Monday 21 September 2015

I Have, Who Has - Making Change in Canada

An I Have, Who Has game is not a new concept. The premiss is that each person gets a card that has two statements. One is the "I have" statement and the other is the "Who has" statement. In this case the "I have" statement is an expression dealing with making change with money in Canada. If you are not from Canada, you may not know that here we no longer use pennies. This means that when we buy things and pay cash we actually have to round to the nearest nickel to make change. The way the game works is that a person starts by reading their "Who has" statement. For example, someone might say "Who has $4.35?". Someone else will have a card where their change equals $4.35 so they would say "I have $20 and it costs $15.63. Who has change of $1.75?" That is, they read their statement that equals $4.35 and then asks their "Who has" statement. Then someone else will have an expression that matches $1.75 and the game continues. If done correctly, it should end up with the person who started giving their "I have" statement. It works really well as a warm up and one of nice things about this is that you could do it multiple days and kids will likely get different cards.

  • MAT1L - DMS1.03 – round money values to stated accuracies (e.g., the nearest cent, the nearest dollar, the nearest ten dollars, the nearest hundred dollars, the nearest thousand dollars, and the nearest million dollars), in applications drawn from everyday situations; DMS2.01 – make the correct change for an offered amount with and without concrete materials (e.g., change from a $5 bill for an item costing $4.77);
  • MAT2L - EMS1.01 – read and interpret money values given in words, write money values as decimals, and round money values appropriately, in solving problems found in everyday contexts;
  • This is a small set that has only 9 cards in it (you can see that the card on the top left has the "I have" to match the "Who has" of the card on the bottom right). You will likely have more than 9 students in your class and so will need multiple sets (ie groups of 9). In order for the game to work, all cards need to be passed out. So some students may need to have more than one card.
  • Print out the set you want (ideally on coloured card stock) and we also suggest lamination to lengthen the lifespan of the cards.
  • Be sure to print out a set for yourself that you don't cut out so that it will be easier for you to check as students play the game.
  1. Make sure you have gone over the rounding rules for money first. 
  2. Distribute the cards one per student. All cards must be handed out so some students might need more than one card.
  3. Tell each person to calculate the change for their "I have" expression and check their answer with at least one other person. 
  4. Once students are confident with their answers all students should stand in their groups and then you choose one to read their "Who has" statement. The person who's answer is the same should read their "I have" statement followed by their "Who has" statement and then sit down. Eventually the last person standing should be the person who started. 
  5. A variation might be to have students walk to the front and stand next to the person who they were matched with and eventually form an entire loop around the class.
  • IHaveWhoHas-MakingChange (pdf) (doc)
  • IHaveWhoHas-BlankTemplate (doc)
Did you use this activity? Do you have a way to make it better? If so tell us in the comment section. Thanks

Tuesday 8 September 2015

I Have, Who Has - Integers

An I Have, Who Has game is not a new concept. The premiss is that each person gets a card that has two statements. One is the "I have" statement and the other is the "Who has" statement. In this case the "I have" statement is an expression dealing with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of of integers. The way the game works is that a person starts by reading their "Who has" statement. For example, someone might say "Who has 2?". Someone else will have a card where their expression equals 2 so they would say " I have -2 + 5 -1. Who has 7?" That is, they read their expression that equals 2 and then asks their "Who has" statement. Then someone else will have an expression that matches 7 and the game continues. If done correctly, it should end up with the person who started giving their "I have" statement. It works really well as a warm up and one of nice things about this is that you could do it multiple days and kids will likely get different cards.

  • Grade 8 - solve problems involving operations with integers, using a variety of tools
  • MPM1D, MFM1P - simplify numerical expressions involving integers and rational numbers, with and without the use of technology 
  • There are two sets of cards that you could download here. One set (pictured here) has only 9 cards in it (you can see that the card on the top left has the "I have" to match the "Who has" of the card on the bottom right). Depending on the size of class you have you might want to use this set multiple times (ie groups of 9) or use the larger set of 27. Either way, in order for the game to work, all cards need to be passed out. So some students may need to have more than one card.
  • Regardless. Print out the set you want (ideally on coloured card stock) and we also suggest lamination to lengthen the lifespan of the cards.
  • Be sure to print out a set for yourself that you don't cut out so that it will be easier for you to check as students play the game.
  1. Distribute the cards one per student. All cards must be handed out so some students might need more than one card.
  2. Tell each person to simplify their "I have" expression and check their answer with at least one other person. 
  3. Once students are confident with their simplification all students should stand and then you choose one to read their "Who has" statement. The person who's simplified answer is the same should read their "I have" statement followed by their "Who has" statement and then sit down. Eventually the last person standing should be the person who started. 
  4. A variation might be to have students walk to the front and stand next to the person who they were matched with and eventually form an entire loop around the class.
  • IHaveWhoHas-Integers-9cards (pdf) (doc)
  • IHaveWhoHas-Integers-27cards (pdf) (doc)
  • IHaveWhoHas-BlankTemplate (doc)
Did you use this activity? Do you have a way to make it better? If so tell us in the comment section. Thanks