Friday, January 2, 2015

Place Value Review Battleship Style

Place value understanding and number sense are important concepts that should be revisited with students throughout the school year.  Recently, I used the game Place Value Partners by Laura Candler to work with a small group of students.

Students paired up to play this game.  One student acted as the sender (or leader) and the other acted as the receiver (listener and builder).  The sender was responsible for building a number using a set of number cards (labeled 0 - 9).  The sender called out each digit and its place (1s, 10s or 100s place) as the receiver placed the digits in the correct position on his or her board.  After the receiver finished building the number both students compared their numbers to ensure that they were the same.  After comparing,  the students recorded their numbers on a recording page that was included with the activity.


Extension Activity for Early Finishers:

I extended the activity for early finishers by having the students use the same numbers (that were composed above) and then providing the sender with the following questions stems for the receiver to answer:
  • What number is ten more than my number? (Build it with the base ten blocks and show it on your game board)
  • What number is ten less than my number?  (Build it with the base ten blocks and show it on your game board)
  • What number is one hundred more than my number? (Build it with the base ten blocks and show it on your game board)
  • What number is one hundred less than my number? (Build it with the base ten blocks and show it on your game board)

My students enjoyed playing this game because it allowed them to build a number of their choice, work together and act as leaders.  I heard a lot of great student talk while the students played the game.  For example, they asked, "Why did you build the number like that?"

I enjoyed this game because... 
  1. It allowed the students to communicate their mathematical thinking.
  2. It required the students to explain and discuss their answers.
  3. The directions were very open ended and allowed me to adapt the game to meet the needs of the group that I was working with.  For instance, I required students to build their numbers using base ten blocks.  Also since I wanted to reinforce collaboration versus competition the partners were awarded points after each round if the receiver correctly built the number based on the senders directions. 
This game can be differentiated to meet the needs of your low and high performing students in that the game comes in different versions (3, 4 and 7 digit numbers and numbers with decimals). Check it out when you get a chance.

2 comments:

  1. Saw this in my newsletter! Thanks so much for sharing how you have used it with kids! :0)

    Smiles,
    Sarah

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