Number Sense Activities for Grades 3 - 6
These activities will help your child develop number sense, an important "strand" or math theme tested in the WASL math activities.
|
Number Sense Activities - Use the following links to see the activity. |
|||
| Product Spree | Practice Number Facts | ||
| Use Multiplication Ideas | Make Equal Shares | ||
| Total It | License Plates | ||
| Make a Favorite Recipe | Decimals on Containers | ||
| Use Percents in Conversation | Guess the Numbers | ||
(Activities taken from Mathematics a Guide for Parents to Everyday Mathematics and Helping Your Child at Home Grades K-6, published by Central Kitsap School District Department of Curriculum and Instruction, 2000.)
Product Spree
- Cut out 20 small squares of paper and ask your child to write the digits 0 through 9 (two sets) on the squares. Place the squares face down in a scattered pile. Each player, in turn, takes two papers, turns them over, multiplies the two numbers together and states the product. If the product is correct, keep the papers; if not, return them to the pile. When all the papers are gone, the game is over. The person with the most squares wins the game.
Practice Number Facts
- Your child will still need to memorize multiplication and division facts. Spend one or two minutes a day asking for products and quotients up to 9 x 9 and 81 / 9. Many children can learn the math facts more quickly when music rhyme, and rhythm are used to teach them. You can make up "counting chants" together or set math facts to familiar tunes.
Use Multiplication Ideas
- Look for situations where sets of equal amounts are combined. For example, if you buy two or three packages of hot dog buns, ask how many buns there are altogether. Other questions you might ask include: How many fruit snacks are there in three (or more) boxes? How much television do you watch in a week if you watch 30 minutes each day?
Make Equal Shares
- Involve your child in activities such as filling party bags. For example, if you have a bag of 35 pieces of gum, he or she can work with two different ideas: How many bags can be filled if three pieces go into each bag; or how many pieces will go in each bag if you have six bags?
Total It
- Next time you are in the car driving somewhere, try a game of "Total It." Here's how to play. Call out the numbers on a license plate. See who can add the numbers up correctly--the fastest. Ask what strategies were used to add up the numbers. This is a good game for practicing mental math.
License Plates
- Copy down a license plate. Then read it as a number (leaving out the letters). For example, if the license is 776DN14, the number would be seventy-seven thousand, six hundred fourteen. Have your child find other license plates and read their numbers. Is the new number less than, greater than, or equal to the first number? You could also have your child estimate the difference between the first number and the new number (or any other license plate number). Is it 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000?
Make a Favorite Recipe
- Choose a recipe that can be easily doubled or halved. Have your child figure out how much of each ingredient is needed when the amounts are changed. This will help provide work with multiplying and dividing fractional amounts.
Decimals on Containers
- Food items can be used to provide practice in reading decimal amounts. Encourage your child to read weights on boxes and cans. Decimal numbers are usually found with the metric part of the measurement, such as 545.5 grams.
Use Percents in Conversation
- Help your child use percents around the house. You can include percents in your conversations by observing, "It looks like you ate about 75% of your breakfast." Other types of comments might include, "One hundred percent (100%) of us are at the table," or "Two fourths (2/4) of the family would like to go to the Babel game. That's 50%."
Guess the Numbers
- Ask your child to guess a number using given information. For example, you can say, "I'm thinking of a number which is 200 less than 538. What's my number?" As you feel appropriate, increase the difficulty: "I'm thinking of a number which is 1,000 more than 15,600. What's my number?