What’s Your Number? – class start up game
As a start up activity in your classroom, hand out random numbers to each student as they enter the room, or at the beginning of Math class.
Then, ask them to find another student (or a group of 3) to find a relationship between the two (three) numbers they have been given. Using other numbers in the description is allowed and encouraged.
Encourage the students to make their relationships as intricate as they can. Encourage the use of math terms in the description.
For example: A relationship between the two numbers 6 and 10 can be described as: “10 and 6 have a difference of 4”,
More intricately, it could be said: “when the smaller number is squared, the result is 26 more than the larger number”.
The relationship possibilities are endless. Draw names to choose specific students to read, aloud to their classmates, their two numbers and the relationship they have identified.
An optional activity associated with this game is to have the student pairs write down, on a special display card, their two numbers, with the relationship described beneath. Post these statements on a bulletin board, perhaps encouraging other students to post their own ideas for the relationship below it.
33 100
The product of 33 and 3 is one less than 100
Doing such an open-ended activity, especially at the beginning of a class, engages students in thinking about numbers and talking about Math in an unrestricted way. In particular, using the Math terms makes students more comfortable with the terminology.
Adding the written aspect reinforces the visual benefits and posting the results on a bulletin board offers recognition for student efforts and increases the opportunity for students to learn from one another.