Fancy Turtle! (Odd/Evens Dice Game)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

My friend’s class is struggling with odds and evens. So I made her this game and I thought I’d share it. It’s really simple: Roll a die and if it’s odd, color in a section of the turtle with a heart. If it’s even, color in a section with a star. When the kids finish the game, the turtle has shapes and different colors on it, making it a “fancy” turtle.

I also made a version where players roll 2 dice and add to see if the sum is even or odd. While I didn’t make a page for multiplication, it would be easy to instruct your kids to multiply the numbers on the two dice and then determine odd or even…

Fancy Turtle- odd even sums- two dice

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Awesome Field Day Ideas!

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

These fabulous ideas were submitted by a fellow elementary school teacher. Love this idea! Thanks!

“Thursday was our field day. It was unlike any other I had been to. These games would be fun with youth at church groups and camps as well. There were 18 stations we rotated through during the day. Each teacher stayed with her own class and the classes rotated. Most of the stations were relays or races with our kids divided into 6 teams. The theme was Dr. Seuss books. Each station was named after a book. Here are some examples:

Horton Hears A Who– had kids run to pick up cotton balls (representing the dust speck of Whoville) with chop sticks (2 pencils) and run back.

Yertle the Turtle– where kids sat on scooters and raced over to a pool that had green paper plate “turtles” in it. They grabbed a turtle and scooted back to their own “pond” to stack the turtle. Tallest pile of turtles won.

Go Dog Go– 50 yard dash.

Star Bellied Sneetches– tug of war.

The Lorax – had two teams, one was the oncelers who were cutting down trees (knocking down plastic cones with their elbows) and the other team, the Loraxes who were putting them back up.

If I Ran The Circus– had kids juggling scarves running 15 feet to little balance beam things to stand on and juggle while we applauded.

Two of the favorites were water activities. Both were to try to fill up a big can with water. One of them had each team had a 2 inch PVC pipe that was 2 feet long. There had been 6 holes drilled in it. The object was for the 4 kids to run with the pipe to a tub of water, submerge the pipe, then carry it back and pour the water in the can. They had to cover the ends and the holes with their hands. Fun game. The next water game was with a bucket of water at the front of the line. The first kid had a big sponge and submersed it in the water. Then he had to carry it over his head to the next kid, and then the 2nd kid carried it over his head to the 3rd kid etc. The last kid had to wring out the sponge in the can. “

EASY Place Value Game… Around the World (with a twist!)

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

So you’ve probably heard about the classroom game, Around the World (IN A NUT SHELL: The teacher shows 2 students a math flash card. The first one to blurt out the answer moves to stand next to a new student’s seat and faces off with them using a new flash card. The winner gets to advance to a new student and the kids try to move as many seats as possible.) Here’s a fun twist on the classic game.

TEACHER PREP:

Write any multi-digit number on a note card (for older grades, add decimal points)
Underline 1 digit in the number
Repeat until you have a stack of cards
OPTIONAL: label the back of each card so you know what place value is underlined on the front (tens, hundreds, thousands…)

PLAY: Instead of telling you the answer to a math fact (like in regular Around the World), the student must name the place value underlined on the card to win the face-off.

Submitted by a 2nd grade teacher in AZ. Thanks!

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Spring Time Math Facts Dice Game

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I love playing math games… and what student can’t benefit from some basic math facts practice. So here’s a game for you.

Print 1 copy of the worksheet for each player.
Roll the die (let’s say you roll a 5)
Color in the section of the picture that equals the number you rolled (for example, you could color in the section labeled “4+1=”). Make sure you write the answer in the section so it becomes a complete number sentence (“4+1=5”).
Take turns rolling, and coloring (any color you want)
First player to color in the entire page wins!

Make sure you choose the operation you want: basic addition, basic subtraction, basic multiplication or basic division. Happy Spring!

EPSON MFP image

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Switch! (The fun and easy playground game)

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I just learned a new game today and I’m really jazzed about it. It’s called Switch, and here’s what you need to know:

5 players at a time, everyone else in a line waiting to come into the game
Need a 4 square shape on the ground (basically looks like a huge 4 pane window)

First, players stand at the corners of the window and at the intersection in the middle. The 4 players on the outside corners try to run and switch places with each other. The person standing at the center intersection tried to get one of the corner spots while the others are switching. If the players on the corners make 3 switches, the person in the middle is bumped out and a new player enters the game (standing at the center). If the center player succeeds in stealing one of the corner spots, the player who lost their spot is out, the center person claims the corner spot, and a new player comes into the center.

Why I love this game: 1.) There’s no equipment necessary! Many schools have these 4 square lines painted on the ground already, but it’s as easy as getting some chalk if you don’t. 2.) Anyone can play. The group I was playing with today had kids ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade and we were all playing happily together.

The player on the far right sat down to tie her shoe, but other than that, this gives you a decent picture of how players should stand. The boy in the white shirt is trying to steal a corner spot during a switch.

Odd/Even Holiday Dice Game (free download!)

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Squarehead Teachers

Still need practice with evens and odds? This is a good practice activity using dice. Kids roll two dice and they color in odd or even depending on the number they roll (see directions on sheet). Nice math worksheet for lower grades. Happy holidays!

Right click, choose “save image as” to save this game to your computer.

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Winter Holiday Dice Game

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Squarehead Teachers

EASY winter holidays dice game to practice sums to 12. This game is especially good for 1st and 2nd grades. Right click on the page, choose “save image as” to save this game to your computer. Enjoy!

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Fun and Easy Thanksgiving Dice Game

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Squarehead Teachers

Super simple Thanksgiving game! Print one for each player and start rolling a dice. Whatever number you roll is a section you can color in. First to color their entire turkey wins. Click here for the printable worksheets: Thanksgiving dice game PDF Enjoy!