1+4 = BUZZ!

We've discovered a new game in our house, called Buzz. I love it because it reinforces math skills, requires no set up or game pieces, and can be as long or as short as we want. My kids love it because it's fun and I'm willing to play it just about any time they ask.

I read about it in a book called Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire. I haven't read a teaching book in years and can't remember what lead me to this one, but I really enjoyed it. So much so that I plan on reading it again with a pen in my hand and a notebook by my side.
He had something interesting to say about the way math is taught in many of our schools. He said it's not uncommon for kids to be good at math when they're younger, then be surprised to find themselves struggling with it as they get older. He said the reason for that is in many schools there's too much memorization of math facts and not enough understanding of mathmatical concepts. When they get to more advanced math skills, memorization no longer helps them. Buzz is one of the games he plays in class to help kids with this.
Here's how it works.
The teacher picks the buzz number, which can be any single digit number. For this example, let's say it's going to be 3. The class is going to count to 100, with the teacher randomly pointing to students to say the next number (that way they all have to pay attention). When you get to a number with the buzz number in it, you have to say buzz.
1
2
buzz
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
buzz
14
Like that. You can make it harder by saying that you also have to say buzz if the two digits of a number added together make the buzz number, or if a number is a multiple of the buzz number.
1
2
buzz
4
5
buzz (6 is a multiple of 3)
7
8
buzz
10
11
buzz (1+2=3)
buzz
14
buzz
They'd really have to think when they get to the 30's. You can increase the difficulty indefinitely as your children grow, buzzing numbers where the digits added together equals a multiple of the buzz number. Or buzzing numbers in which the square root of the number equals the buzz number, etc.
The way the teacher plays it with his class is everyone stands, and if you get an answer wrong you sit and are out of the game. The last one standing wins. We haven't done it that way yet because there's so few of us and we're just playing to have fun. We've kept it light and fun and even when someone gets a wrong answer, we just laugh and correct it and keep going.
I don't know if this made a difference, but I didn't present this to my kids as an educational game. I just said "wanna play a new game I learned?" and went from there. Even though my kids love math, I was surprised by how much they love this game. Brian and I like it too because it's really fun to say buzz.
BUZZ!!