iPlay Math Games

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What it is: iPlay Math Games is an outstanding collection of printable math games for grades k-12.  Math games can be searched by grade level or skill.  These math games are printable pdf files and can be played with common items (dice, cards, and other manipulatives).  iPlay Math Games helps students build math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing and exponents, problem solving, puzzles and games, geometry, probability, reasoning, logic, numeration, patterns, and counting.

How to integrate iPlay Math Games into the classroom: iPlay Math Games is an excellent collection of printable math games that can be downloaded and printed out for the classroom.  Use these games as math center activities, and to reinforce math skills being learned.  These games are a great way for students to practice math skills sans worksheet.

Tips: iPlay Math Games has not always been a free resource, take advantage of the new free status!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using iPlay Math Games in your classroom.

Make 5

Make 5

What it is: Make 5 is a fun interactive tic-tac-toe type game (it actually reminds me of Connect 4) that I learned about this morning on Twitter from @annemarie80.  This game is a great way for students to practice math facts and to recognize relationships between numbers.  Students are given a target number, they choose an equation on the grid that equals the target number.  The goal of the game is to get 5 squares on the grid in a row in the least number of tries.  The game has several play options; students can play the game with one or two players, set up the game to get 5 or 3 in a row, and can play to practice addition, subtraction, or multiplication.

How to integrate Make 5 into the classroom: Make 5 is an excellent little game that students can play to practice math facts.  Use Make 5 as a math center on the classroom computers.  Students can visit the center in groups of two and play the game together.  In the computer lab setting, students can play Make 5 individually.  Make 5 would be a fun whole class game using an interactive whiteboard.  Split the math class into two teams.  Students take turns coming to the board as representatives of their team.  Give teams 30 seconds to plan their move before sending up their representative.  Make sure that every student has the opportunity to be at the board (you may have to play more than once).

Tips: Send this site home to parents, this is a great way for students to practice their math facts at home, too!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Make 5  in your classroom.

Arcademic Skill Builders

What it is:  Arcademic Skill Builders are educational games that help students learn basic academic math and literacy skills. The games are all research-based and standards-aligned.  This site blends the fun of arcade games and key educational skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students.  All games are free to play and have the option of multi-player or single player games.

 

How to integrate Arcademic Skill Builders into the classroom:   Arcademic Skill Builders has games that will help students practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, ratios, and language arts word skills.  These games can be used as a center in the classroom during math or literacy.  They can also be used with the whole class in a computer lab setting.  I look forward to the addition of the student tracking so that teachers can see trends in student learning and differentiate instruction and practice accordingly.  These games will help excite your students about learning while building important basic learning skills.

 

Tips:  Arcademic Skill Builders has plans to add features that will allow students to save records, teachers to differentiate instruction through the games, and pinpoint students problem areas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Arcademic Skill Builders in your classroom.

Number Nut

 

What it is:  Number Nut is a site all about math.  I love their  catch phrase: “enough math can make anyone nutty”.  This site certainly has enough math for that!  Topics on Number Nut include: shapes and colors, numbers and counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, order of operations, dates and times, fractions, decimals, percent values, estimation and rounding, ratios, and money math.  There is something for every math class here!  Each topic gives an overview of the math concept (kind of like the break down students would find at the beginning of a new math chapter).  This is followed by two interactives where students can practice their new found knowledge. Number Nut is standard aligned and has a great math glossary.

 

How to integrate Number Nut into the classroom:   Number Nut is truly like an interactive math textbook, there are multiple pages for each concept and each page is followed by two interactive practice areas.  I love this as an alternative to math textbooks because students get immediate feedback as they work.  They know whether they have mastered the concept or need to keep working at it.  With traditional math textbooks, a student doesn’t know if they understand a concept until they turn in their math worksheet and get it back a few days later full of red marks.  Number Nut is good for teaching new math concepts on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector.  Students can read along as you explain and demonstrate new math concepts.  Then, students can practice on their own.  Ideally, Number Nut would be used in a computer lab setting where every student is using a computer.  This would allow students to work at their own pace and on the skills they need the most practice on.  Number Nut could also be used as a math center where students take turns visiting and solving problems.

 

Tips:   I learned about Number Nut from a tweet by @kellyhines she is full of great classroom resources and one of my favorite education follows!  Number Nut does require flash so make sure that you have the appropriate flash plugins before using this site with your class.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Number Nut in your classroom.

Learning Clip

 

What it is:  Learning Clip is a site that I reviewed in Nov. 2008 that I took another look at today and was even MORE impressed than I remembered being the first time I saw it.  Learning Clip is a collection of interactive whiteboard resources for primary math.  Resources and activities include topics such as: using and applying math, understanding numbers, number facts, calculating, understanding shape, measuring, and handling data.  Each activity is interactive and encourages students involvement and discovery in math.  Each activity comes with a brief description of the activity, a pdf of notes that accompany the activity, the age appropriateness, and a corresponding worksheet that can be printed out.  Each topic has several sub-topics and each sub-topic has several interactive activities.  When an activity is loaded, a video clip explaining the math concept will play.  Each activity includes a game or interactive activity space for students to practice what they are learning.

How to integrate Learning Clip into the classroom:  Learning Clip is an outstanding resource for interactive math activities!  The video clips help students understand the math concept that can be practiced in an interactive environment.  This site is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard and whole class or small group instruction.  Students can take turns interacting with the content to strengthen understanding of math concepts.  Learning clip could also be successfully used in a computer lab or on classroom computers for individual student learning and practice.  One thing that Learning Clip has added since I visited last is the ability to choose what currency you would like students to practice with in the Money activities.  This site was created in the UK so this feature makes it very user friendly for us Yanks. 🙂    The activities are all wonderful!

 

Tips:  Registration is required but it is free.  If you create a username and password, consider creating one that is class friendly.  This way if you do decide to use the activities in the lab setting, students will be able to logon and access activities easily.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning Clip in your classroom.

Number Gym

Number Gym is math software that can be purchased for the math classroom.  However, they have a number of free online activities (examples of their software) that are perfect in the math classroom.  I want to review each of these freebie mini-math games:

Exploring Fractions

What it is:   Exploring Fractions is an interactive way for students to learn about fractions.  Students see the fractions represented graphically and numerically.  As students change the numerator and denominator of the fraction, they see the graphic change accordingly.

How to integrate Exploring Fractions into the classroom:  Exploring Fractions is a great interactive site to teach your students about fractions.  This is a wonderful website to use with an interactive whiteboard for whole class fraction instruction.  Invite students up to the whiteboard to take turns adjusting the numerator and denominator of the fractions.  Have students observe the graphic changes taking place and describe the changes as a class.  Exploring Fractions is also very useful as a math center on the classroom computers.  As students are learning about fractions, they can visit the computer as a visual manipulation center.

 

Tips:  All parts of the Exploring Fractions website can be hidden (hide the numerator, denominator, or graphic).  This is a nice feature for having students “fill in” the missing information.

 

Mr G’s Place Value Chart

What it is:   Mr G’s Place Value Chart is a great mini-site to teach students about place values.  The chart has a thousands, hundreds, tenths, and ones column.  Students can drag counters up and down the chart to create numbers.  Every portion of the Place Value Chart can be hidden from view depending on what you are using the chart for.

How to integrate Mr G’s Place Value Chart into the classroom:  The Place Value Chart is an excellent visual manipulative to teach students about place value.  Each time a student moves a counter, the number at the top of the screen adjusts accordingly.  Use the Place Value Chart to teach your whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  Call students one at a time to adjust the number with counters.  Encourage students who are at their seats to observe how the numbers change.  Hide the number at the top and have students move counters and say what the number is aloud as a class.  This is also a great mini-site to set up as a math center in the one or two computer classroom.  As students are working on place value, they can visit the math center for a visual manipulative.  

 

Tips:  Hide the columns that are not being used to teach with so students aren’t confused by all the ‘extras’.  

Bond Builder

What it is:   Bond Builder is a mini-game that gives students a ‘dot spotter’ that looks like a dice, students add the numbers on the dot spotter and drag it to the correct sum on a dial.  They are timed as they drag the dot spotter cards to the correct location.

How to integrate Bond Builder into the classroom:  Bond Builder is a fun basic addition or counting reinforcement game. This game could be played as a center activity in the one or two computer classroom or whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  See who can get the fastest time and practice those addition facts at the same time!  

 

Tips:  There are two levels of dot spotters (really just different sets of dot spotter cards).

 

 

Table Extender

What it is:   Table Extender is a multiplication game that gives students a challenging multiplication problem and asks them to drag the problem on top of the correct answer.  Students are timed as they go through the various challenges.

How to integrate Table Extender into the classroom:   Table Extender is a  good way to get students practicing their multiplication.  It makes them think quickly and attempt to beat their own fastest times.  Split students into teams and take turns sending students to the interactive whiteboard to solve the problems.  This mini-game would also make for good practice as a computer center in the classroom.  

 

Tips:  There are three different levels of Table Extender for students to work on.

Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry

What it is:   Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry lets students explore the equation y=aSin(bx*+c*) through adjustments to a, b, and c in graphical form.

How to integrate Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry into the classroom:   This mini-site is a wonderful visual representation of Sin.  Students can adjust a, b, and c and watch the affect of changing numbers on a graph.  Use an interactive whiteboard and call students up to change the values of a, b, and c.  Encourage other students to observe and describe the changes of each value that is adjusted.

 

Tips:  The scale of the graph can be changed to fit your classroom needs.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Number Gym  in your classroom.

Learning Clip

 

What it is:   Learning Clip is a wonderful FREE math site out of the UK that provides short learning clips to be used in primary math classes.  The short video clips are explanations of math concepts.  Each video clip is followed by a game or activity where students can practice the new concept.  The whole site is intended to be used in whole class instruction with an interactive whiteboard (although they could be used just as successfully with just a projector or computer/TV hookup).  Many of the activities have been integrated with the Active Vote system.  If you are lucky enough to have an Active Vote set in your school this is a must see site!  The videos and activities are appropriate for first through fifth grades.  You do have to register to use the resources on this site, but it is free to register and a very quick process.

 

How to integrate Learning Clip into the classroom:    Use this site to introduce your students to new math concepts.  Use an interactive whiteboard, projector, or TV to show the videos.  Let students take turns “controlling” the computer during the activity portion.  If you have an Active Vote system be sure to actively involve your students in math learning with the integrated activities.  This site would also be appropriate for the one or two computer classroom.  Set up Learning Clip as a math center for students to visit while they are working on new math concepts or practicing old concepts.

 

Tips:  This site was created in the UK so money and measurement clips may not work in your classroom.  The other concepts should blend with your curriculum seamlessly.  

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning Clip in your classroom.

Math Arcade

 

What it is:  Math Arcade is a branch of the Fun Brain Website.  Students in first through eighth grades can practice math facts and math skills through fun, interactive games.  When students go to Math Arcade, they will see a board game board.  They have to successfully complete each game before they can move their game piece to another spot on the game board.  Each spot on the game board represents an appropriate age level game.  Students can write down a special password to save and return to their saved game at another time.  There are 25 games at each grade level to play.  

 

How to integrate Math Arcade into the classroom:   Math Arcade is a great website to help students practice math facts and skills.  There is enough variety on the site to keep kids interested.  The game board atmosphere gives students a goal to complete, they have to successfully play all 25 games to reach the end.  This site would be a great one to use as a math center, or in a computer lab setting as a math treat once a week.  Students can progress through the site based on their math ability.  

 

Tips: Bookmark this page on your classroom computers for students to access throughout the school day or during free time.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Arcade  in your classroom.

ict Numeracy Games

 

What it is: ict Numeracy Games are created by educator James Barrett.  These flash games are excellent for primary and beginning secondary elementary students to practice math.  You will find game themes for number facts, counting, bridging through ten, time, shape and measures, greater than and less than, multiplication and rounding, money (this is UK money), addition, subtraction, odd and even, place values, doubles, and equivalence.  Each math or numeracy theme has several games to play for practice.  Each is interactive and has instructions for integrating the game into the classroom.  All great ideas!

 

How to integrate ict Numeracy Games into the classroom: The ict Numeracy Games are perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector and whole class instruction.  Several of the games are also great practice for students working on individual computers.  The games are all very engaging.  They teach and provide practice for basic math skills.  This is a great stop when you are looking for an interactive activity to practice a math concept.  The descriptions next to the game are very helpful and you are bound to find new ideas for integrating technology into your classroom.  

 

Tips: There are advertisements on this site but they are unobtrusive, your students probably won’t even notice.  The games are high quality enough that this shouldn’t be a deterrent.  

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using ict Numeracy Games in your classroom.

 

Count Us In


What it is: Count Us In is a fun basic math skill site with 15 interactive games that teach kids basic math skills. These include counting, patterning, counting, ordinal numbers, representing number with words, addition, subtraction, sorting and grouping, time, numbers, chance, halves, length, and volume. The flash based games can be played online or downloaded to a Mac or PC for offline play.

How to integrate Count Us In into the classroom:
These are great games to teach kids basic math concepts. The site is good for individual use in a computer lab, or center group use in a classroom setting. Students can work at their own level, going onto the next game after they have mastered one. The games can be used to help teach concepts or as review and practice for math skills. The site is best for k-1 students or struggling math students in second grade. The site is also perfect for an interactive whiteboard. Call students up to the board to interact with the games individually or split your class into teams to play the games.

Tips: Visit the “other activities” section of the Count Us In website for some great teacher resources including well thought out activities to use with the games on the website.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Count Us In in your classroom.