Monday Math Freebie - Spinners Galore!

While I was away last week I received a request to make a plain spinner for a teacher. Once that simple task was done I decided to make several different kinds to share. I have put them all together in one packet. There are 7 copies of each spinner type, 1 large, 2 medium, and 4 small. Here's what you'll find.

• Spinner with numbers 1-10
• Ten frame spinner
• Base-10 spinner with one, ten, and hundred blocks
• Pattern block spinner simple (missing square and tan rhombus)
• Pattern block spinner complete (all 6 shapes)
• Fraction spinner unit fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4)
• Fraction spinner (1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, 6/6)

Here's a sneak peak at the contents.

Download Spinners Galore.

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them! 

Monday Math Freebie - Place Value Strips

My class is still working on pedagogy for teaching place value. This week we're using place value sliders and place value strips. I found a set of strips online but wasn't happy with them. You know what that means, right? I made my own!

I created three variations of the strip sets so that you can use them to differentiate. The first form includes the words for place value on the strip (ones, tens, hundreds, etc.). The second form includes numbers to show the value of the digit in a particular place. The third form includes no additional information. Each set includes whole numbers from ones through thousands and comes in both color and black and white versions.

Here's a peak at the file.

These strips were designed for use in activities that meet the following Common Core Standards for Math:

1.NBT.2. Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand the following as special cases:

• a. 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones — called a “ten.” 
• b. The numbers from 11 to 19 are composed of a ten and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.
• c. The numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 refer to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine tens (and 0 ones).

1.NBT.3. Compare two two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, and <.

2.NBT.1. Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. Understand the following as special cases:

• a. 100 can be thought of as a bundle of ten tens — called a “hundred.”
• b. The numbers 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 refer to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine hundreds (and 0 tens and 0 ones).

2.NBT.2. Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.
2.NBT.3. Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.
2.NBT.4. Compare two three-digit numbers based on meanings of the hundreds, tens, and ones digits, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

3.NBT.1 Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.

4.NBT.1 Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents in the place to its right. For example, recognize that 700 ÷ 70 = 10 by applying concepts of place value and division.
4.NBT.2. Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. Compare two multi-digit numbers based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.
4.NBT.3. Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.

Download Place Value Strips

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try them and how they work! 

More Patterns!

Just a quick post today to share to new pattern sets, one for African animals and one for woodland animals. In each set you'll find 8 different pattern strips and pattern pieces. Patterns found in these sets include AB, ABC, ABB, AAB, AABB, AABC, ABCD, ABAC. Here's a sneak peak at a few of the pages from each.

Download African Animal Patterns.
Download Woodland Animal Patterns.

Enjoy!

Patterns, Patterns, Patterns!

I still find myself perplexed that patterns do not appear in the elementary portion of the Common Core Standards for Mathematics. Arithmetic patterns do appear in the upper elementary grades, but identifying, extending and creating patterns has disappeared altogether. This is a shame because understanding patterns is one of a number of skills that lay the foundation for algebraic thinking. Patterns help children make sense of the world around them. There are patterns in music, poetry, the seasons, life cycles, phases of the moon, tides, and more! Patterns can be used to solve problems. They can also be a powerful tool for helping children make connections across areas of math. Memorizing basic facts is so much easier when we teach children to recognize patterns and relationships.  

I know many elementary teachers that will be reluctant to give up activities related to patterning. Since I'm preparing teachers in Virginia, and since VA is one of the few holdout states in relation to adopting the CCSM, I am still focused on activities related to patterns. Perhaps teachers in Common Core states can sneak these activities in under the guise of the Mathematical Practice standards 7 and 8 which say that students will look for and make use of structure (7) and look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning (8).

For teachers helping students to recognize, describe, extend, and create a wide variety of repeating patterns, I have created a set of materials you may find useful. You'll find 8 different pattern strips and pattern pieces. Patterns found in this set include AB, ABC, ABB, AAB, AABB, AABC, ABCD, ABAC. Here's a sneak peak at a few of the pages.

Download Farm Patterns. Please let me know if you find this useful. I'm working on some other themed sets for repeating patterns, as well as a few for growing patterns.

Monday Math Freebies - Egg Carton Place Value

I've been making lots of resources for my class this summer. The teachers seem to be enjoying it. Last week I made sets of materials for egg carton place value. Here's what they look like.

We eat a LOT of eggs, so all my containers have 18 cups. Most egg carton math activities use the standard dozen container.

Here's a closeup of the directions.

Download a copy of Egg Carton Place Value.

When we played we used a copy of the recording sheet created by Doris at Third Grade Thinkers. Her version is pretty cool too! You might want to try that as well. 

Fraction Discovery Bottles

After making discovery bottles for number sense and computation, I decided to try making some bottles for fractions. I used some wooden pieces from a collection of sorting objects. There are geometric shapes, as well as planes, cars and even a horse. One of the bottles contains LEGO pieces. Here's a peak at them.

Here's what you'll find in each of the bottles.

Bottle 1 – Transportation theme

Contains 5 wooden vehicles

• 3 cars/trucks, one red, one yellow and one blue 

• 2 airplanes, one red and one yellow

Bottle 2 – Shapes theme 

Contains 6 wooden shapes

• 2 circles, one red and one green

• 2 squares, one red and one green

• 2 triangles, one red and one green

Bottle 3 – Mixed set

 Contains 6 wooden shapes

• 2 circles, one red and one green

• 2 squares, one red and one green

• 2 triangles, one red and one green

Contains 5 wooden vehicles

• 3 cars/trucks, one red, one yellow and one blue 

• 2 airplanes, one red and one yellow

Contains 1 red wooden horse

Bottle 4 – LEGO theme
Contains 5 LEGO blocks

• 3 large blocks, one gray, one black, one white

• 2 small blocks, one gray and one red

I have created a packet with directions for making the bottles and one activity page for each of the four bottles. Here are a few sample pages.

Download Fraction Discovery Bottles. If you try these, please let me know what you think. If you have any other suggestions or ideas, please let me know.

Math Discovery Bottles!

My table last night ...

... and the results today! This is my first set of discovery bottles for math.

Here's a closeup of one.

Here's what's in them.

Bottle 1 – Place Value and Addition/Subtraction

• Contains 6 small blocks with the numbers 0, 1, 5, 7, 8, 9

Bottle 2 – Place Value 
Contains:

• 4 small blocks with the numbers 3, 4, 6, 9
• 4 small rods with the numbers 10, 30, 70, 80
• 4 small rods with the numbers 200, 300, 500, 600

Bottle 3 – Multiplication/Division 

• Contains 7 small blocks with the numbers 6, 12, 30, 36, 42, 54, 72

Bottle 4 – Number Writing and Representation 

• Contains 6 small blocks with the words one, two, five, six, nine, ten

Bottle 5 – Tally Marks and Number Representations

• Contains 6 small rods with tally marks for the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.

I have created a packet with directions for making the bottles and activity pages for students to use with them. Every bottle has one activity page except for Bottle 1, which has one for place value and two different activities for addition/subtraction. Here are a few sample pages.

Download Math Discovery Bottles. If you try these, please let me know what you think. I'm planning on making several bottles for basic fact practice, as well as a bottle for fractions. If you have any other suggestions or ideas, please let me know.

  **UPDATE** -  I found a teeny tiny mistake on one of the pages. Please download again for the corrected version. Sorry for the inconvenience.

How Does a Teacher Spend Friday Night?

I may not be a K-12 teacher anymore, but I still prepare for classes in much the same manner. I'll be meeting a new group of teachers on Monday in a course called Improving Elementary Math Instruction. Here's the description.

This course will focus on improving teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills in teaching elementary math with a focus on differentiated instruction using developmental grouping (math workshop and work stations). Class sessions will involve participants in activities that address concrete, representational, and abstract stages of learning. Both manipulatives and children's literature will be used as essential tools for improving teaching and learning in math.

So, how am I spending my Friday night? Here's my dining room table.

See that HUGE bag of rice? I'm using recycled Vitamin Water bottles to make discovery bottles for math. Here's a discovery bottle for place value and expanded notation. It has 4 number cubes with one-digit numbers, 4 rods with two-digit multiples of 10, and 4 rods with three-digit multiples of 100. Students need to shake and find the numbers and then use them to build a variety of numbers according to specific attributes. For example, students might be asked to build the largest three-digit number, the smallest three-digit number, a number with a 3 in the tens place, and so on. As soon as I finish the recording sheet I'll post it. 

The beads and pipe cleaners are being used to make Rekenreks. All you need is some cardboard and duct tape. 

Here's the page I created for students to record their work.

Download Rekenrek Recording Paper.

Okay, break's over! Time for me to get back to work.

Ten Frame Spinners

I've been preparing for my Monday class and playing around a bit with Photoshop. I thought these might be fun.

You'll find three different sizes of spinners.

Download Ten Frame Spinners. If you grab these, please let me know how you might use them in your classroom. I'd love to know!