Number Sense Practice with a Checker Board

Plus or Minus is a great game for students who have beginning number sense and are developing addition and subtraction skills. It's also a great way to use checkers or chess boards that no longer have pieces to go with them.

The board is divided into two sides. Students take turns rolling a traditional die and a die on which we wrote + and - signs. Students add or subtract the numbers as indicated on the dice they roll. The first one to fill up their side is the winner. We especially like the foam dice, since they enable children to roll soundlessly.