Add and Subtract within 1 Million Cryptogram

This set includes 8 self checking puzzles for teaching 4th Grade Gifted and Talented students adding and subtracting within 1 million.

This resource includes the following eight cryptograms:

1. Vertical Addition within One Million
2. Vertical Subtraction within One Million
3. Vertical Regrouping across Zeroes
4. Vertical Addition & Subtraction within One Million
5. Horizontal Addition within One Million
6. Horizontal Subtraction within One Million
7. Horizontal Regrouping across Zeroes
8. Horizontal Addition & Subtraction within One Million

 

Each cryptogram includes:

• 2-page full-color student worksheet
• 2-page black & white version
• Teacher answer key
• 26 problems
• An encrypted joke to check some of the 26 problems

 

Easy Prep & Self Grading

Simply print and distribute.

 

Instead of grading completed worksheet or reviewing answers to assess proficiency levels; skill mastery can be determined by who got the joke.

 

Not all letters of the alphabet are used in the secret message.  The unused answers are highlighted on the teacher answer key.  Answers to these questions are especially useful when using cryptograms as an assessment tool. To grade, check the decoded message and answers marked with an ‘*’ indicating that it is not included in the secret message.

 

How to use the cryptograms in your classroom

These can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom including:

• A class-wide alternative to a traditional worksheet
• Homework
• Fun challenge for early finishers
• Extra practice
• Review
• Station activity

These puzzles can also be used for gifted homeschooled students to provide homeschoolers with:

• independent work
• extra practice
• review

A better alternative to standard worksheets

Students love the fun graphics and silly jokes uses in these cryptograms.  They enthusiastically perform the required calculations to decode the secret message.  My students always race to see who can be the first to decode the joke.  I remind them that they aren’t allowed to say the joke out loud until everyone is finished.

 

Each cryptogram has 26 problems, one for each letter of the alphabet.  Students use their answers to complete a cryptogram.  If the cryptogram has an unfilled space or a spelling mistake, the student knows they made a mistake.  The desire to decode the cryptogram motivates students to find and correct their mistakes.

 

Ideal for Gifted & Talented Students

I work exclusively with gifted and talented students who are often accelerated in math.  I have several who don’t like to ask for help or admit that they don’t know everything.  However, they are often happy to report a ‘mistake’ in the cryptogram because they believe that two questions have the same answer or that the decoded message has a spelling error.  These reports are a great non-threatening way to identify students who need a little extra help while the students are working on the cryptogram rather than waiting until after they complete a worksheet, and it is graded.