Five in a Row: A Game for Practicing Addition Facts and What's the Problem? Freebies {May}

Five in a Row: A Game for Practicing Addition Facts and What's the Problem? Freebies {May}

2 comments Five in a Row, math, math games, What's the Problem

Hey everyone!  I'm so excited to be sharing the newest monthly Five in a Row game board with you today. 

What is Five in a Row?
Five in a Row is fun and engaging game where students practice their basic addition math facts.  Students will roll two number cubes (labeled 5-10) or two dice, add them together, and cover the sum on the game board.  The object of the game is to be the first person to cover five numbers in a row.

Materials

• Game boards
• Game pieces (double sided counters, dimes and pennies, different colored linking cubes, and so on) NOTE: since the two players share the same game board, they need different game pieces to denote which spaces they've claimed as their own
• 2 Number Cubes (blank cubes numbered 5 through 10) OR 2 dice (depending upon the level of play)

How to Play

• Students play in pairs. 
• Student A rolls the two number cubes (or dice), adds the numbers together, and covers that number on the board.
• Student B does the same.
• Play continues back and forth in this fashion.
• The first player to get five counters in a row is the winner!

Note:  If a player rolls their number cubes or dice, but the sum is not available, then they do nothing (and hope they have better luck when their next turn comes around).

You can grab this Five in a Row game board for free!  It includes color and black and white versions, as well as two levels of play:

• Sums of 2 through 12 (played with two dice)
• Sums of 10 through 20  (played with two number cubes numbered 5-10)

You can grab this game board for FREE! Just click here.  

Wait, there's more!  This post also includes the newest installment of my "What's the Problem?" mini book series.

What's the Problem?
Looking to challenge your students in the word problem department?  Then, you've come to the right place.  The newest installment of "What's the Problem?" is ready to share.  This (free) mini book series is a great way to give students practice with writing their own addition and subtraction word problems. 

So what is a "What's the Problem?" mini book?  It's a project that tasks students with creating a story (word)  problem for a given answer.  They have to use a different kind of thinking to do this, and they have to use the correct vocabulary terms as they write their problems (i.e. "how many more?" or "how many in all?" and so on).

When working on this skill, my students are taught to write three sentences.  The first two sentences pose the problem, and the third asks the question. I also tell my students that they need to use the answer label throughout their story.  For example:

Kylie surfed 2 gnarly waves in the morning.  Then, she surfed 1 more gnarly wave after lunch.  How many gnarly waves did Kylie surf in all?

"What's the Problem?" is a great way to get students thinking about word problems from a different angle and encourages them to use their math vocabulary. They have to focus carefully on crafting their word problem and as they develop this skill, they will also be able to more easily solve other word problems.

When your students are ready, they could write two step story problems. Or, you could task them with adding "extra" information to their word problems as a device to try and "trick" the reader.  You could also have students draw a model for their word problem in the space at the bottom of each page.

You can grab this free mini book here.

Enjoy your freebies!

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