Unleashing the Power of Games and

Puzzles, K-5Linda Dacey

ldacey@lesley.edu@LindaSDacey

It is a happy talent to know how to play. Our whole life is solving puzzles. Ralph Waldo Emerson Erno Rubik

What We Will Explore

▪ Characteristics of games and puzzles

▪ Best classroom practices

▪ Ways to adapt games and puzzles

▪ Time to play and solve

▪ Opportunities for assessment

What is one of your favorite math games?

Why?

Is it a …

a game? a puzzle?

an activity or exercise or problem?

What We Want

ImportantIdeas

Engagement

LearningNeeds

SMP

Representations

Biggest Change to Make

Encourage games and puzzles to be played or solved together

Another Big Change: Mindset!

Notice and Wonder

Notice and Wonder

15

19

22

17

18 30 25

Content

Doing an OkiDoku Puzzle

x20 +11

+14 +8

X35See reference

Bad Games and Good Games

Around the World Double Out

How Can We Improve A Classic?

I Have/Who Has?

I have 6.

Who has 4 more than my number?

I have 10.

Who has 3 less than my number?

Make It a Puzzle

I have 1,245.

Who has a number greater than 25 hundreds?

I have 2,645.

Who has 1 less than 19 tens?

I have 2,700.

Who has 3 more than 16 hundreds?

How Can We Get a Puzzle from a Problem?

Standard Logic Problem:

The number has four digits.

The sum of the digits is 5.

It is less than 1,100.

It is a multiple of 20.

Change It to Cooperative Puzzling

• Each student has one clue.• Clues cannot be shown.

How Can We Improve on Exercises?

Given:0 1

Show .1

4

Include Modeling of Important Ideas

Iterate: If is equal to ¼, then is 1, as it is

composed of four equal copies.

Partition: If is 1, then is ¼ because that’s what we get when we divide the whole into 4 equal parts and take one of them.

Play Units Fractions

Play Units Fractions

If this is 1/2, do you have 1?

If this is one whole, do you have 1/3?

When and Why?

When and why do you use math games in your classroom?

Game Station?

Stages of Playing or Puzzling

Introduction Exploration Variation Practice Recreation

How Close?

100

500

1,000

1,000

5,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

10

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Let’s Play a Modified Version

100

500

1,000

Goal Number Number Created Difference

5

Find your score.

If you can, take a picture and post your game sheet in the chat window.

What might a student learn from playing this game?

Formative Assessment

▪ Do players appear tentative or confident as they write the named digits?

▪ Do students make sensible decisions about where they place the digits?

▪ What ideas do students talk about as they decide where to write the digits?

▪ What base ten language do students use?

▪ What do students recognize as they compute scores?

Assessment - Exit Cards

If the first card were a 0, what would you like the second card to be, and where would you place it?

How Can We Improve Basic Matching Games?

8 + 3 11

8 x 432

Include Learning, Not Just Practice

Equals Game

3 + 8 8+2+1

8 + 3 8 x 4

(8x2)+(8x2) (10x4)-(2x4)

Care about Both Turns

Equals Game

13 - 4 13 - 7

8 + 3 9 + 1

13 - 2 - 2 7 + 8

13 - 3 - 15 + 6

Team A Team B

Recording Sheets

Look for Ways to Play Collaboratively

Work together to write up to 10 numbers in order from least to greatest.

▪ Roll 4 dice.

▪ Make the least number you can using all these digits.

▪ Write it in line 1.

▪ Make the greatest number you can using all these digits.

▪ Write it in line 10.

▪ Keep rolling and making numbers. Write them in any empty line.

▪ The game ends when you have 10 numbers in order or you

cannot make a number that would fit.

How Can We Vary a Favorite Game?

What’s the Label?

Change the Content

What’s the Label?

4 12 15

Acknowledgements

Karen Gartland

Jayne Bamford Lynch

Classroom teachers

Stenhouse Publishers