Purpose
To give students practice in adding numbers from one up to ones of thousands or decimal numbers from thousandths to ones. This is a whole class game but can be played in small group situations where they can take turns to roll the die. Both cards can be played at the same time which caters for differing students’ needs.
Specific Learning Outcomes
use their knowledge of the place value structure to add decimals together.
Required Resource Materials
Transparent Counters
1 gameboard (47KB) per student
One 10 sided die
Activity
- Each student needs a gameboard and 10 transparent counters.
- The target number needs to be up on the board (15.287).
- The aim is be on target or as close as possible by adding all the numbers that have a counter on them at the end of 10 rolls of the dice.
- The teacher rolls the die 10 times. Not all at once, as the students need time to keep a running total.
- Every time the dice is rolled the students choose which number to cover. For example, if you call 5 the students elect to cover 5 or 0.5 or 0.05 or 0.005.
- They must participate in every roll of the die.
- Counters cannot be moved once they have been placed.
- They cannot put counters on top of each other.
- If 0 is thrown then everyone misses a turn and the counter is put above the card so the students can keep track of how many rolls are left.
- When finished the closest totals are put up on the board and compared.
- Depending on the ability of the students you may need to stop after 5 rolls and let them check their totals.
This game can be played simultaneously with Target 15 287, allowing for students of a range of abilities to participate.
Acknowledgement
This game of Target has been adapted from one originally made up by a group of South Auckland teachers.