Sometimes when students find out I’m one of the upper middle school math teachers, they’re surprised. They think of me as the “games teacher” because I’ve taught card- and board- games electives in the lower middle school since 2012, and also in the upper middle school since 2014. Or maybe they know me from After School Magic club or the St. Francis Game Days, or maybe from the games table at Parents Night Out. And it’s true: I do love games. Logical and strategic thinking are amazing life-long skills to develop, and games are wonderful at teaching us how to solve problems in many different ways. They help develop number fluency and computational proficiency... all skills we use every day in 7th grade math and Pre-algebra!