Kids, Grids & Connect 5 Years K - 6

Summary This activity has two forms - one for children becoming automatic with number facts up to ten (friends of ten) and one for children becoming automatic with times tables. Using playing cards to generate a position on a grid (location skills similar to reading a map), players discover a number. The challenge is to 'know' its partner, which in the addition facts case is its 'ten friend' and in the times tables case is a times table equal to the discovered number. The key to knowing is the process of Guess/Make/Check/Calculate. The game continues with the students taking turns until they connect five. Suitable for threading. Materials Friends of 10 One Poly Plug per pair One pack of cards (using only Ace to 5) One calculator per pair (or one each) One Poly Plug Frame (PDF) (laminated versions with completed grids can be helpful) Times Tables Four yellow/blue boards and one red board per pair One pack of cards (using only Ace to 5) One calculator (or one each) One Poly Plug Frame (PDF) (laminated versions with completed grids can be helpful) One Times Tables Plug Paper

Acknowledgement The original game - a ten friends version for five year olds - was created by Damien Webb, Sacred Heart Primary School, Pearce and Mike Stoelinga, St. Joseph's Primary School, O'Connor as part of their six day professional development program, Working Like A Mathematician, organised by the Catholic Education Office, Canberra Goulburn. Note on PDF Printing Make sure Page Scaling is set to 'None' in the printing window when printing the Poly Plug Frame, otherwise the red board won't sit accurately over the frame.

Procedure Friends of 10 To begin the game, children need: Either a Poly Plug Frame prepared by the teacher, or they make their own by entering numbers from 1 to 9 in every circle of the frame and numbers 1 to 5 in red and black on the side as shown in the photo. One mini-pack of red playing cards from 1 to 5 and another mini-pack of black playing cards from 1 to 5. A red Poly Plug board with all its plugs. A yellow/blue Poly Plug board with a ten frame pressed out as shown in the photo above. The game starts with the red plug board on top of the Poly Plug Frame so the numbers can't be seen. The aim of the game is to remove plugs according to the rules and be the person who makes five numbers in a row. The row can be vertical, horizontal or one of the two diagonals.

Content addition facts to 10 complementary addition estimating number making/recording groups of 10 mapping skills - informal mathematical conversation multiplication - array model multiplication numeral recognition recording - calculator subitising times tables visual and kinaesthetic representation of number writing numerals

Rules

1. Players take turns.
2. Each player chooses the top red card and top black card.
3. The cards guide the player to remove one plug from the board and reveal the number underneath.
4. Now the player has to:
   1. Guess the ten friend partner of the revealed number.
   2. Make the revealed number in the yellow/blue ten frame.
   3. Check that their guess is the same as the empty spaces.
   4. Calculate with the calculator to show that the revealed number plus the partner number equals 10.

• The cards drawn tell us (4, 4) is the point to remove the plug.
• The number under that is plug 4, so 4 plugs are added to the ten frame in the other board.
• There are 6 holes left in the blue board, so 4's friend of 10 is 6.
• Check on the calculator: 4 + 6 = 10.
• Next players turn.

Damien Comments My students had some difficulties at first understanding how to find the different points on the board, so we used pencils to help line up the different points. Once they were confident at recognising the points using the cards, we added the numbers and the use of the ten frames. We began playing the game as a whole class exercise at first and had groups break into smaller individual games once they were comfortable. Students then broke into small groups and enjoyed playing the game. I asked Kindergarten 'What can we learn from this game?' They said: Better counting skills Reading playing cards Friends of ten Drawing straight lines Although they didn't recognise the learning about position they got a lot out of the activity and enjoyed playing the game.

Times Tables

To begin the game, children need: Either a Poly Plug Frame prepared by the teacher, or they make their own by entering answers from times tables in every circle of the frame and numbers 1 to 5 in red and black on the side as above. One mini-pack of red playing cards from 1 to 5 and another mini-pack of black playing cards from 1 to 5. A red Poly Plug board with all its plugs. Four yellow/blue Poly Plug boards as shown and pencils or straws or Times Tables Plug Paper. (If you have already used the activity Exploring Times Tables, the Plug Paper should be enough. However, you might like to refresh the activity first using a floorboard model as shown and leave it in a central place for reference as the paper is introduced.)

Rules

1. Players take turns.
2. Each player chooses the top red card and top black card.
3. The cards guide the player to remove one plug from the board and reveal the number underneath.
4. Now the player has to:
   1. Guess the times table that made the revealed number (their might be more than one answer).
   2. Make the times table by outlining its rectangle on either the plug board array or the Times Tables Plug Paper.
      Note: 4 times 6 is represented by 4 rows of 6 as shown in the photo above.
   3. Check in two ways that their guess for the times table does give the required product.
   4. Calculate with the calculator to show that the times table does give the required product.

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