Ever since we put the beginnings of The Math Worksheet Site on the Internet, the worksheets were handed to you in the form of web pages. But they didn’t always print properly. This caused limitations for some people, particularly those accessing our site on a Mac. Web browsers interpret web pages; it’s not an exact science at all.

When we opened the subscribers area, we did so with worksheets in PDF format. This was intended to solve the formatting problems some computers had, and also give us much greater control over the page layout. We could do more interesting things with graphics, for example. PDF is supposed to be an exact science. (We’ve discovered that it’s not quite an exact science, but it’s pretty close.)

Today we brought PDF worksheets over to the free side of The Math Worksheet Site. You do need Acrobat Reader installed in order for your computer to properly display the PDF worksheets.

Our selection of topics on the free side remains the same. Some of the selection pages have more customization choices now.

For those who have older computers, slower Internet connections, or just don’t have Acrobat Reader on their computers, we have kept the web page worksheets available also, on another page.

We hope the PDF worksheets on the free side of The Math Worksheet Site are even more useful to you.

We think they look better.

–Denise

We have received a few requests for math games. I’d like to share about a simple math game you can make from one of the worksheet titles on our site.

Needed

• A printed One Hundred Chart which begins with any number other than 0. On the free side of our site, use the 1 through 100 option. Subscribers have other options also.
• One die.
• Objects to use as markers, one for each player. Coins, markers from other games, water-bottle caps… anything that will fit within a square on the chart.

To Play

Start each marker on the first square. Roll the die and add the number on the die to the number under the marker. Move the marker to the sum of those two numbers. Hand the die to the next player. The next player rolls the die, adds the result to the number on which his marker sits, and moves his marker to a new total. The first player to pass the last square wins.

Example: Kirk’s marker is on the 1. Kirk rolls a 3. Kirk adds 3 plus 1 and moves his marker to the 4. Kirk hands the die to Susie. Susie’s marker is on the 1. Susie rolls the die and it gives her a 5. Susie adds 5 plus 1 and moves her marker to the 6.

Variations

Include the requirement that in order to win the player must land exactly on the last number. This will add a few more rounds to the game as players roll and roll until the die gives them the exact number needed.

Begin with the markers on the largest number and subtract each roll of the die from the position of the marker. Move the marker to the difference (the new total). Repeat. The first player to pass the smallest number wins the game.

Multiplication and division are other variations. Those games are MUCH faster to complete!

Variations for Subscribers

Before you click “Create It,” choose to leave some of the numbers on the chart blank. If the student lands on a blank space, he must write in the correct number.

Use a One Hundred Chart that begins with a number other than 1. Options include 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900.

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I hope you enjoy playing some games with your student(s) and help them do a little math along the way.

–Denise