7. The first contestant to identify his own number collects both cards.
8. Play continues until the deck is gone. The winner is the contestant with the most cards.
9. Play again, and choose a new game show host.