Bowling With Math: A Great Order of Operations (PEMDAS) Practice Activity

Awhile back I posted a simple document called "Bowling With Math" without a lot of explanation in a post titled Order of Operations Game: Bowling With Math. Well, I am going to revisit that document, and expand on it a little bit today.

The Bowling With Math activity page ( you can download in .doc or .pdf format) has 10 "frames," just like in a regular bowling game. This activity is great because it can be varied in difficulty. The point here is that the teacher either chooses a few numbers (or rolls dice like I do), and students have to manipulate those numbers to equal the 10 different "pins" in the "frame," marking that number out each time they do so.

In my classroom (5th grade), I roll three dice. So let's say I roll a 5, 4, and 1. Students have to manipulate those three numbers using the order of operations (PEMDAS) to equal each pin number.

For example, I can do the following:

5+4+1 = 10
(5-4) x 1 = 1
(5-4) + 1 = 2
5+4-1 = 8
1x4+5 = 9

So let's say that's all I came up with, so I'd mark out the pins for 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10 and I would score 5 points for that frame.

In my class, I would do two frames per day, with students keeping their score on the score card each day. At the end of each week, students add their scores and keep a running total. This is a great activity that, when done consistently, teacher the order of operations in a very meaningful, engaging, and differentiated way. You can do as little as two numbers, or as many as you'd like. You can also change the rolls. Some weeks I'd roll five numbers and tell students to choose any three. Other weeks I'd roll six and tell them they could use no more than 3, etc. You can do whatever you want.

For convenience, I've added all the files, as well as a poster if you want to make a bulletin board for this activity, all in this convenient pdf file: PEMDAS BOWLING WITH MATH PACKET

Enjoy!

My Oregon Trail Story of Survival and Daring on the Apple IIe

I sat down tonight to write a post with great materials for the unit we're currently doing in social studies. I got a few sentences in and realized it all seemed very familiar. So, I paused for a minute, and went digging into my blog archives, and found out fairly quickly why I was struck with this sudden sense of deja vu.

I already posted the entire unit, over three months ago. Yikes. I've officially reached the point where I can't remember what I've already done on this simple little blog of mine. I guess simple isn't the correct word. It's not exactly Wikipedia, but with over 110 posts, it's getting big for me.

In any case, what I wanted to share is a quick story, and a link to a great online game that kids love.


I grew up in the 80's and 90's. When I was in elementary school, we had a computer lab. We're specifically talking about 1989-1990 here, so it was a magical time before the internet, the era of the Apple IIe, the ones with the green only screens. The first computer game I had a chance to play, and master (or kill all of my friends through various ailments and injuries). Of course, I'm talking about the original Oregon Trail.

As a 3rd grader, I couldn't get enough, this game was fantastic. It was the right balance of strategy, trail riding, and friend bruising. We got graded based upon our performance. It was great, my first experience with digital learning.

Now, here we are, in 2012, in the middle of the golden age of the computer and internet. My students have access to the knowledge of the human race within the walls of my classroom, although they don't know that, all they care about is Youtube videos and Angry Birds... who am I kidding, that's all I care about as well. All joking aside, let's move this little story along.

I teach a unit on Westward Expansion each year around this time (you can find that unit HERE). We watch a great documentary about the Donner Party (check it out in that unit if you're interested), and they do a research project on some of the major trails that were used to make the journey west, as well as the Homestead Act, the California Gold Rush, and a few other major events/laws.

One thing seems to stick with them more than anything else every year I teach this unit. You see, on day two of the unit, I fire up the laptop and projector, and we play a game together. We play the original Oregon Trail. For the first ten minutes or so, the kids look at each other and giggle at how completely and totally honky tonk this game is. The graphics are ancient, the sound effects are ridiculous, in short, this is exactly the kind of game that students of today picture their parents playing when they were kids. But they sit and watch.  They see me enjoying the game, and laugh as I make a ridiculous epitaph on the gravestone of the first member of my party to die.

Finally, they get their own crack at this gem of a game. And without fail, they play this game during their free time for the rest of the school year. Right now, my students are literally begging me to play Oregon Trail.

So, how can you play Oregon Trail? The first way is to go buy an Apple IIe, hook it up, and go find a floppy disk (remember those?). If you don't want to do that, and trust me, YOU DON'T, there's an easier way.

Head to Virtual Apple, make sure your Java is updated, and enjoy the game right there in your browser.

You know you want to. Go ahead.

Animal Identification Card Game: A Good Science Inquiry Activity

This animal identification game is very simple, and very effective to have 5th graders play. The concept is very simple. Each student will be given a card, that they will paper clip (or tape, or whatever works best) on their back.

They must then ask other students questions about the animal on their back, questions that must be answered yes/no. It can be a 20 questions game, or just an "ask until you figure it out" game. The goal is for students to get enough information on their animal to be able to guess what it is.

I searched online for free animal information cards, and didn't come up with much. The easiest way to do this, for free, is to download the templates that I list below and use them. I prefer to give students the blanks, and have them find the information for the cards on their own using encyclopedias or the internet.

I utilize this activity at the beginning of the school year in a series of science inquiry games that we play to get in to "the science way of thinking." There are various activities that we do, and this one gets students using the right vocabulary, and gives me a quick picture of what they can already do in terms of questioning and inquiry. The vocabulary I want students to use during this activity includes: predator, prey, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, camouflage, nocturnal, toxic, and hibernation.

ANIMAL BASEBALL SIZED CARDS: This first pdf is a link to some animal cards, and the last page is blanks. I use this page and have students list the information on each animal on the back of the card. The information they must find is:

• Animal name
• Region of the world it lives in
• Diet
• Life expectancy
• Classification (basic level of classification)
• Their place on the food cycle (predator, prey, etc.)

LONG ANIMAL CARDS: These cards already have the information listed. 

LONG ANIMAL CARDS BLANK: These are the same cards as listed above, with the information removed. 

Mission US: An Interactive Game About the American Revolution and Underground Railroad

I am currently going through my subject specific pages, trying to add material for units that will be taught this upcoming year. Tonight I've been thinking about my Social Studies plan for the year, working on my Unit 3 Social Studies page. While planning this out, I found and chose a fantastic website with an interactive game that teaches two lessons, one about the American Revolution, and one about the Underground Railroad. Mission US is free and highly engaging. Here is an excerpt from Mission US about the two missions that are available:

Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?” puts players in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. They encounter both Patriots and Loyalists, and when rising tensions result in the Boston Massacre, they must choose where their loyalties lie.  

In Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom,” players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old slave in Kentucky.  As they navigate her escape and journey  to Ohio, they discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act brings disaster. Will Lucy ever truly be free?

 I tried out the games, and they are impressive. I will be utilizing this game in my class this year, having students play through both when we are studying each. I think that this interactive experience will deeply engage students in the content, much more than reading about it in the Social Studies book. 


The site even has educator guides available with good classroom ideas, vocabulary, etc. 


You can also view a post made by Richard Byrne on his blog Free Technology for Teachers about Mission US. I didn't find this site there, but in trying to find other resources for the American Revolution, I came across his post and he has good information.

Westward Expansion of the United States Tech Tools

Every year, we do a unit on the Westward Expansion of the United States in the mid 1800s. There are two technology based activities that go with this unit that are always rated the highest by students. I also have a group/individual activity that student must complete as part of this unit. You can access that as a pdf document HERE. These two activities are playing Oregon Trail (yes, the original version) and watching The Donner Party documentary made by PBS awhile back. I have attached links to both here:

To play Oregon Trail online, follow the link, and make sure you've loaded up disc one on the site. It's an exact emulation of the original version that was played on Apple IIe computers way back in the 80s.
Play Oregon Trail 

Next up is The Donner Party documentary, an American Experience documentary from PBS, which you can access HERE or by playing the clip below.

 

Watch The Donner Party on PBS. See more from American Experience.

Order of Operations Game: Bowling With Math

This following worksheet is a great math practice sheet. In 5th grade, students work a lot with the order of operations:

Parenthesees
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

What many students struggle with is the fact that Multiplication and Division are considered to be a "tie," and when working from left to right, you do whatever is first. The same applies to Addition and Subtraction. Many kids to this day still use the pnemonic device "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to learn the order of operations. However, using these is a whole different issue. I've included a great game here called "bowling with math" that teachers are sure to love.

For my class, wait for me to give you directions, for anyone else interested, go ahead and download the attached document and enjoy. DOWNLOAD BOWLING FOR MATH HERE

If you're struggling with the limited instructions provided, basically, you roll four dice, take the numbers from each, and then use them to create different equations that have answers ranging from 1-10. The player tries to create as many combinations to "knock down" as many pins as possible.

If you're in a lower grade level, this game could be easily adapted, just change the directions as you see fit.