Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Go Fish! for Math Concepts

Most people know how to play "Go Fish". Remember, that's the game where players ask each other for cards based on what they have in their hands and try to get the sets. Lately my students have been enjoying playing some math variations of this game.
The first is a commercial product put out by Legani Games. It is a simple box of cards titled "Geometry Definition Playing cards for Middle School Students". It is a deck of cards with three in a set based on geometry terms. One card has the name of the term, one has the definition, and one has an illustration. The great thing for the kids is that each set is color coded so they can tell which cards go together. They started out not knowing, but are at a point now where the vocabulary and definitions are becoming familliar.
I just made a set of cards so we can play "Go Fish" based on equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents. Each set has one of each. Students are required to ask for the card they want by using the percent of the set. So if the card in their hand says .29 they ask for 29%. I included some challenging sets like both 1% (.01) and 10% (.10)They also have to think twice on the percents greater than 100 like 1.6 (160%).
As we play these games, I see students learning vocabulary and concepts and having a good time.

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