The students stand in a circle. Decide on a multiple of two or five that will be the “beep”numbers. Select a student to start counting from one. It is important that all the students countaloud. For example, for counting in fives: “1, 2, 3, 4, beep, 6, 7, 8, 9, beep, 11 ...” When a studentsays “beep”, they sit down. The game continues until only one student is left standing. Thisactivity can be used to reinforce the forwards and backwards counting sequences. Use ahundreds board to assist the students to visualise the patterns. Flip over the spoken numbers butleave the “beep” numbers unflipped.

Extension Activity

Have two multiples going at the same time. For example, threes (say “beep”) and fives (say“buzz”). If the number is a multiple of both three and five, then the person says “buzz-beep”. Sothe sequence goes “1, 2, beep, 4, buzz, beep, 7, 8, ... 11, beep, 13, 14, buzz-beep ... “Begin the counting sequences at different starting numbers. For example, “3, 7, 11 ...” or “100, 97,94, 91 ...” These patterns will help the students to recognise algebraic relationships.

Extension Activity

Repeat “Beep” for multiples of three, four, and six. Develop increasingly complex sequences byusing counts like hundreds, twenties and fifties, in fractions (on multiples of four quarters), like,one-quarter, two-quarters, three-quarters, beep, five-quarters ..., in decimals (on multiples of 0.25), like 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, beep ...