"Peep"in at Equal Equations

I don't know about your little darlin's, but mine needed so much practice on the core concept "Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true." So I came up with this activity. Students choose a card from the pile and place it on their game board. The student who gets five in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins. There is one target number and four different (2 addition and 2 subtraction) equations that equal that target number. Students need to be strategic about where they place their cards on the game board. After they get five in a row, they can record their equations on the recording sheet. There are two different versions of recording sheet so students are exposed to seeing the equations written both ways. Click on the first picture below if your students need more practice with this concept. 

Enjoy!