Shut The Box

Primary (Age 6 – 9)

Curriculum Goal

Primary: Number Sense

  • Recall and demonstrate addition facts for numbers up to 20, and related subtraction facts
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Playingcards.io File

Context

  • Students work in pairs or small groups
  • Students should have prior experience with addition and subtraction

Materials

In Person

  • Each team receives the cards 1-10, one Jack, and one Queen from a standard deck.
  • Two dice

Online Version

Lesson

  • Divide students into two teams or have one student play against another. Students can decide who is going to go first through a dice roll or by playing rock, paper, scissors.
  • If playing in person, lay out cards 1-10, a Jack (11) and Queen (12). The order of the cards does not matter.
  • If playing online, the playingcards,io file is already set up.
  • Player/Team 1 rolls two dice and adds them together. They must then remove one or more cards that have a sum that is the exact total shown between both dice. (ex. If a five and four are rolled, they can remove a one and eight, a five and four, a six and three, or a nine).
  • Player/Team 1 then rolls again and removes one or more cards that have a sum that is the
    exact total shown on both dice. If they cannot determine a solution, their turn ends.
  • Player/Team 1 tallies the total of the remaining cards that are face up. This is their score for
    that round. If all the cards are turned over, Player/Team 1 has “Shut the Box” and receive zero points for that round.
  • Player/Team 2 will now take their turn. The round begins with the playing cards being turned over so that all the numbers are face up.
  • Player/Team 2 rolls the two dice and adds them together. As in the last round, the team must remove one or more cards that have a sum that is the exact total shown between both dice.
  • Player/Team 2 continues to roll the dice and remove one or more cards that have a sum equal to the numbers on the dice. Again, if the team cannot determine a solution, their turn ends.
  • Five rounds are played. Whichever player/team has the lowest score at the end of five rounds is deemed the winner.

Look Fors

  • Are students able to recall various addition facts for numbers up to 20 quicky?
  • Can students think of various addition facts for the same number? (ex. 4+4= 8, 5+3=8, 6+2=8 and 7+1=8)

Extension

  • Suggest to students that they also use multiplication, subtraction and/or division to remove cards. For example, if a three and a four is rolled, they can be multiplied to equal 12. The three could be subtracted from the four to equal one, or the numbers could be added to equal seven. They can even divide!
Print Lesson
Playingcards.io File

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