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“BUMP” Up Student Engagement: Using Bump Games in the Math Classroom

September 16, 2022 No Comments

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What Is Bump?

Bump is a student-favorite math game in my classroom. It’s incredibly easy to teach in implement with your students! I find that I only have to teach the rules to the game only once and have the students practice as a whole group prior to it becoming a partner center or partner work.

Bump gets my students excited because they LOVE playing it and there are so many different versions of the game that they will never get bored!

Materials You Need!

To play Bump, each pair of students will need two six-sided dice and 10 connecting cubes per player. I like to include different colored connecting cubes for each student – it makes it easier for the students to remember whose cubes are whose!

I encourage my students to use their communicator white boards, markers, and erasers to show their work (…scrap paper also works too!)

You will also need a Bump board! All of the Bump games come in two different versions – colored and black & white:

  • For a center, I like to laminate the colored versions of the board. If the students are playing with a small group, I like to provide all three options in the Bump Game pack for the different pairs to choose. Giving students the small glimpse of choice in a controlled environment is the perfect way to ensure the students are still practicing.
  • For partner work where I don’t want to make more than three colored copies, I print off the black and white versions of the games. I even run off all three black and white versions so each partnership has a different version of the game that they are working on!

How To Play:

The youngest player rolls the two dice and adds the numbers together. Then, they look at the problem associated with the number in the chart and solve the problem.

Then, they place their colored cube on the correct spot to “claim” it.

Players continue taking turns rolling, solving, and claiming the various spots.

If a player lands on a number that has a cube belonging to another player, they can “bump” the other player’s cube and place their own cube on that spot.

If a player lands on a number that already has one of their own cubes on it, they can “lock” the spot by stacking another cube on top of their existing cube. By “locking” the spot, the other player cannot “bump” that spot.

The first player to use all of their cubes wins the game!

Want to try one out for yourself? I have included a FREE Subtracting 3 Digit Number Bump Game Sample in my resource library. Sign up below to get the password for this exclusive library:

 
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Your students will be having so much fun trying to “bump” each other that they won’t even notice they are practicing a variety of math skills! What a win-win 🥳

The Math Matrix

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Hi! I'm Paige, known as The Math Matrix. I have been a teacher for three years, in both a middle school and elementary school, ALWAYS teaching math, either as a special education teacher or a departmentalized general education teacher. Needless to say, math is my JAM and I can't wait to share with you tips, tricks, and resources to enhance your math teaching. Read More

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