Magical Product Swap Part 3

Hi Everyone,  I am still enjoying my Christmas break for a few more days, and actually feeling antsy to get back to work this Tuesday.  

I have been staying pretty busy though, and I am so excited to be participating in Jessica Stanford's 3rd Magical Product Swap.  I had so much fun the first two times, that I jumped at the chance to play along again.

This time around I had the pleasure of reviewing Fourteen Common Core Math Games for Second Grade made by Katie and Lisen from Second Grade Smartypants.  These ladies are so sweet, and their store is packed full of wonderful items, especially if you are looking for things aligned to the Common Core.  Take a look for yourself by clicking the images below.  Psst:  It is 20% off right now in their store! (1/12/13-1/13/13)

So, as seems to happen every time there is a Magical Product Swap, I have not been in the classroom.   Before we went on break, I did have a chance to play all of the "I Have, Who Has" games included in this packet, and my students absolutely loved them!  They are well organized and provide meaningful, yet fun, practice.  If you have not tried this game, I recommend you give it a shot.  Just remember,  it takes practice for it to go smoothly.  In this packet, you will get five 24-card game sets to practice easy addition, mixed addition and subtraction, and reading number words up to 1,000.

The only other game that we had time to practice (darn those end of the term benchmark tests) was a game called "Mind Reader".  This game was sooooo much fun, and perfect for my kids the last week before Christmas Vacation (read: kids bouncing off the walls, here).  My kids asked for it over and over again.  We ended up using it as a warm-up for our math block.  This game really gets into developing students' number fluency and number sense.  In this game, two students hold a number card 1-12 (they have a really cute little popcorn bucket graphic in the packet) to their forehead.  They stand together  in the front of the class, and the other students  tell them what the sum or difference of their two numbers is.  The students with the numbers then use this information to try to surmise what their mystery number is.

I am excited to continue introducing my students to the other games included in this great packet. However, it would not be a Magical Product Swap if I did not enlist the help of my own favorite second grader.  My son!  So, I let him pick which game he wanted to play at home.  He chose "Batter Up," which provides practice with adding with regrouping and place value.  For this game, all you need is a deck of cards and a recording sheet (found in the packet).

Now, this was supposed to be a mommy and son production.  But, big sis saw us having so much fun that she decided she wanted to play, too.  This was great because it allowed me to be the "photojournalist".


First, each player picks cards from the pile.

Then, each players make the two largest numbers they can with their four cards. 

They add their numbers together.  My son used the back of his recording sheet for scratch paper since he had to regroup.  The player with the largest sum scores a point.

 Whoever has the most points by the end of the ninth inning wins!

This game is worth its weight in gold as far as I am concerned.  My kids actually played this for a whole 20 minutes without fighting. Yeah!

Even our dog, Jack, got in on the fun.

This packet is absolutely wonderful.  There are so many fun games to play that will deepen your students' understanding of place value, number sense, and addition and subtraction.  They are aligned with Common Core standards, and if you visit Second Grade Smartypants right now, I hear they are using Rafflecopter to give one away to one lucky person!

If you go to their blog at Second Grade Smartypants you can also check out their review of my Place Value Around the Room packet.

Also, make sure you check out all the other fabulous educators who are participating in "the Swap" by visiting Jessica's Blog (link below).

Have a great weekend,