Streets and Sidewalks (addition, subtraction, pattern)

This is a two player game. The objective is to get four consecutive chips in a line. On your turn roll two dice and add them up. On your first turn lets say you rolled a 1 and a 5…

Those add to six so you can choose any 6 to place your chip on.

Your opponent rolled two twos and decided to place close to you.

After many moves your opponent finally won this game by making a line of four 8s.

In the attached pdf file you’ll find boards without numbers, boards with random distributions, and…

…boards with dark hexes. These dark hexes can be used if a player cannot place because all of his rolled numbers are already occupied. In this case blue rolled a 2 and 4. Since no six spots are still available, blue can play on a dark hex.

Blue won this game by getting 4 in a line with two sixes and two dark hexes.

In the attached pdf you’ll also find a subtraction variant. In this game players roll two dice and subtract the smaller from the larger.

Streets and Sidewalks

(MathPickle, 2018 – inspired by another game – designer unknown)

Streets and Sidewalks gets students to add two dice together as they try to strategically make a four-in-a-row. Here is a pdf of a selection of game boards described.

Standards for Mathematical Practice

MathPickle puzzle and game designs engage a wide spectrum of student abilities while targeting the following Standards for Mathematical Practice:

MP1 Toughen up!

Students develop grit and resiliency in the face of nasty, thorny problems. It is the most sought after skill for our students.

MP2 Think abstractly!

Students take problems and reformat them mathematically. This is helpful because mathematics lets them use powerful operations like addition.

MP3 Work together!

Students discuss their strategies to collaboratively solve a problem and identify missteps in a failed solution. Try pairing up elementary students and getting older students to work in threes.

MP4 Model reality!

Students create a model that mimics the real world. Discoveries made by manipulating the model often hint at something in the real world.

MP5 Use the right tools!

Students should use the right tools: 0-99 wall charts, graph paper, mathigon.org. etc.

MP6 Be precise!

Students learn to communicate using precise terminology. Students should not only use the precise terms of others but invent and rigorously define their own terms.

MP7 Be observant!

Students learn to identify patterns. This is one of the things that the human brain does very well. We sometimes even identify patterns that don't really exist! 😉

MP8 Be lazy!?!

Students learn to seek for shortcuts. Why would you want to add the numbers one through a hundred if you can find an easier way to do it?

(http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/)

Please use MathPickle in your classrooms. If you have improvements to make, please contact me. I'll give you credit and kudos 😉 For a free poster of MathPickle's ideas on elementary math education go here.