3/17/22
The summer before I began teaching fourth grade, I took a one week math class focused on incorporating engaging and rigorous math activities, routines, and norms into an elementary classroom.
As a student, I had struggled with math. What made things worse was that rarely had I participated in a math lesson that I found engaging or fun. I knew I wanted to create a math rich learning environment where students felt supported as they worked through rigorous content that was both meaningful and engaging. While initially I signed up for this math class to earn a few extra credits, I quickly found myself taking copious notes and leaving with a laundry list of ideas I wanted to implement in my classroom. One of those ideas was a game called Race to 150.
Race to 150 is a hands on game where students use base 10 blocks to track their progress towards a sum of 150. I first introduced the game about 6 weeks into the school year, and my students were hooked. We played on average once every two weeks, but students often asked to play when they finished their work early and during indoor recess. In December, we hosted a Race to 150 tournament and students competed against each other in a bracket to become the Race to 150 champion.
After the tournament was finished, I made a few small changed and we raced to 0. A few years later, when I moved to 6th grade, I developed a multiplication and division version of the game. Every group of students I've taught has gotten hooked on one version of the game, if not all four.
This game, and it's variations are great for practicing fluency. All 3 students in the group have a role, and all are actively doing math throughout the entire game. There are times during the game when students have to find ways to communicate what they need; as they ask for blocks, trade blocks, and sometimes even steal blocks (see Next Level Strategies below). Typically after the first round is finished, the banker plays the winner, and after that second game, the student who hasn't yet served as banker takes on that role for the third game. This rotation ensures that each student plays the game twice and gets to serve as both player and banker at some point during game time.
Materials:
Two 6 sided dice
One ten sided dice
2 Game Boards (1 per player)
300 Base Ten Blocks
Game Variations:
Race to 0: Students play this version of the game the same way they do Race to 150, but instead of earning Base 10 Blocks, they start with 150 Base 10 Blocks each, and take away blocks as they roll. The first player to reach 0 wins. Students still play with two 6 sided dice and one 10 sided die.
Race to 150 Multiplication Challenge: Students will play with two 6 sided dice. They multiply the numbers they roll, and collect the same number of Base 10 Blocks; trading in cubes for rods and rods for a flat.
Race to 0 Division: Students will play with two 6 sided dice. Each player start with 150 Base 10 Blocks on their board. Once they roll, they choose which number on which die they'll use to divide 150. They divide 150 by that number and give the appropriate number of Base 10 Blocks to the banker leaving only the quotient on their board. The next time they roll, they do the same. They choose which number to divide the number of Base 10 Blocks on their board by and leave only the quotient on their board. At any point, if neither number they roll can be used to divide the number of base ten pieces they have without resulting in a remainder, they must choose one number on one die to multiply their number of Base 10 Blocks by. If a student reaches 0, they win. If not, the student with the lowest score after 5 minutes of play, wins.
Play without base ten blocks, and instead have students track their points using repeated addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Next Level Strategy:
A fun twist to add to the game is to have students choose to collect the number of Base 10 blocks they roll, or take that number of Base 10 blocks away from their opponent and give the blocks back to the banker. This makes for a more strategic and intense game.