Make Math Fun!


Hop over to Little Miss Kindergarten for a "dicey" linky!  Super cute button, right?

I do not remember learning how to read. I swear, I feel like I was born reading. I was a little mini-geek, getting all excited when I got to work in my phonics workbook. I loved me some Letter People and drove my family crazy reading along with every word on Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Zoom. But I hated math. Hated.Math. Math just never made sense to me. I remember in third grade when we had to memorize our times tables I was embarrassed, ashamed and confused. I had never had any trouble in school before and those times table quizzes produced anxiety that I had never known. Ugh.

It's because of those experiences in math that I strive to make math as hands-on, engaging and fun as possible. Our district adopted Go Math last year and lets just say, I was less than enthused. I feel like I did less hands on than ever before. I will not do that this year. I'm sneaking in my games, dang it!

So in honor of my big, brave decision, here are a few of my favorites (that the kids end up begging to play!). Click on the pic to see it a little bigger (oh, and then get your own copy at the bottom of the page along with some other free goodies!)

For this one you'll need to do some advance preparation. Gather a bunch of popsicle sticks and draw ten black dots on one side and one red dot on the other. Each group of kids that plays together needs 10 sticks.

Now for the good stuff: Click here to get a copy of the directions for each game.
Click here for a free ebook filled with math card games and click here for another ebook filled with dozens of other great math games. You might want to sign up for their newsletter. They send TONS of awesome FREE stuff!

Check out this linky over at TBA too!


You're Welcome.
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17 comments

  1. Thanks for posting such great ideas on Math Monday!
    Cindy @love2learn2day

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  2. Thanks for the games! I printed Snake and Popsicle Place Value. I need more games for place value for next year. Thank you!
    Cyndy
    Counting with Coffee

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  3. Oh.My.Word!!! THANK YOU so much for these wonderful games and resources. We switched to Go Math! last year as well and I think our entire school was underwhelmed. Most of us have also decided to do our own thing while using the Go Math curriculum as a "guide". These will be PERFECT!! Thanks again!

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  4. Thanks so much :)

    The high-low game in the last link is something I play with any age group. The older kids I pick a number between 1-200 to make it harder and it is a great time filler :)



    http://journeyofasubstituteteacher.blogspot.com

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  5. These resources are great! I've been reading the Math Workstations book and Debbie Diller mentions a lot to go to your teacher's manual for game ideas. My curriculum has NO math games. It is so sad! These games (yours and the big huge packet) will be SO USEFUL for me! Thanks a million!!!

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  6. Thanks for all of the wonderful math ideas! I also teach 2nd grade in Florida and I love your blog it is so cute!

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  7. As a middle school math teacher, I often need to hear stories from those who weren't born as math lovers like me. ;) Thanks for sharing your inspiration with us! Good luck with a great year!

    Michelle

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  8. Yay! Glad you're all enjoying the post & games! I subscribed to the newsletter of the publishers of those ebooks last year and they send things around every holiday and a few other times a year (they'll come from "Teresa"). They always include a link to some things you can purchase, but there's no obligation. (I'm not affiliated w/ them, I just dig free stuff!)

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  9. Reading your post was like reading my autobiography! Just a little FYI - I just took ALL the Go Math workshops. They stressed that they WANT us using our games and strategies. They said to look over each chapter & test to figure out the content, but then teach it however you feel is best. They actually said the only pages in the lessons that they feel are essential are the first (manipulative page) and last (spiral review page). Hope that helps relieve any "I gotta be sneaky" stress! :-)
    Peace & Love,
    Melissa

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  10. I'm so glad to hear that Melissa! Maybe I should have taken them again, I did it last year when it was still super new. Could someone actually be listing to teacher feedback? That would be so nice for a change :)

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  11. You hit a homerun with this...
    littlemisskindergarten.blogspot.com

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  12. Thank you for the great math stations! I set them up for my boys last month and they loved them! If you want to take a peek I blogged them: http://mngranola.blogspot.com/2012/01/december-school-math-stations.html

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  13. Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
    Snapper Rock Boys 2-7 UV 50 Rash Top

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  14. Hi , i just want to share a link talking about math games for kids

    http://www.math-worksheets.co.uk/primary-teaching-resources/math-games-for-kids/

    ReplyDelete

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