Frequent practice & application of skills is necessary as children strive to develop conceptual & procedural mastery. Games can offer a rich context for such practice & application. Not only are games motivating & challenging, but carefully chosen & constructed games can also support important mathematical ideas & help children further develop reasoning & procedural skills. Using games to practice number skills can greatly reduce the need for worksheets & rote practice of skills, which can be tedious & ineffective.
Krypto is great game that we like to play in 4th grade! It is a mathematical game that promotes proficiency with basic arithmetic operations. 5 cards are dealt face up in the middle for all players to see. Then a sixth card is dealt face up in the center of the table that becomes the Target. Each player begins (mentally) to mathematically manipulate the numbers of each card so that the last solution equals the Target number. Krypto rules specify the use of whole numbers only, using addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and/or any combination thereof to reach the Target. Click on the link to the right to play an introductory version that only uses the #'s 1-10.
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