Week 19: The Equalizer

Welcome to Table Talk Math. This week, we're highlighting a game from Molly Babcock View this email in your browser Table Talk Newsletter #19 Molly Babcock shared a quick and easy game on Twitter the other week, so I just had to bring her on to share it with parents. Check out her blog post about The Equalizer, then dive into her description below: Are you dreading hearing the words, “I’m bored” over break?  Here’s a fast-paced dice game you can play with your child.  The rules are flexible and the math content can be adjusted based on the age of your child.  Find three different colored dice. I happened to have green, white and red.  If you don’t have colored dice, you could also number the dice or use one normal die and roll it three separate times. Roll the red die. Roll the white die and subtract the white die from the red die. Sometimes this produces a positive number and sometimes this produces a negative number. Roll the green die. If the green die is even, your score for that round (the red die minus the white die) doubles. This is wonderful if you had a positive number but it’s a huge disappointment if you had a negative number. If the green die is odd, your score for that round (the red die minus the white die) clears to zero. This is wonderful if you had a negative number but it’s a huge disappointment if you had a positive number. Keep a running list of the scores for each round and add them together at the end to see who wins. You can choose whether the highest score or lowest score wins. Once you’ve played the game, I encourage you to be creative.  Work with your child to come up with a new math game involving dice, a board game, a puzzle, or any counting manipulatives you can find around the house. Together you will remove the potential boredom from break! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on Twitter (@TableTalkMath) or comment below.  Thank you for taking the time to improve math fluency for children, one table talk conversation at a time. For previous newsletters, please check out www.tabletalkmath.com/previous-newsletters