To further our knowledge and understanding of numbers, we have started to learn about even and odd numbers. Today we read a funny books called "My Odd Day" in which a student had all sorts of things go wrong, such as his clock only included the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 and he only had 1 sock and 1 shoe. It got us talking about what even and odd meant and how we could test a number to find out. They quickly discovered that their fingers were a really good tool when they were stuck!
By the end we decided that an even number has a partner or can be split
evenly into two groups. Some students described even numbers as ones that "have a buddy". We discovered that any number 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 in the ones place are even numbers. An odd number wouldn't have a buddy and would be "the odd one out". These numbers would include a 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 in the ones place.
To practice this skill we played a fun game called "Slap!". We used a deck of cards without the face cards and placed them upside down. Here is how we played:
Partners would take turns flipping a card.
If the card was even, no one would do anything and it would stay in the pile.
If it was odd, the first player to slap the odd card would keep it and any cards underneath.
If they slapped it and it wasn't odd, their partner would get the card and any cards underneath it.
You keep going until all the cards are done. The partner with the most cards wins.
This game helps students with their math fluency and quick recognition of even and odd numbers. They loved playing it and would love to teach you at home. I will warn you, this game can get loud and very exciting! If you get too into it, you could have a sore hand so maybe play on a softer surface ;)
