Terminator
Age group
- Junior/Intermediate (Age 9 to 12)
Curriculum Goal
Created by Megan Strudiner. Adapted by The Robertson Program.
Junior: Number Sense
Describe relationships and show equivalences among fractions and decimal numbers, using appropriate tools and drawings, in various contexts.
Related Links
Context
- Students work in pairs, either in class or on a video conference chat.
- Students should have experience creating factor trees for one- and two-digit numbers and should know when the factors of a number are twos, fives, or both.
Materials
In-person version
- One standard 52-card deck, with tens and face cards removed (Aces equal zero, and two to nine are face value)
- Two rectangular bars to separate numerators and denominators
- Scrap paper
- Pencil
Online version
- Game file (Playingcards.io upload instructions)
- Video conference capabilities
Lesson
- Deal each student four cards from a shuffled deck.
- Students use their cards to create a fraction that has a terminating decimal. Students will use scrap paper to determine if the denominator they have created has a prime factorization that includes only twos, fives, or both, which would make it a terminating decimal.
- Students can also decide to “discard” up to two of their cards, keeping cards that make a terminating fraction.
- After students have created a terminating fraction, or declared it is not possible, their score will be tallied up.
- Students receive one point for making a terminating fraction, two points for making a terminating fraction that uses all four of their cards, and zero points if no terminating fraction can be made.
- Discard or re-shuffle the used cards back into the deck.
- The first player to reach ten points wins the game.
- If students are having difficulty, consider having students play in teams, encouraging collaboration in creating a terminating fraction.
Look Fors
- Do students understand what terminating fractions are?
- Are students correctly creating factor trees to determine if their fraction is terminating?
- Are students recalling the prime factors of numbers and showing fluency when creating terminating fractions?
Extension
- Require students to use all cards in creating a terminating fraction. This will encourage students to practice making terminating fractions using tenths.
- Deal additional cards to each student each round (e.g., six cards). This will allow students the opportunity to practice creating terminating fractions using hundredths.