Learning Activity

Half Court Shot

Subject Area

Mathematics

Grade(s)

4, 5

Overview

Half-Court Rounding is a game in which students try to score as many points as possible by rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, or tenth. Students can try any kind of shot within the game and have 90 seconds to score as many points as possible and beat their opponent. If they answer incorrectly, the student misses the shot. Students can also choose a two-player game where they can play a friend or classmate.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Mathematics (2019) Grade(s): 4

MA19.4.9

Round multi-digit whole numbers to any place using place value understanding.

Unpacked Content

UP:MA19.4.9

Vocabulary

  • Round
  • Place value
  • Ones
  • Tens
  • Hundreds
  • Thousands
  • Ten thousands
  • Approximately
  • Halfway point

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The relationship among positions of digits in a number and place value. They can use that knowledge to round numbers to nay place.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use place value strategies to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • rounding multi-digit numbers is an estimation strategy used when writing the original number as the closest multiple of a power of 10.
Mathematics (2019) Grade(s): 5

MA19.5.5

Use place value understanding to round decimals to thousandths.

Unpacked Content

UP:MA19.5.5

Vocabulary

  • Round
  • Place value
  • Tenths
  • Hundredths
  • Thousandths
  • Decimal
  • Number line
  • Midpoint

Knowledge

Students know:
  • how to use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Round decimals using place value understanding.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • in the base ten system, the adjacent place value relationship extends to decimals and is used to round decimals.

Phase

Before/Engage
During/Explore/Explain
After/Explain/Elaborate
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will use place value understanding to round decimals to the nearest ten, hundred, or tenth. 

Activity Details

This game Half-Court Rounding can be used to help students master the 4th or 5th-grade math standard on rounding. Note that students can choose to play with or without decimals. For 5th grade teachers, note that this game will not assess students in rounding to the hundredths or thousandths. 

Teachers may choose to use this game in several ways:

  1. To pre-assess student knowledge of rounding before teaching the skill.
  2. For students to practice the skill as instruction is occurring.
  3. As an assessment or exit ticket at the end of a lesson on rounding. 
Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

Teachers may assess students using their score from the game, or another game-like activity where students are given a number (can be randomly generated using dice, playing cards etc) and then are asked to round the number to a given place value. 

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

Students or partner pairs will need a compatible device in order to play this game. 

Digital Tools / Resources

http://mrnussbaum.com/halfcourt/

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

efogleman
ALSDE LOGO

This site may contain links to other websites or content belonging to or originating from third parties or links to websites and features in banners or other advertising. Such external links are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness by us. WE DO NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OFFERED BY THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES LINKED THROUGH THIS SITE.
Alabama Learning Exchange © 2002-2023 by Alabama State Department of Education is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Design by Adaptive Theme