Assign groups of four students each to work at one of the five stations. If you need more than five stations, you might choose to provide an extra computer for a sixth station.]
Station 1: High versus Low
Materials: Twelve index cards, numbered 0 through 11
Place the cards upside down in a stack in the center of the group and ask each student to draw one and place it face up where all can see it. To play, the students should order the cards from least to greatest, then find the difference of the highest and lowest card. The students who drew the highest and lowest cards record a tally mark, and all players return their cards to the deck that is then shuffled. Play continues until one student has five tally marks or time is up.
Station 2: How Many More?
Materials: fish-shaped crackers, paper, paper plates, number cubes
Each student rolls the dice and makes a plate that has as many fish-shaped crackers as the sum of the numbers thrown on the dice. Then the students compare the plates. The player with the plate with the most crackers finds the
difference between the number of crackers on his or her plate and those of each of the other three plates, then makes a tally mark on a piece of paper. When time is up, the student with the most tallies wins the game.
Station 3: Spin, Spin, Spin
Materials: Adjustable Spinner, paper
[Before class, divide the Adjustable Spinner into 12 parts.] Direct the group to take turns spinning the spinner twice and recording the numbers. When all have recorded two numbers, ask them to subtract the smaller from the greater number. Then ask them to see whether anyone got a difference larger than everyone else. If so, that student wins a point. The student who has earned the most points
when time is called wins the game.
Station 4: Heads or Tails?
Materials: 20 pennies, cup
Divide the group of four into teams of two. Give each team a cup containing 10 pennies. Assign one team to count heads and the other to count tails. Have the teams empty their cups onto the table. Then the teams count how many of the 20 pennies came up with their assigned side. The team with more announces how many more heads or tails in their set of coins and records that amount on a score sheet. The first team to reach or pass 25 wins the game.
Station 5: What a Difference
Materials: Four number cubes, Number Lines Activity Sheet, fish-shaped crackers
Divide the group of four into two teams of two. Give each team of players some crackers, a number line, and two dice. Tell the teams to take turns rolling the 2 dice and place a cracker on the number line that matches the larger number rolled. Have students place a cracker on the smaller number rolled. Then ask students to compare the places they landed on by finding the difference. Ask them to record the differences they found and repeat the activity. When time is nearly up, ask the teams to tally the total of differences from each play.
After each 10-minute interval has passed, assign the students to new stations. When time is up, call them together and ask students to record in their journals which station they liked most and why. Explain to students that
they should focus on the mathematics they learned from each station rather than on other aspects of the activity.
