Original Lesson 11: Hundreds Battleship

This activity made a numeracy coach say, "Wow, where did you get that idea?"

It is a game I created called 'Hundreds Battleship' and is perfect for teaching place value, particularly the hundreds, tens and units, to late early years or consolidating it with middle years.

In pairs, children choose a number between one and 121.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110
111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121

I use 121, rather than 100, because I have been taught that if you always use 100 as the maximum number in your numeracy lessons it can be a blocker for children who then struggle to count above 100.

The aim of the game is to guess your opponent's number before they guess yours. Instead of using clues like 'more/less than', children are only allowed to ask questions such as:
- Is there a five in the tens?
- Is there a two in the units?
- Is there a digit in the hundreds?
When the answer is no, the child shades in all numbers eliminated in red. When the answer is yes, the child shades in all potential numbers in green.

It is easiest to run if you laminate the charts and the children use textas. That way, at the end of each game, students can wipe clean their chart and recommence.

How do you teach place value?

Do you have any lessons that your numeracy coach (if you have one) absolutely loves?