1. Games That Make Sense
for Number Sense
Betsy Whitesell
in collaboration with
Lauri Gearhart
Preston Park Elementary

2. Preston Park Elementary
Roanoke City Public Schools
• Title One School (48% white, 40%
Black, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian)
• 70% Free & Reduced Lunch
• Recent merge of primary with
intermediate into one K-5 school
• The Little School That Could
• Competence to Excellence Award in
March, 2011. One of three schools
in Roanoke City Public Schools to
win a VA Incentive Program Award

3. A Need Emerges
Interviewed each grade level in August before school started
• K – Number Sense (1 to 1 Corr., recounting, no meaning)
• 1st Gr. – Number Sense (sequence, comparing)
• 2nd Gr. –Number Sense (rounding, place value)
• 3rd Gr. – Number Sense (place value)
• 4th Gr. – Fractions............then place value & N. Sense
• 5th Gr. – Computation and place value
• Principal – Number Sense

4. Questions & Research
•What is Number Sense (NS)?
•Why is an understanding of NS so important?
•Why are there so many difficulties with NS?
•What is Place Value?
•Why do students struggle with Place Value?
•What is the best way to address weaknesses in
Number Sense and Place Value?
•Can games be used to teach NS and P. Value?

5. What is the best way to
address weaknesses in
Number Sense and Place Value?
One of the most useful and fun ways to teach Number Sense is through the use of playing
games. Carefully chosen games played after a concept has been introduced is considered a rich
activity because it enables children to make connections, explore numerical concepts and
relationships and make their own discoveries (Griffin, 2004). These games give the socially
disadvantaged students an opportunity to make swift gains and catch up cognitively with the
middle class students.
Developing Number Sense should be a major objective of elementary math instruction
(NCTM, 1989). Baroody (1998) reminds us that the traditional skills approach may promote
routine expertise, but does not lead to an adaptive, flexible and well developed number sense. It
is, in his words: “ more a way of thinking about numbers than a set of specific skills” p. 7-6.
What is the best way to create an environment that nurtures Number Sense? (p7-7)
• foster exploration and construction of informal strategies
• encourage discourse between students and between students and teacher
• prompt investigation, pose interesting and purposeful tasks - particularly
those involving everyday experiences or concrete materials. (This is where games come in)

6. Can games be used to teach or increase
Number Sense and Place Value?
• Games high in mathematical content can stimulate children’s mathematical
imagination and thinking. Game playing is a vital activity that teaches
community building and can make enhancing skills and problem solving fun,
as well as stimulate the intellect.
• Students are motivated and more than willing to play a game
and this can foster mathematical communication. Students must justify and
explain their moves to each other.
• Use of games has increased student achievement.
Research has shown significant increases in students’ learning of
multiplication facts and ability to pass 5 minute fact tests after playing
multiplication games daily. Game playing can also give disadvantaged
students an equalizing edge.

7. Rationale
•All grades indicated a great need in
Number Sense
•Research confirmed the importance of a
solid foundation in Number Sense to a
lifelong understanding of mathematics
•Research suggested and supported game
playing as an effective teaching tool
•I (we) felt comfortable and motivated with
this approach

8. Implementation Plan
• Faculty Meeting in December: Project & Plan introduced
• All classes took a preassessment before holiday. 36% passed
• Faculty Meeting in January: Games introduced and packets
distributed
• Game Log for recording & Inservice incentive for completion
• We made ourselves available to all teachers
• Periodic Check-Ins
• Post Assessment given 3rd week of March (same as pretest)

9. Let the Games Begin!
Actual execution of the games project
•Initially I (we) felt demoralized from faculty meeting
•We enlisted after school help from student teachers to
monitor game playing in 5th gr. after school
Unexpected add-on to implementation plan
•The Push-In Gearhart and I inadvertently targeted 2nd grade
•True collaboration began. Planning, playing, reflection,
brainstorming, mistakes, growth, new relationships
(students & teachers)
•My confidence grew and wiped away earlier feelings

10. Schoolwide
•Classes teamed up on Fridays for game time (2nd & 3rd grades)
•PE teacher got on board
•I went into each of the two 2nd grades at least once a week
•Student teachers worked with after school students
•My own students enjoyed playing bean game, egg carton
game, base 10 game, bowling game
•Gearhart’s 5th graders worked with a 3rd grade
•Rack-O was very popular

12. Post Test Given
in Late March
•Scores rose from 36% passing to 70% (75= pass)
•Number of students passing doubled from 108 to 216
•4th grade rose 2800% (fluke, outlier)
•2nd grade had next biggest increase - 118%
•Many improvements due to subject matter being
covered in-between pre and post test
•Still.........

13. Pre and Post Assessments
Pre: % Passed Post: % Passed
90
90
80
70 71 72 74
60 63 63
58
50
48
40
30 36
33 32
20
10
0 2
K-Garten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

14. Increase in Percentage Points
• Looks at difference in
passing percentage points
• Example: 1st grade went Percentage Points Increase
from passing rate of 36 % to
71%. The difference is a 35 60
point improvement 56
45
• All grades in same general 39
ballpark 30 35
27 29
25
• Principals and admin. use 15
this way of interpreting data
0
• Doesn’t tell whole story or K-Garten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
show how much growth occurred.

15. Increase in Percentages
• Crazy, but true
• Seems like a better way to Percentage Increase of Performance
analyze data because it
better shows how much a 3,000
class improved. 5th grade 2,800
example 2,250
• 4th grade overshadows 1,500
other grades and causes
graph to downplay other 750
more realistic gains
0 43 97 118 97 54
• Next one is the same K-Garten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
minus 4th grade

16. Increase in Percentage minus 4th grade
• Close up of former graph
minus 4th grade to highlight
gains by other grades
• 2nd Grade had the highest Percentage Increase of Performance
gains. Three of four 2nd grade
classes were targeted by 120
Gearhart and I. Fourth one was 118
the one that played Friday 90 97 97
games consistently.
60
• Shows correlation between
54
game playing and performance 43
on a Number Sense test. 30
• This graph shows illustrates 0
the expected outcome: Students K-Garten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
who play NS games will show
improvement on NS test scores.

17. Compare Final Pass Rate w/ Increase
Minus 4th grade @ 2800%
Percentage Passed Post test % of Increase
• Way to go Kindergarten! 150.0
Only grade level to “pass,”
but K has smallest gains. 112.5 118
97 97
• This graph celebrates 75.0 90
71 72 74
gains and doesn’t just look at 63 58 54
the bottom line. 37.5 43
0
0
K-Garten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

18. Box and Whisker Plots
Min: 58 • Inner Quartile Range is 11.
Max: 90
Med: 71.5 • Scores were pretty tightly
similar without a big range.
LQ: 63
UQ: 74 • IQRange box is toward the low
IQR: 11 end, heavily weighted to the left
of the median. Not so hot.
Passing Rates of Post Test
Min: 43 • Inner Quartile Range is 43.
max: 118 • Rates of improvement were all
Med: 85.5 across the board.
LQ: 54 • IQR box is toward the low end of
UQ: 97 the scale, with more closer to the
IQR: 43 43 than to the 118. It is skewed to
the low end.
Percentage of Increase (excluding 4th)

19. Outcomes
Expected Outcomes Unexpected Outcomes
• Almost everyone participated
• Almost everyone participated
• New professional relationships
• A few did not participate
with 2nd grade
• Scores went up, especially in
• Game playing did not have a
grades that fully participated
super strong direct correlation to
scores improving
• I began to develop a
leadership role in the building
• Student teachers got involved

20. Exit Surveys
Name: _____about 74% returned the survey___13+1_____________ Grade: ____all + PE__
1. Did you play the number sense games we provided to you? Why or why not?
All returned said yes or some
2. If so, which games did you play? 3. Will you use the games again?
Strike Ten, Bean Game, Why or why not?
All returned said yes. Additional comments:
Rack-O, War,
good to develop number awareness & sense,
Rounders, Race to Win with Base Ten,
kids enjoyed them,
Hi-Lo, Connect-O,
students could play independently,
Race to 500, Back & Forth,
very beneficial with place value,
Create a Number, Teddy Bear’s Trip,
I could see an improvement,
Race to 100, Who has More,
kids loved it,
Count Down, Number Top it
helped with counting by 5s and 10s,
Secret Numbers with Calculators,
children gained a lot,
Adapted Bean Game using Money,
works on skills that are always low.
Adapted Bean game using Base Ten,

21. ....Exit Surveys, continued
4. Did you see any improvement in your students’ number sense?
of 13: 10 ‘yes,’ 1 ‘yes and no’, 1 ‘some,’ and 1 ‘no’
5. Please provide us any feedback. Student comments, your opinion, etc.
Good hands on practice,
good for enrichment,
very engaging,
I had to make several modifications (K),
good for early finishers and remediation time,
Rack-O was kind of hard,
students really loved Connect-O,
Who has More (war) was easy & effective,
students keep asking for more games,
they want to play these games during their free time,
I now use the games as centers,
students love the games,
can’t apply game knowledge to math class,
each game needs a score recording card &/or answer response sheet

22. Back to My Original Questions
What is the best way to
address weaknesses in
Number Sense and Place Value?
Playing games has proven to be a very
effective and enjoyable way to
address this weakness.
Can games be used to teach or increase
Number Sense and Place Value?
YES!! According to the teachers in my school
93% yes 7% no
Add Gearhart and me to the survey
94% yes