As a teacher, it is important that you find time to develop number sense in math as well as math vocabulary. Steve Wynboney has a website that offers teachers many FREE number sense math activities to use in their classroom. One of my favorite activities for developing number sense in math is Splat. Today I am going to share this activity with you.
What is Splat?
Splat is an interactive math activity for any grade level. They come as a set of PowerPoint slides that you can download for free. There are around 50 Splat PowerPoints you can use with your students. A video showing how to use the activity is available on the website. The first slide on the PowerPoint gives you questions to help you use the activity with your students.
How Splat develops Number Sense in Math
In Splat students are shown a splat with counters under it that can’t be seen and some colored counters that are not under the splat that can be seen. Students are given a number that is equivalent to the total number of counters. Using the information students are to figure out how many counters are under the splat. Splats of the same color will have the same value.
By using this activity students will develop their number sense by discussing how they are determining the number of counters under the splat. Students are encouraged to communicate their understanding of the math used in this number sense math activity. The Splat PowerPoints get more challenging as students progress. There are many types of Splat activities. For example, there are Multiple Splats, Colored Splats, and Number Splats. There is also a series of Fraction Splats.
Benefits of Using Splat in your Classroom
Using Splat in your classroom is a great way to develop number sense as well as math vocabulary. It does not take a lot of your class time to do this weekly. While using this math activity students are making sense of problems and reasoning about how they solved the problems.
When you use this math activity you will save time on planning because the prep is easy! The PowerPoints are already created for you and directions are included. Each PowerPoint has very detailed directions. Steve Wyborney has done a terrific job on his PowerPoints. It’s amazing that he is offering them for free.
Check out this other blog on more activities from Steve Wyborney.
Conclusion
In conclusion, rich math talk is essential for developing number sense and math vocabulary in students. By using numbers sense math activities such as Splat you are incorporating rich math talk into instruction. This allows students to understand and communicate mathematical concepts more effectively.
How are you reviewing your math content for End-of-Year testing?
Try our End of Year Math Warm-Up Review for 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Click the image below for a FREE sample warm-up from the 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade Review.
