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Exponent Games for 5th Grade

Students can practice and hone skills they've already learned with math games. Teachers can find or purchase premade math games, or develop their own games. Teachers should stick to beginning concepts when using exponent math games with 5th-graders. Fifth-graders are not usually expected to have achieved mastery with exponents, so they should usually work with single-digit base numbers and single-digit exponents. As with any teaching tool or technique, feel free to revise any math game to fit the needs of particular students.
  1. Exponent Concentration Preparation

    • Make the exponent concentration deck ahead of time. This game is a bit more complex than a simple game of concentration where players have to find exact pairs, so the set of game cards should consist of 26 or fewer cards. Each set of cards is made up of several matching exponent pairs. One exponent pair consists of a card with a number written with an exponent form and a card with the value of that number written in standard notation. Make the deck from card stock or index cards for durability.

    Exponent Concentration Gameplay

    • Lay all the cards face down in a random array. Students take turns turning over two cards, one at a time. Students that turn over matching exponent pairs keep the cards and take an extra turn. They continue to take turns as long as they continue to turn over matching pairs. Players who don't turn over matching cards must replace the cards to their original position. The game is over when all the game cards have been taken, and the winner is the player with the most cards.

    Greater-or-Less Preparation

    • The teacher must prepare a game sheet for each pair of players. The game sheet will have a list of 20 or more greater-or-less problems. Each problem will have a single digit with an exponent, a blank space and then another single digit with an exponent. Arrange the problems in one or two columns, depending on how many problems you include on the game sheet.

    Greater-or-Less Gameplay

    • Players take turns trying to determine if a greater or less-than symbol should go in the blank between the two numbers in each problem. One player writes what he thinks is the appropriate symbol, and the other player checks with a calculator. Players should alternate turns. A player gets a point for writing the correct symbol, and the player with the most points when the sheet when the game sheet is completed wins.

    Exponent War

    • Play exponent war with a standard deck of cards.

      Two players play exponent war with a standard deck of cards with. Deal the cards so that each player has an equal number of cards. The first player turns over two cards, one at a time. The second number acts as an exponent to the first number. The next player does also turns over two cards. The player with the highest number wins the round and takes all the cards. The game ends when one player is out of cards. That player with all the cards wins.

    Target Number

    • Players need a sheet of paper, a pencil and a calculator. One player uses the calculator to calculate a single-digit number with an exponent. He can choose any single-digit numbers as the base number and the exponent. After he finds the value of the number, he writes it on the paper. This is the target number. The other player must try to determine a base number and exponent that will equal the target number. A player gets a point for finding an exponent and base number that equal the target number. Play for a predetermined time or amount of turns. The player with the most points at the end wins.

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