Cash Tag is a fun warm up game that integrates math. I meet students at gym door handing them each:
Start of Game Cost of Getting Tagged
4/5th grade a quarter 10 cents
3rd graders a dime 5 cents
2nd graders a nickle 2 cents
k-1 two pennies 1 cent
Three taggers start the game with change to give when they tag someone. For example a fifth grade tagger would start with a handful of nickles and dimes to give change from a quarter. When the “its” tag someone, they have to pay the cost of getting tagged. “Its” collect the fee, giving change when necessary. When students run out of money they come to me for a “job”. I pay students for various tasks, situps, pushups, a special skill they might need to work on (skipping two laps), answering health related questions like muscle identification or “Show me two stretches for your hamstrings”. When they have money they may join back in the game. We switch taggers every few minutes.
Examples of how this activity addresses the Common Core Math Standards
2nd Grade Common Core Standard CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.C.8 Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately. Example: If you have 2 dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?
I tried this last week and my students really like it! It was a little slow at first, I only used two taggers, when I switched to three taggers it really sped up the game. But best of all I had two parents stop me and comment how thrilled they were because their child told them about the game!