Making Math Fun

Many children really look forward to math class. We definitely have a lot of fun while learning! Our current emphasis in math is "number sense" and practicing some easy facts. I said just today that my goal is for the students to become more "fluent" in math - and, just like with reading, math becomes more enjoyable if they don't have to stop and think through each problem. I will teach strategies, tricks, and memorization skills. This is also an opportunity to play games.

Here are a couple of easy games you can play at home. Both of these take just a simple deck of cards, with the face cards removed. The 10 card can be a 0. Ask your child to play:

Addition Top-It. This game is played just like "War" only each player flips over 2 cards, adds them together, and the highest sum takes all cards.











Salute! You need 3 players for this game. One player evenly deals out the deck of cards between the other two players. They count, "1,2,3, Salute!" As they say, "Salute!" they bring the first card in their piles to their foreheads, without looking at it, in a kind of salute. Then, the two players look at one another's foreheads as Player 3 adds the numbers. Player 3 says, "The sum is ___". The two players try to be the first to guess their own number by subtracting the other player's number from the sum.