A selection of editable activities that support spelling, word choices, sentence structure and punctuation. There are also practical tips and suggestions for how each game/activity could be used. Lots of the ideas are left quite open so there is scope to adapt games to tailor your needs. The games are intended to ask children to think deeply about the choices they make and why they make them.

Differentiated place value game. Print and laminate the cards. The aim of the game: Each child in the group receives a card. They take turns to role the 1-9 die. Each time they roll a number they must decide where to write it on the card to give them the best chance of constructing the highest number (if they roll a 9, they might consider putting that in the thousands column). When writing the numbers in, the children must include the appropriate number of zeros as place holders. When each child has filled in the white boxes, they must construct the number in the green box. The winner is the one with the highest number. The rest of the players must cross off a life at the bottom of the card. If you lose all three lives, you are out. The winner of the game is remaining survivor. As a variation the children can try to construct the lowest number. Challenge: Instead of rolling the die and choosing a place on their own card, they must decide a place on one of their opponent's places! This challenges the children at a deeper level e.g. if the aim is to achieve the highest number and they roll a '9', they may want to put that digit in an opponents smallest available place value column. If they roll a '1', they may want to place it in the largest. Extension: Probability and fractions. e.g. 'How likely is it that 'A' will win?' 'In order to win, what digits do I need to roll? What fraction of the digits is that? e.g. 2 of the 9 (2/9) to win and therefor unlikely but possible.

These can be used as posters or as individual reference sheets for children. They include brief details too.