Rounding Cake Walk

Rounding Cake Walk

We have spent the last few weeks practicing rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and the nearest 100. Rounding 3-digit numbers to the nearest ten can often be tricky for third graders. To help get the students up and moving, as well as practicing this skill, we played a math version of CAKE WALK.

We had various numbers written on pictures of cake slices laid out in a circle in the classroom. I made sure half the numbers were multiples of one hundred and the other half were multiples of ten. This way we could get two winners for each random number drawn.

I played some upbeat music as the students walked around the circle of cake slices. Sometimes I asked the students to walk slowly, like they were trying to walk through jell-o. Other times, I had them hop on one foot or skip around the circle.  When the music stopped, students had to stop on one of the slices.

The students had to look at the number they were standing on so they were ready when I called the number. Using our random number generator, I then generated a three-digit number. Students had to determine who was standing on the closest 10 and who was standing on the closest 100.

We played several rounds of this and the students have been asking to play it again ever since! Now that they are feeling much more confident with rounding, I’m going to have to think of another way to incorporate this game into our new math concepts!!