FINDING COMPARISONS, FACTOR PAIRS AND PRIMES Through 3 Math Card Games

GO FISH

RULES AND REGULATIONS Students are dealt 7 cards each. All additional cards are spread out on the table face down, in front of the students. Students compare multiplication equations to find matching products. Student A asks Student B if they have the matching product. Student B either gives Student A the matching product card or tells Student A to “Go Fish!” When one student has all of the cards, that student wins. Game designed for 2-4 Players.

WAR

RULES AND REGULATIONS  Prime cards act as “wild” cards and beat any other product.  In the case of a tie, students initiate steps 2-4 again.  Game designed for 2-3 players 1.For this game, 2 decks of playing cards are needed. 2.Remove all face cards and jokers. 3.Use 1 manipulated deck and 1 normal deck. 4.Card decks are dealt out so that all cards are dealt out to the players. 5.Students count to 3 and place one card each face up onto the table. 6.Students compare both multiple equations and products to assess winner of each “battle.” 7.Player with the highest number product wins.

COMPARATIVE UNO

RULES AND REGULATIONS For this game, 2 decks of playing cards are needed. Remove all face cards and jokers. Use 1 manipulated deck and 1 normal deck. Students are dealt 7 cards each. One card is turned over in the middle of the table and player to the left of the dealer starts. Students can either place the same number card or same suit card on top of the preceding card. Prime number cards act as “wild” cards and student who places the card, has the option of calling on whatever suit they wish to be played next. Students may make up additional rules for prime number cards as they wish. First student to place down all their cards, wins.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS GRADE 4 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.OA.A.1 “Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.” CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.OA.B.4 “Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1–100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is prime or composite.”

FOR THE TEACHER Instructions Create at least one deck of “manipulated” playing cards. Block out the numbers in the corners and the suit symbols under those numbers in the corner. Mark all prime number cards as “prime.” Remove all face cards Print out instructions for students. Materials 2-5 decks of playing cards with at least 2 decks of manipulated cards. 1 or 2 black permanent markers. Ample playing space.

REFLECTION What is challenging about creating a game for students? Creating a game for students is challenging because the educator is forced to consider how a child/student thinks. This means that a consideration has to be made for the student’s level of development and previous skill/conceptual knowledge base. How can you use games to develop conceptual understanding? Games can be used to develop conceptual understanding by alleviating the tedium of standard teaching practices and by replacing them with aspects of play and competition. In addition, games can be used to develop conceptual understanding by teaching students new vocabulary in a fun environment as wells as teaching them the comparative aspects of math in a non-intrusive way. Why might creating your own game be valuable or necessary? Creating your own game is both useful and necessary in a time when more and more resources are being taken out of the classroom budget. It is important for teachers to look for inexpensive and creative ways to provide fun learning activities for our students and keep them engaged in the learning process.

#ALEX RAND/MATP662/MATHGAME