How to play Say It Quick to learn math facts

Say It Quick is a game that helps elementary school students memorize addition and multiplication facts. Here is how to play it.

Things You'll Need

• 6 or fewer players
• 2 pairs of dice in different sizes or colors
• 1 six-inch-square piece of colored cardboard
• Poker chips
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Set up the playing area by placing the children in chairs around a table. The colored cardboard goes in the middle of the table so that everyone can easily reach it without leaving his seat. Everyone starts with three poker chips. The rest of the chips remain in a pile near the middle of the table. One player is given a calculator. The player to his left rolls first.

2. Explain the rules. The dice should be rolled so that they land in the middle of the table but not on the cardboard. The person with the calculator cannot speak or try to answer the problem. Everyone else is in a race to "say it quick." Say what? The sum of the numbers rolled on the two dice. Players who know the answer should place one hand quickly on top of the colored cardboard square. The player whose hand is the first to touch the cardboard (i.e., the hand on the bottom of the pile) gets to answer. The player with the calculator plugs in the numbers after the answer is called. If the calculator matches the answer given, that player adds a poker chip to his pile. If the answer does not match the calculator, the person with the calculator gets a poker chip from the player who answered incorrectly. Then the calculator passes to the player on the left as do the dice. Play continues until all the poker chips are awarded. The winner is the person with the most chips at the end of the game.

3. Increase the difficulty of the addition problem by playing Say It Quick with more dice. Adding more than two numbers is a more challenging task. Make sure that your groups are made up of people at similar ability levels so that no one player absolutely dominates the game.

4. Introduce multiplication in the same way using Say It Quick. Start by using only two dice. This will drill the multiplication facts up to 6x6=36. Increase the difficulty with the inclusion of a third die. Now the players must add the matching dice together and multiply the sum by the third die. The highest product will be 6 x 12 = 72. The inclusion of a fourth die will allow all the math facts to be practiced up to 12 x 12 =144. With four dice, players must add each pair of dice and then multiply the products.

5. Allow for independent practice by using Say It Quick in your classroom learning center. Students can record the number of poker chips that they win, and after several days, the data can become the basis of a bar graph. By making math fact speed drills fun and rewarding, your students will quickly memorize them. A bit of friendly competition does wonders too.

Tips & Warnings

• This is a great game for rainy-day recess in the classroom.