Place Value Parade and Building Numbers

Can you ever do enough activities to reinforce place value?

 Nope... never.

As any new or veteran teacher can tell you, understanding place value is the foundation of building solid number sense.  Am I right, or am I right? 

Even teaching 4th grade, I have an amazing amount of kids that come to me every year without understanding place value.  And the scary part is, it seems to be getting worse!!  Anyone else?! This lack of fundamental understanding makes everything we do in math class more difficult.  Pile on top of that, the lack of mathematical vocabulary and it's an absolute mess. So, what do I do to combat this mathematical nightmare?  We place a lot of Place Value Parade.

Place Value Parade is very simple and the kids LOVE it.  It helps kids build their math vocabulary, master place value, and improves listening skills.

First, make copies of the Place Value Parade sheet on card stock.  You can choose to laminate if you want, but I find it works just as well on thick paper. 

Have students cut the paper in half to separate the numbers from the place value frame. Then, have students cut out all the numbers.  (Teacher Tip: Remind them to put their initials on the back of each number so that lost digits can be returned.)

Now, you are ready to begin.  It is time to build numbers.  Give them clues that fill in one digit at a time.

Try these clues below to build your own number. Ready, set, go...

Mystery Number 1:

1. The digit in the tens place is double the number 4. 
2. The digit in the ten thousands place is half of 10. 
3. There are no hundreds.
4. The digit in the millions place is the difference between the digit in the tens and the digit in the ten thousands.
5. The digit in the ones place is 3 times more than 2.
6. The digit in the thousands place is greater than 8.
7. The last digit you need is the sum of the millions and the hundreds.

 Did you build 3,359,086?



Mystery Number 2:

1. The digit in the millions place is a product of 3 and 2.
2. The digit in the ones place is half the digit in the millions place.
3. The digit in the thousands place is the sum of the digits you have used.
4. The digit is in the hundreds place is five.
5. The digit in the hundred thousands place is the difference between the hundreds and the thousands.
6. The digit in the tens place is the sum of the ones and the hundred thousands place.
7. The digit in the ten thousands place is the only odd digit you have not used yet.

Did you build 6,419,573?

After building the number, we then read the number together.  Write it in expanded or word form.  Discuss the value of each digit. Etc.

My kids think it is great fun to listen to the clues and figure out the mystery number.  We check each digit before reading the number aloud and you will hear the whole class go "Yesss!!" after we call each digit. They are so proud.

Your clues can be anything from simple to very complex.  Use as much math vocabulary as possible. (greater than, less than, sum, difference, double, half, more than, less than, even, odd, product, quotient, etc.)

I started pretty easy, but soon found out that I could get quite complicated.  The best part is that my students are no longer stumped when they see some of these math words on tests.

My students keep their digit cards in a plastic bag and the place value frame in their math folder.  We used them for a week solid and now pull them out about once a week.  The kids still love building numbers and are ready to start writing clues for their own mystery numbers.

Of course, you can do this very same activity on white boards or notebook paper.  I like the tactile model I showed you above, but it's completely up to you. If you would like a copy of my Place Value Parade, click here or on the image below to download it FREE from my TN store.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Happy New Year, Goals, and Leader In Me News

Well, hello 2013 and happy new year to all my readers, followers, and people that stop by courtesy of Pinterest.  How've you been?

Me?  I've been good. In fact, I've been great.  I have been loving the two weeks we had off from school.  My husband and I flew back to Seattle to see our families and we froze our buns off while we were there.  We are 100% Texas converts and 30 degrees is darn cold.

Now, I'm back and ready to kick off my year right!

Ahhh...don't you love the beginning of the year.  You can start over fresh.  You can push aside all those bad habits and proclaim... "This year will be different!"

And with that, I have decided to share with y'all my three goals for the new year.

#1) I will cook at home more.  Now, I currently eat at home a lot, but I don't always cook. I'm pretty sure there is a big difference.

#2) I will get heart healthy. Lately, I've started to feel old and I'm beginning to worry about my achy joints and muscle pain.   It is time for some action.  So, I started taking vitamins loaded with calcium and vitamin D. I have been going to the gym <insert shocked gasp!> and drinking lots of water. Bad soda bad!

#3) I will (and this is where y'all come in) blog five times a month.  Five is really a fairly arbitrary number, but it just feels right, so I'm sticking to it.  I will put down my books, flip off the TV, and spend some quality time getting back to blogging about what I love...teaching!

The good news is that it is finally pleasant to be in my office again.  You may or may not remember, but something died in my wall during the last part of the summer. Ugh! It was awful and almost impossible to sit at the computer for any length of time.  Naturally, we tried to cover it up with every air freshener possible.  This only enhanced the headache while inside because you were hit over the head with "air freshener" and could still smell death.  No good I tell you, no good. So, months later... I'm back in business and ready to begin #3 of my New Year's goals.

First post of the new year:

Our Leader In Me School

This is our first year launching the Covey Leader in Me program at my school.  We are the anomaly in our district because we are the only title school committed to the program.  If you are not familiar, it is a great school-wide program based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that promotes student leadership in the classroom, around the school, and within the community.

Now, as I said, we are only in year one, and it takes baby steps to change the culture in your school, but I wanted to show off what we've done so far.

Our first step was to make some changes to our school environment and (of course) we needed our own 7 habits tree. Voila!

One of the teachers in our building designed the tree.  The rest of us just painted within the lines. See those rays of the sunshine and all those black letters?  Yup, I painstakingly painted those. 

(Learn Together, Live Together, Lead Together is our school mission statement.)

Here is a close-up of the tree.  The frames around the 7 Habits signs are made out of twigs. Cool, huh?

This is a second mural in the front entry way.  Those letters (by the way) totally done free hand. Not by me, but still...impressive, right?

Naturally, our fourth grade hallway needed a tree too but after painting two we went with paper.

This is the last picture for today.  I just love the colors and it is the perfect Leader in Me message.

So, halfway through the year we are getting the hang of Leader In Me.  My students have got the language down (with hand movements even) and they always catch me when I am not using Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Than to be Understood.  Ha! I typically catch them not putting first things first.  *wink, wink*

I really do love this program and the habits it promotes in the classroom and around the school.  It's been a slow start at our school, but we are hoping to steamroll it with the new year.

Anyone else starting the Leader In Me program?  I'd love to hear how it is going in your classroom and at your school...especially if you are at a title campus. The more insight the better.  Please share!!

Happy New Year!