1st and 2nd Grade Board Games
Ron Sung | Posted on January 9th, 2009 in Maths, Teaching. 
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Chinese kids don’t really play board games like American kids do, but like any game you introduce to kids, they pick up quickly, especially if you play the game in class. Little did they know they were actually reviewing math skills for their end of semester test that was coming up. The other function of the board game was to exhibit it for parents during the New Years celebration event at the school.
The premise for the board game was the same for both 1st and 2nd grade.The teacher would initially draw one on the blackboard and the students would play with the teacher after she explained the instructions. Problems would be listed on cards and a dice would be used to randomize the movement on the board game. We designed the 1st grade board game to practice their addition and subtraction skills while the 2nd grade board game allowed students to practice their multiplication and division skills. After the students knew how to play, they would make their own boards and their own problem cards.
Within one or two class periods, students didn’t need the teacher to review math problems. They were making their own elaborate game boards with traps, shortcuts and random puzzles. Students fixed each other’s game boards when a path went astray and checked each other’s problem cards for accuracy.
We knew that some of the 2nd graders had not mastered addition and subtraction, so one class period, 1st grade students invited 2nd grade students to come play for awhile. Pandemonium ensured, but in a good way. 1st grade students quizzed older students. During the New Years celebration event, the 1st and 2nd graders sat down with parents and played the board games together.
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Wei Ji Ma (blog author) says:
Added on January 9th, 2009 at %I:%M %pSounds like a successful didactic tool. I love the picture of the kid holding up the papers with a 7 and a 6 – she seems very dedicated. Also a great idea to let some first-graders help second-graders. Now I am curious what the rules of the games were.
Ron Sung (blog author) says:
Added on January 10th, 2009 at %I:%M %pThe game was pretty simple. One student starts and draws a card. If the answer is correct, then the student rolls a dice and makes a move on the game board. Some students decided to use a system of drawing two cards from a deck with numbers 0-9 then adding/subtracting them.