I spent the afternoon with Joseph, the Mathematician in residence at Explorations in Math learning some of their games to help with a workshop for the Washington Reading Corps on Friday, here in Seattle.
I think my favorite was called Salute and bascially involves 2 players and a “general”. I’ll give the directions in terms of multiplication, but the same concept can be used with addition.
It focuses on developing Number sense for addition or multiplication.
Materials:
Deck of cards, remove: 10s, Jacks Queens Kings
The Aces=1
This game can be played in groups of 3 or 4. One player is the General for the duration of the deck of cards. Players can rotate after going through the full deck. The general gives each of the players a card, face down, on the table. The general says “Salute!” and the two players pick up the cards AND WITHOUT LOOKING AT THEIR OWN hold it against their forhead. The General then looks at the two cards, silently multiplies them in her head and gives the product out loud. The two players must then figure out their own card and say the answer out loud. The first player to do so correctly wins both cards and puts them in a pile off to the side.The winner of the game has the most cards at the end. For example, if player A sees that Player B has a 7 an the General announces that the product is 42, Player A knows that her card is a 6 (6 x 7 =42) and says this out loud.
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