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Splat!

Welcome to Splat!  You are only moments away from a VERY POWERFUL, highly interactive number sense strategy that can be used at any grade level!

This post includes 50 (fifty!) free, downloadable PowerPoint math lessons!

Watch the video, download some (or all) of the lessons, and experience what happens when you unleash this resource in your classroom!

I’ve been excited to click the Publish button on this post for several weeks!  It’s time!

UPDATE:  The Fraction Splat! Series (with 20 more downloadable lessons) is now available!

After reading this blog post, take a look at  THE 12 MOST POPULAR MATH STRATEGIES AND DOWNLOADS ON THIS BLOG.

Splat Through 10
How many dots are under the Splat?

Splat 1.1
Splat 1.2
Splat 1.3
Splat 1.4
Splat 1.5

Splat Through 20
How many dots are under the Splat?

Splat 2.1
Splat 2.2
Splat 2.3
Splat 2.4
Splat 2.5

Multiple Splats
(Note:  Splats that are the same color must cover the same number.)

Splat 3.1  –  multiple splats

Splat 3.2  –  multiple splats

Splat 3.3  –  multiple splats

Splat 3.4  –  multiple splats

Splat 3.5  –  multiple splats

Instant Multiple Splat
(Note:  An additional feature of this level is the opportunity to ask, “What could the total be?”)


Splat 4.1  –  Instant Multiple Splats

Splat 4.2  –  Instant Multiple Splats  

Splat 4.3  –  Instant Multiple Splats

Splat 4.4  –  Instant Multiple Splats

Splat 4.5  –  Instant Multiple Splats

2-Color Splat
(Splats of different colors must have different values.)

Splat 5.1     2-color Splat

Splat 5.2     2-color Splat

Splat 5.3     2-color Splat

Splat 5.4     2-color Splat

Splat 5.5     2-color Splat

Instant 2-Color Splat
 
Splat 6.1     Instant 2-color Splat

Splat 6.2     Instant 2-color Splat

Splat 6.3     Instant 2-color Splat

Splat 6.4     Instant 2-color Splat

Splat 6.5     Instant 2-color Splat

Instant 2-Variable Splat       
(Splats of different colors must have different values.  Splats of the same color must have the same value.)

Splat 7.1    Instant 2-variable Splat

Splat 7.2    Instant 2-variable Splat

Splat 7.3    Instant 2-variable Splat

Splat 7.4    Instant 2-variable Splat

Splat 7.5    Instant 2-variable Splat

Number Splat
(Note:  Only the numbers circled on the screen may be used.)

Splat 8.1  –  Number Splat

Splat 8.2  –  Number Splat

Splat 8.3  –  Number Splat

Splat 8.4  –  Number Splat

Splat 8.5  –  Number Splat

Instant Number Splat

Splat 9.1  –  Instant Number Splat

Splat 9.2  –  Instant Number Splat

Splat 9.3  –  Instant Number Splat

Splat 9.4  –  Instant Number Splat

Splat 9.5  –  Instant Number Splat

Instant Number Splat with 2 Variables
(Note:  Only the numbers circled on the screen may be used, and Splats of different colors must have different values.)

Splat 10.1  –  Instant 2-Variable Number Splat

Splat 10.2  –  Instant 2-Variable Number Splat

Splat 10.3  –  Instant 2-Variable Number Splat

Splat 10.4  –  Instant 2-Variable Number Splat

Splat 10.5  –  Instant 2-Variable Number Splat

NOTE:  I wrote each of these lessons using PowerPoint, so I recommend playing them in PowerPoint.  If you do not have PowerPoint, you may want to download the PowerPoint viewer so that you can play the lessons.

UPDATE:  The Fraction Splat! Series (with 20 more downloadable lessons) is now available!

Other Posts and Resources Which May Be of Interest

Tiled Area Questions
Primary Tile Questions
3 Powerful Tile Strategies (and 40 new downloadable pages)

The Maze Hundreds Chart
Introducing Cube Connectors
Provide Massive Space to Notice

Please take a moment to subscribe to the blog so you’ll be notified each time new resources are posted!

I would treasure hearing about your experiences using Splat! to promote number sense in your classroom!

All my best,
Steve

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Steve Wyborney Avatar

About the author

Steve Wyborney
Steve Wyborney is an award-winning teacher and instructional coach from Oregon. He is well known for his use of instructional technology and his work with mathematics and his passionate belief in the exceptional potential of every student.

76 responses to “Splat!”

  1. Sheryl Williams Avatar
    Sheryl Williams

    Do you have any videos of you, or another teacher actually going through this with students? I know that the teacher responses to kids comments, questions are of utmost importance. I’d really like to see the program in action with real students. Part of the success are “rich conversations” . I’d love to see that modeled. Thank you!

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      Hi, Sheryl. While there aren’t classroom videos on the website, this might be a very helpful video that I made about answer Splat questions: https://youtu.be/YFr8AlXA3X0

      Thanks,
      Steve

      Reply
  2. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    Is there a way to download all documents at once instead of clicking through and downloading each one?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      Hi, Lauren. I don’t have a way to do that at this time. I do know that would save a lot of time and I really appreciate the question.

      Reply
  3. Nicole Cooper Avatar
    Nicole Cooper

    I just downloaded one of the powerpoints but it will not let me put it in present mode. Any idea how to fix this. I love these and want to use them in the classroom!

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      Sometimes when you download a file it is in protected mode and you need to enable it to be presented.

      Reply
  4. natalie schaub Avatar
    natalie schaub

    I love the maze 100 chart!!! Any chance you could create/have available for higher numbers?

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      Thanks, Natalie. I love that chart, too! I’ll add this request to my list on my desktop. The list is getting a little long, so the fastest way to get that into your hands is probably for you to change the numbers on the chart. However, I am adding it now. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Sanela Avatar
    Sanela

    I absolutely love Splat! I noticed that when playing it through Google Slides, the transparency feature doesn’t work. Is there any trick to get it working or to input it into the slides? Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      Hi, Sanela. Google Slides doesn’t recognize that animation. So the solution is to use Splat for Google Slides. Here it is: https://stevewyborney.com/2018/09/splat-for-google-slides-40-lessons/

      Reply
  6. Miho Shimura Avatar
    Miho Shimura

    Thank you soooo much, Steve, for sharing these slides! You are so kind and generous! This must have taken a long time and what a great resource to challenge students to think critically and explain their reasoning. Thank you so very much!

    Reply
    1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
      Steve Wyborney

      I’m so happy to share them! Enjoy!

      Reply
  7. Marcia Wohl Avatar
    Marcia Wohl

    A truly laudable compilation! I can not say enough about the amazing resource you provide. I can only say that my students will truly benefit from such clear, concise and FUN tasks. I attended the Virtual Math Summit last summer hosted by Christina Tondevold where I first saw you present your work. I have recommended you to colleagues and used some of the tasks with my students. Now that we are doing remote instruction, these will be a lifesaver to provide some interesting and rich items to use online. Thank you!!

    Reply
  8. Erin Avatar
    Erin

    I love this lesson idea for teaching algebra. I just wanted to point out that the slide at 5:30 in your video shows 11 dots, not 10.

    Reply
    1. Denise Avatar
      Denise

      Yes! Love Splat.

      I noticed the same thing. 2x + 3 = 10 there were four dots under each splat. Your number would be 11.

      Reply
      1. Steve Wyborney Avatar
        Steve Wyborney

        Great catch! I’ll try to get that updated soon.

        Reply
  9. Gabriele Avatar
    Gabriele

    Hi, Steve. Thank you for making such a wonderful and creative and fun resource for subitizing and decomposing and composing numbers. Our school is lucky enough to have Smart Boards in each room, but we don’t have the budget the purchase Microsoft Office (and Power Point) for our Smart Boards. I’ve tried converting your PPTs to pdf’s for Adobe, which we do have on the Smart Board. However, because your PPTs rely on animations, the end result isn’t usable for the game. I was going to edit the PPT to put each new event on its own slide, and then convert that to a pdf. I think that will work. However, I just wanted to reach out and see if you have any alternate resource for playing Splat! when teachers don’t have Powerpoint. Alternatively, if you don’t, I can email you the pdf’s once I finish converting them for other teachers to use in the future. Best wishes, and thank you again for this activity!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Hi, Gabriele. I think the best solution in this case is to save the PPTs into a google drive and then to play them using Google Slides. Since I’ve made this easier to do with the newest post, you may want to use the Splats which begin on Day 06 of 20 Days of Number Sense and Rich Math Talk. https://stevewyborney.com/?p=1891

      Reply
  10. Lauri Avatar
    Lauri

    I found an oversight on the 5:25 minute on your Splat video. It says 2s + 3 = 10 and shows four dots under each of 2 Splats and 3 dots showing. These look wonderful. I can’t wait to try them, and thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Great catch! Thank you!

      Reply
  11. Anita Morgan Avatar
    Anita Morgan

    Thank you for this. I will be using it in class now that I have it and share with my whole grade level. Can’t wait to get started.

    Reply
  12. Catherine Castillo Avatar
    Catherine Castillo

    Hi Steve,
    First of all, thank you for sharing these amazing resources! I am excited to continue to use them with students and teachers. I was re-watching the video and noticed at about 5:30 you show a splat that has 4 and 4 covered and 3 uncovered and the total says it is 10. Am I missing something or is this just a mistake?

    Reply
  13. 2manyteachers Avatar
    2manyteachers

    Thank you for these work sequences. They look simple but they involve many skills and collaborative work. I strongly recommend.

    Reply
  14. Cindy Ortiz Avatar
    Cindy Ortiz

    Found a mistake on the 5th example of 14.1. The total number of dots, as pictured in the model diagram, should be 10 instead of 9.

    Reply
  15. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    I love all of your resources. My students are engaged and talking about math. I also loved your “Talk a mile a minute template”. I have created 95 slides of vocabulary themed words that I will send you (Steve) and you can share on your site, if you’d like. I teach fourth grade and my students love these… they are talking a mile a minute!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Wow! Nice going, Lynn! It’s great to hear all that you are doing with it. Talk a Mile a Minute is such a wonderful activity. I’m glad you have tapped into the power of it. I’m very impressed with how far you have taken it!

      Reply
  16. C. Donnow Avatar
    C. Donnow

    Thanks so very much for sharing these! I have a 1/2/3 combo class and there is something here for everyone. My kids love them!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thank you! I’m working to release – eventually – a series called Splat in Motion. I appreciate the kind feedback!

      Reply
  17. Deb Avatar
    Deb

    Hi Steve,
    Thanks for sharing your resources. Just a quick question, can you please check your clip at about 5 minutes and 31 seconds because it is incorrect (there are two splats each with four shapes underneath and three shapes not covered which is equal to 11 however your total says 10).

    Reply
  18. Andrea Boyd Avatar
    Andrea Boyd

    Are these available in Spanish? Thanks!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Hi, Andrea. I don’t currently have a version in Spanish, but that is a fantastic idea! Would you recommend that I translate all that is in the yellow text boxes?

      Reply
  19. Tracy Avatar
    Tracy

    Can’t wait to see what you create

    Reply
  20. Charla Gonzales Avatar
    Charla Gonzales

    Shared! I’m pretty sure a few friends would like to read this.

    Reply
  21. Tracy B Avatar
    Tracy B

    Love this idea. Im sure the students will too. Can I just make an observation? On your video explaining SPLAT, at the 5:23 point, you show a number 10 in the corner, but 11 dots. Is that a mistake or some other way of using SPLAT? I am a little confused on that one.

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Great catch! It’s a mistake. That one mistake actually gave me an idea for a blog series which I’m going to release soon.

      Reply
    2. Dylan Avatar
      Dylan

      I love your website I played it in school today for math arithmetic please make more

      Reply
  22. Tracey Poole Avatar
    Tracey Poole

    Can’t wait to play Splat with my students. What a great resource. Will absolutely share this with our staff. Thanks for sharing Steve.

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      My pleasure, Tracey. I would love to hear about your journey with Splat! Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
  23. Carleigh Avatar
    Carleigh

    Amazing. I will be sharing with our k teachers as well at our school. Number talks have been a key focus at our school. Great work! Thank you!!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thanks, Carleigh!

      Reply
  24. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    Maybe I missed something but in your video, at 5:25, you have a sum of 10. The shown dots are 3 and there are 4 under each SPLAT. That is 11. I watched the video again but think I may be missing something.

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Katie, I think you are seeing it correctly. I made a mistake in the video. Maybe even more than one. Thank you for taking time to watch the video and to comment. I always enjoy hearing from readers!

      Reply
    2. m Avatar
      m

      I noticed that too… the total should be 11, not 10

      Reply
  25. Joanne Mallory Avatar
    Joanne Mallory

    Hi Steve!
    I just watched your Building Math Minds presentation and am curious about where I can find Splat in Motion. Can you you direct me to this?
    Thanks,
    Joannne

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Hi, Joanne. Splat in Motion isn’t quite finished yet. I’m adding to it and would like to release all 60 Splat in Motion lessons at once. I’m wanting to go through and add the transparent slide to each one so that will take me a bit longer. If you subscribe to the blog, you’ll have an email in your box with a link to those lessons moments after I post it. Thanks for watching the video!

      Reply
  26. Lori Emilson Avatar
    Lori Emilson

    I can’t wait to use Splat! in the classroom. I will definitely be sharing this with our teachers too! Thanks so much for sharing – I appreciate your hard work!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thanks for the comment, Lori. I’m very happy to share. I’ll keep writing more resources.

      Reply
  27. Joshua Avatar
    Joshua

    Steve, another enthusiastic user report. My 4 year old and I played/talked through the first set and she really enjoyed it. I might follow Simon Gregg’s example and make some physical manipulatives to recreate the activity and also let her set up challenges to give to the rest of the family.

    Reply
  28. Scott Cox Avatar
    Scott Cox

    Hi Steve, I love this idea! It is crying out for a Javascript application that can live on the web for people who don’t use PowerPoint. I’ll see how long I can put it off before I am compelled to start adapting it… Best regards, Scott

    Reply
  29. Marian Dingle Avatar
    Marian Dingle

    Sorry, but this was just too long to put in a Twitter post. I have a Montessori class of 4th and 5th graders, and we began on your first 2 Splat sets. I could see their speed grow as they were able to subitize with confidence.

    But then, we began Set 3 today (only one color splat) and they got it instantly, with almost as much speed! Amazing! When I showed them the algebraic equations they were solving, they were impressed with themselves, and now want to generate them each time themselves.

    I can’t tell you how much I think of your ability to develop these and also share them so freely with the world! This is a game-changer for sure.

    Reply
  30. Laura M Avatar
    Laura M

    HI! I LOVE ALL OF YOUR WORK! Thank so for sharing. Can you please explain to me in your video at minute 5:22 where it ends with 2(S) + 3 = 10… is that a non examples b/c I think it should be 2(S) + 2 = 10… apologize if I’ve missed something – I just want to be sure when I pass this along that I can explain that part!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Hi, Laura. Thank you so much for the comment and the question. What you see at the 5:22 mark is purely an error. It should say 11 rather than 10. I didn’t intend it to be a non-example. It was actually a typo in the number box in the top corner. I will try to correct it down the road. That is such a great catch on your part. When you do share this out, let everyone know that the lessons should all be correct. Thank you again, for commenting, and nice catch!

      Reply
    2. Susan Jones Avatar
      Susan Jones

      I saw that too. It says 10 in the corner… but there are 11 dots…

      Reply
  31. Graham Avatar
    Graham

    Pure gold Steve! Thanks for taking us along on your learning journey.

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thanks, Graham! I stumbled across some additional Splat! strategies very recently that lit an enormously powerful discourse wildfire in the classroom. It all started with something like, “Mr. Wyborney, it’s not possible to put 7 dots under 4 splats… Is it?”

      Reply
  32. Josh Avatar
    Josh

    There appeared to be an error in your video. At the with 1.21 left. You have a ten in the top right corner. Three dots in the middle, and four dots under the two splats. It’s your 2s + 3 = 10 example. I counted 11 dots.

    I do love this for number Sense. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Great catch, Josh! If I had an opportunity to change it, I would quickly update it. In the meantime, it has given me an idea. Thank you for pointing it out – and thank you for watching the video. I hope you will enjoy the Splat! series!

      Reply
    2. De Avatar
      De

      It was at 6:49. 4+4+3= 10. That’s not what my fingers said. Otherwise, this is a GREAT resource. Thanks!

      Reply
      1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
        stevewyborney@gmail.com

        Thanks!

        Reply
  33. Leslie Avatar
    Leslie

    Hi Steve,

    This is a cool resource. I have another question re: Splats about the yellow question boxes. I’ve clicked on them but I don’t think I’m doing it right because nothing happens. I have to rearrange them (as I said, I’m probably missing something!) to read them. Or if anyone else can help, that’d be great.

    Thanks,
    Leslie

    Reply
  34. Sparky Teaching Avatar
    Sparky Teaching

    Like this a lot, Steve… We’ll tweet about it now.

    Really like the way that there is such a breadth of opportunities stemming from the idea, starting with the simple stuff and progressing to all sorts of multi-step calculations.

    Splats are always useful – we used them in teaching word problem skills (see Tip #1 here: http://www.sparkyteaching.com/creative/top-10-tips-for-teaching-word-problems/ ), but this takes it to another level (or ten!). Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  35. Leilani Avatar
    Leilani

    I had the opportunity to share this blog with many teachers today. The excitement in the room could be FELT! Thank you! This is an amazing resource to promote number sense!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thank you for sharing this experience with me. I’m excited to hear this. I’ll be making more soon. I really appreciate your sharing this with other educators as well!

      Reply
  36. Sue Tarr Avatar
    Sue Tarr

    This is AMAZING! So excited to hear the rich discourse that takes place in the classroom with these Splats! Thank you for sharing these!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Absolutely! I’m so happy to share!

      Reply
  37. John Golden Avatar
    John Golden

    Had to make something like this in GeoGebra. Great idea! https://www.geogebra.org/m/mEb6rh4B

    Reply
  38. Sandra Mueller Avatar
    Sandra Mueller

    This looks so awesome! We are incorporating Number Talks and this is such a cool, new addition to that program! Thank you so much!

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      What a great idea to tie this in with number talks. Enjoy!

      Reply
    2. Sandy Mueller Avatar
      Sandy Mueller

      Presented several different levels to some of our 5th graders today. I was very engaging and accessible to so many . We had fun creating equations to represent our thinking, using actual variables. Great activity and I can’t wait to use it with other grades!

      Reply
      1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
        stevewyborney@gmail.com

        Thanks for sharing this, Sandy. It’s great to hear about the engagement and how it was accessible. I hope you have a chance to take a look at the 20 new lessons in the Fraction Splat series, too! https://stevewyborney.com/?p=1028

        Reply
  39. Travis Bower Avatar
    Travis Bower

    Typo? at 5:33 11 instead of 10 I think

    Reply
    1. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Thanks, Travis. Which lesson is it in?

      Reply
    2. Sandra Mueller Avatar
      Sandra Mueller

      Yes, I noticed that as well.

      Reply
    3. stevewyborney@gmail.com Avatar
      stevewyborney@gmail.com

      Travis, I see exactly what you mean. Thank you for catching this for me. I originally you thought it was on one of the lesson slides, then realized you pointed me to exactly where it was on the video itself. I really appreciate it. I may not have a chance to record the video again until after I finish the lessons. There is something about your comment that is featuring a really good, completely unexpected opportunity. I haven’t completely pinned it down yet, but the combination of a mistake and a video could lead to some really good math lesson opportunities. Thanks, again!

      Reply
    4. Nik Avatar
      Nik

      I noticed that too…the rest of the resource is fantastic though, great job! Thank you for all the work you put into this!

      Reply
    5. Tina Risinger Avatar
      Tina Risinger

      I saw that, too!!! 2s +3 can’t be 10.

      Reply

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