This game is yet another version of the familiar Battleship game. Students place candy hearts on the board. They take turns rolling two dice (one regular die and one marked A-F) and form an ordered pair (e.g. (B,4). If there is a candy in that square, they take the candy. If not, the next player tosses the dice.
This game provides practice for young students in naming ordered pairs. Playing the game prepares them for later years when they will name points at the intersection of the lines. It is important that students learn to name the spaces using the horizontal (A-F), then the vertical (1-6) to prepare them for the mathematical convention of ordered pairs in (x,y) form.
Download the Grab the Candy game mat which includes both the introductory game mat, shown above, and a traditional game mat using ordered pairs that name the intersections.
Valentine's Day Treat challenges students to list all of the possible sundaes that can be made if students choose one ice cream and one topping from the cafeteria list. Note that students must choose a topping for this problem, otherwise they are simply buying ice cream which doesn't count as a sundae.
This problem may be solved using various methods and is accessible to students of all levels. Some students may simply list the various combinations. Other students might elect to use a probability tree. Others might use a more developed concept of combinations in counting and naming the various combinations. All are valid methods of solving this problem and reflect students' current understanding of the concept of combinations.
Download Valentine's Day Treat which includes the student handout and a sample solution.
This Valentine Quilt is a great culminating activity for a study of the geometry of quilts. Each student designs a 9-square paper quilt patch using only red, pink and white paper. Students may elect to use a traditional quilt pattern or design their own original pattern and name it. Assemble all of the quilt squares into a class quilt.
See Mathwire's Mathematical Quilting menu to view and download resources for teaching a unit on the mathematics of quilts.
Heart Paths challenges students to find all the different paths that spell HEART if they can only move from a letter to one of the two letters directly below it. Students use the Heart Path worksheet to record each path, making it easy to check for duplicates.
This problem is best solved using systematic counting, an organized approach to solving the problem. While many students might not use this approach independently, it is beneficial for the teacher to spotlight students who successfully used this approach. Or, the teacher might model the approach as students check their own solutions, adding paths they might have missed in a more haphazard approach.
Download the Heart Paths worksheet which includes the problem sheet, worksheet and solution.
