Target Number

Purpose: This variation on "Number of the Day" is a great way to help students develop procedural fluency with the math operations they have learned.

Preparation Time: None

Materials Needed: Paper, dice (optional).

Procedure:

1. Chose a number to be the target number. For example: 45
2. Chose five numbers to be used in the operation: For example: 4, 2, 5, 1, 3
3. Challenge the students to come up with an operation that equals the target number. For example: (4+5) x (3+2) x 1
4. Choose numbers carefully so that students will have success using whatever operations they know.

Variation #1:

1. Choose more than five numbers and allow students to use any number of them in their operation.

Variation #2:

1. Roll two dice. The product of those two dice becomes the target number. For example 7 x 6 = 42
2. Roll five dice to come up with the numbers to be used in the operation.
3. Rolling the dice randomly generally makes the task more difficult. In some instances it will be impossible to get to the target number.