One of my biggest pushes for teaching math is small group instruction with practice/ support centers . In my classroom, I use a rotation. One of the biggest challenges with this approach is the prep required to keep up with centers. Today, I’ll share one of my favorite “growing” centers that is really no prep!
I have been building Roll and Record routines to support our math activities since the beginning of the year! The best part is, I use the same recording sheet for almost all of the roll and record activities, which helps the students focusing on practicing the new skill at hand. My students have named them “levels”, so I’ll jump on board with that in my description.
Level 1: Using “regular” six sided dice.
You can also use dice with the numbers instead of dots. This is also a great way to build fluency using strategies other than counting the dots.
Level 2: Counting on to add.
I actually used little stickers on one die per child to create dice that have 1, 2, or 3 dots.
Then they roll a die with a numeral on it, rather than the dots and one of the dotted dice to practice using counting on as a strategy.
Level 3: Up the ante and use a 1,2, or 3 dotted die as well as a 10 sided die!
Level 4: Practice doubles by rolling one “regular” die and doubling it to get the sum!
Level 5: Practice doubles with by rolling a 10 sided die and doubling the number!
Level 6: Roll one 1- sided die to signify the number of 10s, and one ten sided die to signify the number of ones. Record as expanded form on the page! You can also use the fancy dice with multiples of 10 (pictured below).
Level 7: Adding within 100!
Roll 2 10 sided dice to create a 2 digit number. Then, roll a “regular” six sided die to count on/ add that many more!
Level 8 (Where we are now!): Adding tens to a 2 digit number.
Roll 2 10 sided dice to create a 2 digit number, then roll a 6 sided die and add that many tens! I actually have a die that has tens on each side (my husband used to be into Dungeons and Dragons, but that is a completely different discussion).
You can also amp this up for multiplication, have students subtract (on the write in the symbol page) the smaller number from the larger number.
These simple games are AMAZING for centers, awesome for practicing skill fluency, AND most importantly INCREDIBLE for differentiation! I have some students who are still practicing their basic facts with two 6 sided dice… they are playing the same game as their peers, just a different version!
Here is roll-and-record freebie pack which includes basic recording sheets!
Do you have any other suggestions? Share them in the comments!