Number of the Day

Grade Levels: 1 - 5

Posted: August 23, 2020 | Updated: August 24, 2020
Created by: Schoolhouse by the Sea

Materials

Paper (print our worksheet(s) or create your own!)
- Printable Game Board for Addition and Subtraction (PDF)
- Printable Game Board for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division (PDF)
Pencil
Manipulatives, if needed
- Examples: dragon tears (squished marbles), dried beans, plum pits, same-sized legos

How it Works

Choose a “Number of the Day”
- Because I like to do this as part of the every day school routine, I recommend starting with 1 and continuing in order until you reach 100.
- If you’ll only do this less frequently, you can:
  - Use dice to decide your number.
  - Play Pico, Fermi, Bagel to introduce the number.
  - Draw playing cards to create the number. For younger children, draw one card; for 2nd-3rd graders, draw up to two cards; for 4th and above draw up to three cards.
Write down all the ways that you can think of to “build” the number using addition and subtraction or all four processes (addition, subtraction,multiplication, and division).
- Students may need manipulatives (objects they can touch and move around) to visualize and accurately compute. This is especially true when children are still building their understanding of a process. A kindergartener might need manipulatives to understand the number itself, a first grader might need them to compute accurately with addition and subtraction (especially with more advanced and creative computations), and a third grader might need them for multiplication and division. Whatever the students’ level, it’s always useful to have manipulatives available to check accuracy and to build understanding.
Discuss answers and explain thinking. This is great to do hours later!
- One of the most important skills your student can build is sharing their process and articulating their strategy. The more they can explain their thinking, the better!
- Some good prompting questions are:
  1. “How did you think of this equation?”
  2. “How did you know this answer?”
  3. “Could we prove this another way?”
  4. “How did you find this solution?”
  5. “Do you notice any patterns?”

Examples

$Number of the Day Example One$ $Number of the Day Example Two$ $Number of the Day Example Three$ $Number of the Day Example Four$

Click below to view our video instructions!

Printable Game Board for Addition and Subtraction (PDF)

Printable Game Board for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division (PDF)