Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Snake Eyes

This little game is not my most brilliant idea, but it's all I've got at the moment since I'm running out of useful things to share. I thought it up last night while I was trying to get to sleep.  My mathematicians have been working on finding sums efficiently, so we've been playing around with doubles for a few days.  Today I paired them up and gave each pair one set of dice.  I differentiated by giving traditional dice to those who weren't quite ready for any doubles over 6.  The partners took turns rolling both dice.  If a partner rolled a double, they wrote the equation on their whiteboard.  If they didn't roll a double, they couldn't write anything.  If a partner rolled snake eyes, they got an extra turn.  (Just for fun.)  The first partner to write five equations won the game.  
 (partner one with traditional dice)

 (partner two)

(snake eyes - their favorite part)

(more challenging dice)

 It's simple, but I love a game that requires zero prep!





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16 comments:

  1. Leigh AnneJanuary 8, 2014 at 7:21 PM

    LOVE THIS!! Thanks for sharing ;)

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    1. TammyJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:24 PM

      Leigh Anne, thank you for loving and letting me know!

      Delete
  2. The Math ManiacJanuary 9, 2014 at 5:14 AM

    My favorite kind of game. Easy to play, practices important skills and no prep required! There are many variations on this game that could keep your first graders learning math skills all year.

    Tara
    The Math Maniac

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    1. TammyJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:25 PM

      Tara, so I'm looking forward to hearing your variations! I was hoping someone would have some ideas.

      Delete
    2. Leigh AnneJanuary 18, 2014 at 12:18 PM

      I too love the fun games that are easy, no prep & reinforce skills! Plus the kids don't even realize they are working on math facts while they play. Another version could be to play this with a targeted number to find combinations of (Ex - "Dice 7" and write down a number sentence anytime you rolled two numbers that equaled 7).

      Delete
    3. TammyJanuary 19, 2014 at 3:44 PM

      Leigh Anne, I love the idea of a target number. Great!

      Delete
  3. LoriJanuary 9, 2014 at 9:51 AM

    Fun game and a great way to practice doubles! Motivating for kids since it isn't a worksheet, but still gives them great practice adding!
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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    1. TammyJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:26 PM

      Lori, dice are rather motivating for sure!

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  4. Sara at schoolJanuary 9, 2014 at 5:32 PM

    And - haha - they have to actually practice the math fact! Yeah!
    Sara

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    1. TammyJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:27 PM

      Sara, yep little do they know how I'm tricking them into working. :)

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  5. Lee KnappJanuary 10, 2014 at 5:44 PM

    I had my kids play this today while I finished up some one-on-one assessments. The kids really loved it and kept playing the whole time. This will definitely go into our math rotations. Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. TammyJanuary 10, 2014 at 6:11 PM

      Lee, thank you for sharing that with me. I'm honored that my idea was something you feel confident about using with your own kids.

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  6. Teaching Little MiraclesJanuary 11, 2014 at 6:31 AM

    Great idea! And I don't think you'll ever really be out of useful ideas! ;-)

    Crystal

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    1. TammyJanuary 11, 2014 at 6:30 PM

      Crystal, thank you for having such faith in me! :)

      Delete
  7. BarbaraJanuary 12, 2014 at 12:10 PM

    Great game! I'm going to do this tomorrow.
    Thank you, Tammi.

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