I've been on the look-out for some interesting math activities to add to Elijah's school day. I don't want him to think little brother gets to have all the fun. I knew he'd love a math game of sorts, so I made Hundred-Dollar Words; I found the basic idea for this fun math activity in Family Math.
You assign each letter a dollar value. Give your student a list of words (spelling list, favorite things, characters in book, etc.). Use addition skills to determine which word is worth the most (guess before you start!).
Elijah's favorite toy right now is LEGO Hero Factory. I made a list of heroes and villains and left it on the table along with the Hundred-Dollar Words page. He spied the activity and started RIGHT away. He was eager to determine which creature was worth the most; he even asked when he gets to this again.
To make this activity more interesting, tell your student that the vowels are in debt (negative numbers) and must be subtracted. The second page of the download includes a page with vowels in RED to help your student remember.
I think this game would be fun to play with real money. I'm just kidding! š
What a great way to learn math!