Exponent and Root Dots and Boxes Game

Use the maze and the odd one out sets during a functions unit, and the shading puzzle and nonogram after work on rational numbers and roots. Pair students for the dots and boxes game and ask them to check each other's box values.

Play dots and boxes with a partner, evaluating powers and roots such as the cube root of −27 in each box you claim. The directions on the page read: Play this game with a partner. Follow the numbered rules, and keep each player's box values and running total in the score columns.

Yes, both. We made it for 8th grade math puzzles, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

Students start at the top left with x = 2 and use the room's rule, such as y = 3x − 3, to find y. They go through the door that shows y, and that y becomes the next room's x. They write x and y in every room they visit.

Two players take turns drawing a segment between neighboring dots. Closing the fourth side of a box claims it, and the player evaluates the expression inside, such as a cube root or a power, and adds it to a running total. There is no answer key, since every game plays out differently.

Divide the numerator by the denominator until the digits start to repeat, then draw a bar over the repeating part. On Repeating Decimal Shading Puzzle students do this for 4/9, 3/11 and 7/12, then shade every cell that equals one of them.