Math games

Table of Contents:

I. Differentiation Strategies…………………………………………………………………………………….3
a. Choose Your Recipe (3)Choose_your_recipe
b. Color Coded (4)Color_Coded
c. Grab Bag (4)Grab_Bag
d. Matching (4)Matching

II. Math Games………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
a. Round Robin (5)Round_Robin
b. Boss-Secretary (6)Boss_Secretary
c. Sequence (7)Sequence
d. Maze Game (7-8)Maze_Game
e. Beat the Buzzer (8)Beat_the_Buzzer
f. Find Someone Who (8-9) Find_Someone_who
g. Whiteboards (9)Whiteboards
h. Learning Stations (10-14)Learning_Stations
i. Bingo (14-15)Bingo
j. Jeopardy (15)Jeopardy

III. Real World Applications…………………………………………………………………………………….16
a. The Choices of Life (16-18)
b. Daily Suggestions (19-20)

Differentiation: a. Choose Your RecipePurpose: A fun way to switch up guided or independent practice that gives your students choice in the problems they complete. Choice not only helps with investing your students in the math lesson (especially at the middle school level when students continuously try to express their independence), it also allows you to differentiate for your students of varying math ability.

Explanation: Groupproblems that are aligned with the objective you are teaching that day into varying levels of difficulty. I typically break my problems into three levels of rigor (remedial, medium, and advanced—DO NOT LABEL THE PROBLEMS AS SUCH). The remedial problems are worth 1 point, medium 2 points, and advanced 3 points. Within each level of rigor, you want to ensure that the same part of your objective isbeing practiced except at varying levels of difficulty. For example, if one type of problem you want them to practice is one-step equations, each problem in the varying levels of difficulty should assess one-step equations. For example:

Easy (1 point) : x – 8 = 10
Medium (2 points): 24 = x + 9
Advanced (3 points): -36 = -5 + x

**You can either tell students they need to solve atleast 30 points. Or, you could tell certain students to just solve one-point problems if you know they are typically a student who struggles. Or, you could assign a different amount of points to different students depending on their ability, etc.**

Example:
Directions: Choose your recipe! You must solve 20 points by choosing your recipe of 1 point, 2 point, or 3 point problems. Remember, youmay choose to solve a combination of 1 point, 2 point, and 3 point problems, or, you could choose all 3 point problems. IT IS YOUR CHOICE, but make sure to show all steps!!

1 Point Problems | 2 Point Problems | 3 Point Problems |
| | |
Janelle has a credit card balance of -$30.00. She spends another $15.00 and puts it on her credit card. What is her balance now? | The Fanning Falconsplayed in a big football gain. On the first play they gained 15 yards, then lost 23 yards, and lost an additional 32 yards. What is there total net gain or loss? | Ja’Quan had -$12.15 in his account, he deposited a check for $34.52 and then deposited an additional check for $101.17. How much money does Ja’Quan have now? |
-2 + 8 – 9 = x | -23 – 39 + 19 = y | -210.6 + 34.5 – 26.53 = t |
Youget the hint! Make as big of recipe as you need to in order to meet the needs of your students.

b. Color Coded

Purpose: The purpose of Color Coded is identical to that of Choose Your Recipe. It allows you to differentiate among your students and gives your students choice in the lesson.

Explanation: This strategy is really similar to Choose Your Recipe. Instead of labeling theproblems as points, yous imply highlight the problems you offer your students in different colors. In this sense, you should already have a system to match up the color with the level of difficulty of the problem.

c. Grab Bag

Purpose: This strategy allows you to differentiate, and it also allows you to make math practice more exciting because students don’t know what type of problem they are...