Always Sometimes Never Dice Activity for Real Number System

I created this always sometimes never dice activity for classifying numbers according to the real number system. We completed this after sorting numbers using our Real Number System Nesting Boxes.

I always hated Always, Sometimes, Never questions when I did them as a geometry student in high school. But, I decided to give it a go with my students.  So glad I did!

Always, Sometimes, or Never activities can be used with a wide variety of math topics.

Each student got an Always, Sometimes, or Never sheet to glue in their interactive notebooks.

On the board, I wrote the numbers 1-6.  I asked them to list different types of numbers.  They quickly came up with 5: natural, whole, integers, rational, and irrational.  It took a few more moments before someone remembered that those are all types of real numbers.

I handed out one jumbo foam die to each table group.  The other math teacher I work with gave me these last year, and my students and I have had so much fun with them!

This picture shows me using two foam dice, but I just did that to show how I got each box filled in for my #Teach180 tweet.  I had my students just roll one die two times.  This meant they had to write the number subsets in a certain order instead of being able to choose which subset went in which slot.

I did an example of how the activity worked on the board for students to see.  Then, I set them loose to do 5 as a group.  I went around and stamped them after I checked them.

Look at these cute stamps I picked up at Dollar General!  They were 5 for a dollar.  I’m not sure how long they’ll last, but the kids were definitely amused with them for this activity!

It was great to just be able to walk around and eavesdrop on their conversations.  When I noticed students were struggling, I brought over the nesting boxes for them to use.  One group had rolled this sentence: An integer is a natural number.  Half the group thought it was always true.  The other half of the group thought it was sometimes true.  So, I held up the integer box for them.  You have a number in this box.  Is it always in the natural number box or is it sometimes in the natural number box?  Looking at it this way, the answer seemed obvious to them.  Soon, I had groups fighting over who got to keep the nesting boxes sitting at their desks.  They informed me that I needed to make a set of boxes for reach group because they really helped.

I tried explaining that this was the same as the graphic organizer I had given them, but they weren’t buying it.  I think rolling the die to make the problems was the real selling point of this activity.  I’ve found that anytime I pull out the dice that my kids get excited.  There’s just something special about when the dice decide your problem instead of the teacher!  I found this was the case last year when working with point slope form!