Math Made Fun!

Today at placement the children seemed somewhat rowdy. They were having a hard time focusing during the lesson and completing the tasks at hand. After first recess, when the students came inside, the classroom teacher had some work to do with some of the children and decided to give the rest of the class a few minutes to settle down. Rather than having them talk amongst themselves, I decided to play the 'NUMBER GAME' with them. The children seemed to really enjoy this game and it actually helped calm them down! This game ensures the children are thinking critically and using math language.

How the game works:

I choose a number, it can be ANY number (for the purpose of this blog, the number i chose was 321) and I don't tell any of them what it is.

The way that the children guess the number is through asking me YES or NO questions such as:

• Is it an odd number? Is it an even number?

• Is it between 100 and 200?

• Are the numbers in order (e.g., 123)?

• Are all of the number odd?

• and many other math questions...

Through asking me the yes or no questions, the students are able to narrow down their options. For example, when they asked me if it was an odd number and I said yes, they were able to rule out all of the even numbers for the ones column (0,2,4,6,8).

Turning lessons into games was a really good idea as it captured the children's attention (when it had been difficult to get before) and they actually seemed to enjoy this activity a lot. Later on today when the children came in from second recess, they asked to play it again!

Hopefully some of you readers will be able to use this game with your students or other children in your lives!