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Reusable Number Task

For many reasons, I’m not a fan of math worksheets. The biggest one is that they’re one-and-done. Once students complete a worksheet, it rarely gets used again—which means you’re constantly searching for something new. And your time is precious. That’s why it’s worth choosing activities that can be reused to provide engaging, meaningful practice without the ongoing time, effort, and expense of tracking down more worksheets.

One way to provide reusable practice is to randomize the numbers. When students roll dice, draw cards, or use dominoes to generate numbers for their calculations, the numbers are always changing. They get repeated practice with the skill while playing a game—which is far more engaging than a worksheet with fixed numbers that can only be used once.

This activity is super flexible. Not only are the numbers randomized, but the task is too, which makes it a great choice for a math workstation. Pairing students is a nice way to encourage meaningful math conversations as they play.

The student rolls two number cubes. Using different-colored cubes—like the ones shown on the task card—can make things a little easier for kids, but it’s not required. One cube tells students which number to use, and the other tells them what task to complete.

In the example shown, the student rolled a green 4 and a red 3. Looking in the first column, the green 4 corresponds to the number 18. In the second column, the red 3 tells the student to show the number 18 using coins.  

example of a flexible number task that uses dice to randomize both the numbers and the task

Students then roll the number cubes again to get a new number and a new task.

For accountability, have them show their thinking in a math journal or on a blank sheet of paper.

This resource includes two versions—the one shown here with numbers within 20, and a second version without numbers so you can add your own. Download your free copy here. I’ve also created a fractions version that you can download from this post.

Simple to set up, easy to reuse, and full of meaningful math—this is the kind of practice that really works.

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65 Comments

    2. Donna, this is great. I teach ElEd math methods to undergraduate students. I shared your blog with my students because I wanted them to know where they could find good, solid math resources to help support their lessons. Thank you for taking the time to share. I follow you on Pintetest and Facebook. Lori Bjork.

      Reply

  4. Once again you’ve made my teaching life better and my students’ understanding deeper! I’m looking forward to making our class’ rollin with robots once conference days are over.

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  7. Always love your ideas, Donna. This can be used in so many ways throughout the year for review and practice. Thanks!!

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! Like I said, when I saw it used for science, I thought of all kinds of applications for math!

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  8. Wow, love the review options with this one… wondering the structure of the recording. Any hints you can share? Thanks for the freebie!!

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    1. I would probably have them write the number and then to the side write their response to the task. So it might look like:

      14 Even
      13 23, 33, 43, 53, 63
      12 8 more to make 20

      Make sense?

      Reply

    2. Okay, there were supposed to be spaces:

      14………………..Even
      13………………..23, 33, 43, 53, 63
      12………………..8 more to make 20

      Reply

  10. Wow! Thank you so much for sharing! I have a spec educ class and this makes this activity so adaptable and easy to differentiate! You always amaze me!

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  14. Thank you for sharing this! It’s a great resource to review my kiddo’s math skills as we come back to school! 🙂

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  15. Thanks for the great idea! We will learning about solid shapes next week. I plan to use the customizable version to promote the exploration of 3d shapes. I will list the shape name in the left column and tasks in the right column (How many vertices? Is the solid stackable?) I will make the solid manipulatives available and part of the game by asking them to find the solid to match the name before completing the task. I’m sure this will make that extra vocabulary practice more fun!

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  16. This is brilliant. Thank you so much. I love the fact that this is simple, yet has so many applications. I can adapt it in so many ways for my homeschooler.
    Your work and generosity is very much appreciated.

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    1. Well, I don’t know about brilliant. Ha ha. Glad you like it, and you’re right–there are lots of applications! 🙂

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  17. Great Job. I teach el ed math methods. I shared your blog with my students. You provide good, solid math resources. Thank you for taking the extra time to share them with us!

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  19. Thank you so much. Your items are always so useful and I appreciate that you make many of them free. I work part time for a private school and the pay is minimal. However, I love what I’m doing and after 27 years in public school, the smaller class sizes are wonderful. Thanks again for all you do to help teachers.

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much for your kind words, Linda! I love providing free resources and I’m so glad you find them helpful. 🙂

      Reply

  21. Thanks! I’m going back to 2nd grade after 2 years in 4th and this will be great for math centers I’m goin gto try out.

    Reply

  22. When my building level math coach is unavailable, and even when she is, you are a constant “go-to” for me! Thank you so much for your posts and your freebies. You are a life saver!

    Reply

  24. The world is a better place with you giving us great Math ideas! My students always enjoy your ideas and stay engaged! THANKS!

    Reply

  26. Thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to use this. The blank one will be great for differentiation, as well.

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  27. This is perfect! I love the power of number of the day, but this makes it more a game and my kiddos do math games every day for practice of skills. PERFECT!

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  28. You make me laugh every time I read, so I came up with….! Thanks for sharing all these wonderful activities. WOW. I have to tell you that I found some frog jumping games at the dollar store and they are tri- colored. We are going to use them like shake and spill games. It immediately came to my mind, so you are transforming my thinking! Yippeee!

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  31. I think you are a wonderful math teacher. I have used many of your resources that you have so generously shared at no cost. Your students are blessed to have someone so knowledgeable. I have told my colleagues to come check out your blog. You have fans in Ohio 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply

  33. Love the activity and no complaints about the math or pedagogy, just one comment regarding the dice. Red/green color blindness is the most common, so it’s a color combo to avoid. I often use one white and one colored die—which is also much easier when photocopying or printing sheets.

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    1. Check your PDF printing settings, Debbie. Be sure “Print as Image” is checked. Also, if you are trying to print right from the Google doc, try downloading it first. Hope that helps!

      Reply

  35. I enjoy your posts and use so many of your products! Thank you so much for sharing – this game is sure to be a hit in my 1st and 2nd grade classroom!

    Reply

  36. I love this idea for students to work with numbers and build their number sense. I teach fifth grade and want to adapt this to our work with decimals. Do you have other resources that would work well to help their understanding of place value?

    Reply

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