Activities to support Numeral identification
Where are they now?
Students:
- name and identify numerals to twenty and beyond
- have strong conceptual models of numbers connecting symbolic, verbal, concrete and visual representations beyond 10
Where to next?
Students:
- name and identify numerals to 100 or beyond
- represent numbers up to 100 in a range of ways
Outcomes
The following activities provide opportunities for students to demonstrate progress towards the following outcomes. A student:
MA1-1WM describes mathematical situations and methods using everyday and some mathematical language, actions, materials, diagrams and symbols
MA1-2WM uses objects, diagrams and technology to explore mathematical problems
MA1-3WM supports conclusions by explaining or demonstrating how answers were obtained
MA1-4NA applies place value, informally, to count, read and represent two and three-digit numbers
How?
Teen number puzzle cards
Make a set of puzzle cards demonstrating the teen numbers (see example below).
Have students work to match the puzzles and then order them from smallest the largest or visa versa.
Variations
- Have students sort the dot patterns into categories (e.g. odd numbers and even numbers) and discuss the similarities and differences between them
- Discuss with students what happens if we “swap” the numerals around e.g. 14 now becomes 41. Ask students, “What does the one represent? Does it still represent ten? Why or why not”
- Discuss what the “1” in 14 represents and whether it is the same “1” as one item, justifying and demonstrating thinking
- Lay out a series of number puzzle cards along a number line and ask students to identify which numbers are missing. Have students draw or write the missing amounts on a post-it note and add to the number line that has been made
- Provide students with two completed number puzzle cards and have them discuss and record what makes the numbers the same and what make them different
Questioning the hundred chart
Place a counter on 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 64, 73, 82, 91. What do you notice? How could we describe this pattern in the hundred chart? (For example, “You go down one row and left one column. This means you add 10 and count back one. This is the same as adding on 9 each time.)
Place a counter on all of the numbers that have a 3 in the ones place. Place a counter on all of the numbers that have a 3 in the tens place. What do you notice? How many numbers have counters on them? Do any numbers have two counters? Why/why not? Does the “3”mean the same thing for each number? Explain your thinking using concrete materials.
Have discussions by asking questions such as:
- What’s the difference between 28 and 13? What number do we start counting from? Why? How many number words do we say? How can we keep track of the number words we say? Why does this matter?
- How many are there between (for example) 37 and 12?
- How many number words might I say if I counted from 10 to 20 by twos? Would it be more than 10 number words or less? Why do you think that?
- How many number words might I say if I counted from 20 to 0 by twos? Would it be more than 6 number words or less? Why do you think that?
- Circle all numbers with 2 digits the same (e.g. 44, 11, 88, etc). What do you notice?
- Cover all of the numbers whose digits add to make 9, for example. What do you notice?
- Cover all of the numbers where the number in the ones place is smaller than the number in the tens place, for example. What do you notice?
Count backwards and forwards by a chosen number, for example, count backwards by one from 27, or, count backwards by two from 31. Have a partner record the number words said on a hundred chart, checking their partner is saying the number words correctly.
Collections
Present the students with a large collection of items and a supply of containers. They will also need two sets of numeral cards ranging from zero to nine, a mini whiteboard and
a marker. Divide the whiteboard into a “groups of ten” and a “remaining ones” places. Present the collection of items to the students and allow them to count the items. Each time ten items are collected, the students make a group of ten by placing the items into a container, moving it to the left-hand side of their chart into the “groups of ten” place.
Students then place a numeral card below the “tens” place, indicating how many groups of ten have been collected. As succeeding tens are collected, have the student continue to add them to the left-hand side of the chart and replace the numeral card accordingly.
Remaining items are placed on the right-hand side of the whiteboard, in the “ones” place. The teacher should explain that there are not enough items to make another group of ten and so the remainders are counted as individual items and placed in the “ones” place. Students then place a corresponding numeral card below the “ones” place to form a two- digit number.
Have students record their work by taking a photo. Students could annotate their work sample by recording an explanation of their photo after teacher modelling. For example, “I had 43 popsticks. I had 4 groups of 10 and 3 more.” Moving towards students saying “I had 4 tens and 3 ones.” This activity could be extended by using empty ten strips for students to fill instead of the containers.
Why?
Developing an understanding of groups of tens and ones helps demonstrate the multiplicative nature of place value. Understanding how our number system works may support students in using more efficient strategies.
Flip and make
Make a base board by folding a piece of paper or cardboard in thirds to form three columns. Label the columns as “ones”, “tens” and “number”. Provide a set of “tens” cards which state the number of groups of tens (see example below). These cards will be used to represent numerals in the “tens” place on the chart. Provide a second set of numeral cards 0-9 on coloured card. These will be used to represent numerals in the “ones” place. Provide bundles of ten white popsticks and a pile of coloured popsticks. Shuffle the two decks of cards separately. Place the cards face down between the students. Have the students take turns to turn over a white card and a coloured card to form a two-digit number and place the cards onto the chart. The students then read the number that they have formed and collect a corresponding number of sticks, using the bundles of white popsticks and the coloured popsticks. Instruct the students to place the popsticks in the appropriate place and allow others to verify that the number of popsticks used is correct. Take a photo or draw a simple picture to record thinking.
Variations
- To make this a game, the student with the highest number in each round, for example, could win a counter. At the end of 11 rounds, the student with the most counters wins
- Alternatively, the student with the number closest to a target number wins the round (for example, who was closest to 32?)
- Use stacks of connecting blocks, counters or MABs in place of popsticks
Swap me
Provide each student with a large collection of popsticks and a base board divided into a “tens”, “ones” and “number”. Place the numeral cards in the range zero to nine face down on the floor. The students take turns to flip over two numeral cards and place one card in the tens place and one card in the ones place on their base board. Students then bundle popsticks into tens and place the correct number of bundles and units onto their base board to match the numeral cards. Discuss how many tens and ones were made.
Using a second base board and identical digits, have students swap their digits to form a new number. Have students make matching bundles and single popsticks. Record student thinking by taking and annotating a photograph.
Support students in explaining what is the same about their two numbers (for example, both numbers use the digits 1 and 3, both numbers are odd, both numbers are smaller than 50, etc.) and what is different (in 31 there are 3 groups of ten, but 13 has 1 group of ten. 13 needs 7 more to make 20 but 31 is bigger than 20, etc).
