DreamBox Learning®» Math games

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Game and Puzzle Week Coming Up!

Lisa W — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:36:56 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. Next week (November 21-27) is National Game and Puzzle Week! I’m excited to break out the jigsaw puzzles in my classroom to celebrate. Growing up I loved jigsaw puzzles, and I can attribute this lifelong hobby to my grandma. When she babysat us, there were two things for certain that we’d do at her house—eat chicken noodle soup for lunch and work on a puzzle. As soon as we got to her house, grandma would clear the dining room table while my sister and I ran to pick out a puzzle from her Game & Puzzle Closet (also known as her coat closet). After the pieces were dumped on the table, there was a specific order to how we attacked the puzzle. First, we’d pull out all of the edge pieces and turned them face up. Middle pieces were pushed to the side. Then the box top was placed strategically for all of us to see and consult as we worked on constructing the border. It was only when the entire border was complete that the middle of the puzzle was worked on. Grandma never spoke of the great educational benefits of doing puzzles, like working on fine motor, manipulation and coordination skills. Puzzles improve reasoning and deductive thinking. Not to mention, puzzles develop the ability to concentrate. She just said that puzzles were fun. And we agreed! What was your favorite game or hobby growing up? Who introduced you to it? I’d love to hear from you. Check out these websites for Game and Puzzle Week:

The Crayola website has lots of generic game boards, color pages, crafts, and lesson plans to use with your students.
The American Jigsaw Puzzle Society explains the academic origins of the jigsaw puzzle. Did you know that they were first made as an education tool to teach children geography?

Tuesday Teacher Tip: Game of SET

Lisa W — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:32:46 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. I love using games in the classroom. One of my favorite math games is SET®, a game of visual perception. It’s a game I’ve used with my regular education students, as well as with gifted & talented students. This is an excellent game to teach students how to identify patterns. The game was created by a Population Geneticist, Marsha Jean Falco, who was studying epilepsy in German Shepherds. To organize her data, she drew symbols on index cards to search for patterns. While explaining to her colleagues what she was looking for with all of the cards spread in front of her, she realized that this could be a fun game. Each card in SET has four attributes:

Color (green, red, or purple)
Number (one, two, or three symbols)
Symbol (ovals, squiggles, or diamonds)
Shading (open, striped, or solid)

The dealer places nine cards face-up in a 3 x 3 array. No one takes turns in this game. Instead, when a player finds three cards that make up a set, they yell, “Set!” Immediately, they must point out the three cards. If the rest of the group agrees, then that player gets to keep the three cards. The player with the most sets at the end of the game is the winner. Players are searching for the sameness or distinctness of each attribute. A ‘set’ is three cards in which each attribute is either all the same or all different. For example,

All of the cards are purple OR all are different color.
All of the cards are diamonds OR all are different symbols.
All of the cards are striped OR all have different shading.
All of the cards have one symbol on them OR all have a different amount of symbols.

Especially for the younger students, the hardest part of the game is teaching how to identify a set. Sometimes I found it easiest to show what a set was not by showing three cards that did not make a set and talking about why it wasn’t a set. The magic rule on the website explains, “If two are…and one is not, then it is not a Set.” The official website has a daily puzzle that would be excellent to use with your class. In addition, the website provides a number of suggestions for variations of the game. Teachers: Do you have a favorite math game that you use in your classroom? I’d love to hear about it! Do you have an idea for a future Tuesday Teacher Tips topic you’d like to see covered? Let me know and it could be featured in a future blog.

Save the Date for Seattle's MathFest 2010: Nov. 4

Sue — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:03:03 +0000

Imagine a school gym full of elementary kids having a blast playing math games. Then, if you live in the Seattle area, mark your calendar for Mathfest 2010 on November 4! Last year my favorite 6-year-old had a memorable time playing a whole range of math puzzles, problems, and games. But the best part for me was getting insight into what kinds of math activities he gravitates to and how he thinks. In a couple of cases I was so amazed to see him take on a really hard problem, think it through methodically, work it persistently, and then see his pleasure and pride when he solved it! MathFest is Explorations in Math’s annual math bash. This is an organization that helping to build a culture in Seattle-area elementary schools that showcases math as fun, engaging, and relevant. This year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, November 4, from 5-8 pm, at the Rainier Community Center in Seattle. MathFest is also a good opportunity to give back to the community—and help Explorations in Math. They need help setting up and taking down game booths, playing games with the elementary students who attend, and to assisting with registering attendees. Interested volunteers can e-mail full name and date of birth to info@eimath.org. For those of you not lucky enough to live in the Seattle area, there are lots of other Mathfest events. A simple Google search for MathFest 2010 turned up links to events all over the country. Click here to watch their "music video" from MathFest 2009, and help get your kids excited about participating!

Who Gets to Play Third Grade Math? Beta Winners Announced!

Tracy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:26:05 +0000

My kindergartener was just begging me to let her play more DreamBox last night instead of reading stories before bed. She's really loving it. -Victoria Rana, Bella's Mom. Drum roll, please... And our third-grade beta testers will be: Benjamin, entered by Noel Bush; Bella, entered by Victoria Rana; and Edgar, entered by Jennifer Shotts! Congratulations to our winners and we hope our 3rd grade math games keep them up after their bedtimes practicing math. (OK, not too long after their bedtimes!) Thank you to everyone who wrote on our Facebook wall, tweeted to us, or commented on our contest blog post. The messages of support from our fans has been tremendous and we've come a long way since first premiering DreamBox's kindergarten through 2nd grade math games, one year ago. We can't wait to announce third grade to the rest of the world! Please check back with us because IT'S COMING SOON! Didn't mean to shout. We're just so pleased for our third-graders who will get to play in the DreamBox private beta. And if you're wondering about World Maths Day 2010, which we've been glued to, the total number of questions answered was 479, 732, 613 - a new world record! Avit P from Team Thailand was number one in the 5-8 age range, Kaya G from Australia (last year's champion!) conquered the 9-13 age range, and David A from Australia took a gold medal in the 14-18 age range. Everyone is a winner in Lucky Math Month - download the April DreamBox Math Activity Calendar, and have fun with math all month!

Calling Teachers in Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and West Virginia! 46 States and Counting

Casey — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:39:52 +0000

As DreamBox Learning's Director of Marketing Programs to schools I spend most of my days working with school districts, principals, curriculum advisers, math coaches, and classroom teachers who are using DreamBox in their schools and districts. I introduce them to DreamBox Learning, answer their questions about our lessons, program, and curriculum, help them roll out pilots and purchases to their schools, solicit feedback on future features and functionality that would help them better direct and improve student instruction, and bring that back to our academic and development teams. It has been an amazing experience to see our DreamBox Math Classroom product go from being tested in small after-school program pilots in a few local schools to full district-wide implementations in multiple states — in less than a year!

46 states and counting

And we are now just four states away from an important milestone. Since last April, DreamBox Learning has been used in classrooms in 46 US states and the District of Columbia. I have a personal goal to help schools in all 50 States using DreamBox before our 3rd grade math games are launched this spring. So I'm calling all kindergarten, first and second grade teachers in Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota or West Virginia! Go to www.dreambox.com/teachers, check out our program, play sample lessons, download our free teacher resources, and sign up your class to try the award-winning DreamBox program in your classroom…and help bring DreamBox to all 50 US States! You'll join the other 46 in seeing how much for your students will have learning math.

New (Free) Calendars Full of Summer Math Activities

Tracy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:47:51 +0000

We hope your kids are having fun with our July summer activities calendar! Good news: we now have August and September summer math calendars. Hang these fun printables on the fridge and don't miss the summer's coolest holidays.

Summer math holidays and activities:

August is get ready for kindergarten month! Help prepare your child for kindergarten through the month of August. DreamBox Learning is a great math game for kindergartners because it makes math learning fun, is individualized, and tracks progress. It's a wonderful way to introduce your child to math learning. Our September calendar features delightful holidays like cream-filled doughnut day on September 14 and National Comic Book Day on September 25! These calendars are free and available as part of the parent resources we offer. Print them out and you'll always have math learning activities to do with your kids during the dog days of summer.

Learning Math Through Play, from Guest Blogger Dawn Morris

Tracy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:21:32 +0000

by Dawn Morris, M.A. of Moms Inspire Learning I can remember making “trains” with upright dominoes as a child. It took a long time to set them up just right, but then it was so much fun to watch them falling into each other so quickly! It was kind of like watching a tiny roller coaster in motion. Little did I know, though, that playing around like that was actually helping me to develop important spatial skills! It’s important to remember that children learn a lot through play, including how to be creative.

Children love “hands-on” learning, and manipulating objects like these dominoes is not only great for improving fine motor skills, but it can also make it easier for them to understand important math concepts.

Children between the ages of 4 and 6 are just beginning to understand addition. The dots on the dominoes make them the perfect tool for beginners. While 4 year olds will enjoy simply counting up the dots and matching up the ones with the same number of them, 5 year olds can begin to make simple equations with the dominoes. For example, you can ask your child how many ways he can add to five. Let him have fun showing you which dominoes add up to 5. If your child already understands what a “+” and “=” sign is, you can also ask her to write the equations that add up to 5:

4 + 1 = 5 2 + 3 = 5 5 + 0 = 5

Then, have your child turn them around to get:

1 + 4 = 5 3 + 2 = 5 0 + 5 = 5

A great book to go along with this activity is called Domino Addition, by Lynette Long, Ph.D. The same process can later be used to reinforce the operations of subtraction and multiplication as well. People from around the world have been playing all kinds of games with dominoes for many centuries. If you’d like to learn how to play them, and learn a little bit about culture and geography along the way, a great picture book is called Dominoes Around the World, by Mary D. Lankford. Children of all ages can learn important math and social skills through games played not only with dominoes, but with dice and cards as well. Board games and card games, such as Uno, make number recognition and other math concepts fun to learn, and children can also learn so much about the importance of cooperation and taking turns by playing math games regularly. How has your child learned math through play?

Chutes & Ladders: A Beginner’s Version for 3-5 Year Olds Sorely Needed!

Mickelle — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:57:32 +0000

The box claims this game is appropriate for ages 3+. It’s wrong. There’s just no way. Where do I even begin? There are so many chutes and ladders that it’s difficult to discern each individual box on the game board. It’s also hard for my three-year-old to know if she’s moving towards the right or the left. (The board is a series of switchbacks. Start from the bottom left corner and move across to the right. At the end of the row, move up one row and progress from right to left.) Although there are arrows at the end of every row, this does nothing to help when her piece is in the middle of the row.

Learning Math Through Games: Ideas for Improvement

In short, I want to create my own game board! I’d start with a hundreds chart using the numbers 1-100, with a 1 in top left corner and the numbers 1-10 across the top row. I’d clearly separate each row creating a chute that wrapped from the end of one row to the beginning of the next row. (For example, the first chute would start at the number 10 and end on the number 11.) The skill of wrapping is actually very difficult for kids, and this would have her practicing wrapping with a physical movement. Where would I add the ladders? I'm not sure -- anywhere between rows, but not crossing over the physical spaces of the boxes for each number. I'll bet my three-year-old would like this game much better than the old version. I could even use different dice or various spinners for determining each move. As she gets older, we could return to use the traditional game board. But I need something between now and then. Anyone out there ready to create my beginning version of Chutes & Ladders?

Let's Do Climate Math

Tracy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:06:45 +0000

If you haven't heard, sponsors announced this year's theme for Math Awareness Month - it's Math and the Climate! Held every year in April, Mathematics Awareness Month was started to make others aware of how math affects our world. DreamBox is celebrating all month long with articles about climate math and our free Math Awareness Month activities calendar! Turn down the heat and warm up for Math Awareness Month with a few thought-provoking activities your family can do together. Today's topic: Reducing Carbon Dioxide. Change a light. Replace one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb and you'll save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide (Co2) per year. Math Practice: Count all the light bulbs in your home. Discuss how much energy you'll save if you replaced each bulb with a compact fluorescent. Recycle. If you recycle half your household waste, you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Math Practice: Separate all the aluminum cans, newspapers, and milk cartons in your home. Count how many items make up each pile and tally in a chart. Make pencil holders out of aluminum cans. Subtract the cans you're reusing from the cans in the pile. Now how many cans will go into the recycle bin? Every step you take. For every mile you travel by car, you let one pound of Co2 into the air. Math Practice: Take a family bike ride and count the blocks as you go along. How many blocks make up a mile in your town? Could you take more trips by bike or on foot? List the animals you see on your journey and collect fallen leaves.

Math Learning As A Way of Teaching Your Child About the Environment

It's amazing how much a simple action, like changing a light bulb impacts our environment. While we talk with kids about climate change and conservation, math provides real values behind our decisions. When a child asks, "Mommy, why can't we take the car?," instead of using the old Mommy mantra "Because I said so," say, "If we drive one mile, we'll let one pound of carbon dioxide into the air. Let's walk instead." Teach your kids about Math and the Climate with more fun Earth Day activities. Comment below and let us know if you're participating in Math Awareness Month!

World Maths Day Recap and Math Game Winners

Tracy — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:11:21 +0000

World Maths Day (or World Math Day) was a smashing success. There were 2,001,570 total participants from 204 countries and a world record of 452,681,681 total questions answered in 48 hours. Congratulations, mathletes. What a wonderful math game!

World Maths Day Winners

Kaya G, an 11-year old boy from team Australia and Hall of Famer from last year's math game is the new World Champion. Congratulations Kaya G! You're an inspiration to every kid who competes in math games.
Taking 2nd place, David M from Aloha College, Spain and the 3rd place winner is David A from Fraser Coast Angelica College, Australia.
The top three individual classes in order of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd: F2 Team A, F3 Team A, and F4 Team A from Chempaka Schools, Malaysia. Yes, all three winners were from the same school. That is an amazing feat!

Top World Math Day Competitors from the U.S.A.

Ms. Esteva F's class from Sweetwater Elementary ranked 17 in the individual classes category with 454,988 questions answered correctly. Windy Ridge's class ranked 23 and Mr. Bourne's 5th grade class from CreekView Elementary ranked 24. A.S., a student from Sunset Elementary ranked 45 in the Hall of Fame. To see the full list of winners, head to World Math Day. Or for more information about the event, read our previous World Maths Day post. And if you participated, we want to hear from you. Comment below and let us know how it went. How did your kids practice math for the event? Did they make it into the Hall of Fame or bring home a medal? As this contest proves, fun 1st and 2nd grade math games plus friendly competition equals math learning success. And don't forget, World Math Day may be over, but your kids can enjoy math games all year long with DreamBox Learning!