It is test prep season, and teachers and students everywhere are gearing up for those BIG tests by using questions and activities. Studies have shown that using a variety of methods for test prep keep students engaged and prevent them from reaching a plateau before test day. Since the stakes are high, alleviating stress and anxiety by incorporating games in a test prep environment is important.Of course, games are fun, and saving money creating those games makes it even more fun. What if you could use 6 cups and 1 permanent marker to create an engaging lesson? What if I told you it is possible? (*Are you smiling yet?)
Cups Full of Integers
Cups Full of Integers is an activity I created to provide a challenge for students learning about comparing and ordering integers. It is simple to create. Basically, you stack 5 cups and then write integers in order the cups. You can choose greatest to least or least to greatest. Use the sixth cup as a guide to make sure your numbers are aligned.
Once you separate the cups, you have created a puzzler that, at first glance, seems simple to solve. Trust me, it is not as easy as it looks to order the cups correctly if you choose a good set of integers. Cups Full of Integers can be used as a station activity for test prep review. Consider making more than one set for the stations so that students can work together to solve the puzzler. Remind them to separate the cups and shuffle them so that the next group of students will have the same experience with the challenge.
This is a great activity for less than 50 cents!!!
If you are pressed for time, I created a version of the activity with a set of numbers to use and recording sheets. Click on the image for details.
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