Comparing Larger Numbers

When possible, I think students should be able to work together in small groups. It not only adds to their engagement and motivation, it gives them an opportunity to explain how they did their work and why they think something. Recently the students worked in small groups to build various larger numbers with Base Ten Blocks. As they built, they checked one another's work. Once all group members had built the correct number, they drew a model of the number with sticks (tens) and dots (ones). They again checked one another's work and then proceeded to the next part. They identified how many tens and ones, the expanded notation, and then ordereed the numbers from least to greatest and/or greatest to least.

Ordering Events by Duration

In math the students have been learning how to order events by duration. They often think that just because you do something ten times it must take longer than something that you do five times no matter what. We have been learning that you have to think about each task and how long it takes to do it just once. Then you have to think about how many times you do it. For example, it takes them less time to read their weekly poem five times than it does to read their guided reading book one time. At the conclusion of our lessons, the students illustrated three events, or tasks, from their school day and ordered them from the least time taken to the most time taken. They then wrote comparison sentences about the events' durations.

Comparing Numbers to 50

In math we have been learning to compare and order numbers to 50. One way that we have been practicing is to use our Promethean Board to build numbers with Base Ten Blocks. The students take turns building the numbers and counting them. They then use text boxes to put the numbers in order from greatest to least and least to greatest.

Ordering by Temperature

To help the students understand the differences between cold temperatures, hot temperatures, and room temperatures, we conducted an experiment. Hidden under black cloth book covers, the students felt of three objects to identify which one felt the hottest, which one feld the coldest, and which was was a normal temperature. Under one of the book covers were hand warmers, under another was a gel ice pack, and under the other was a bean bag. The students recorded the order they thought the were in using letters to match the labels on the book covers. The students then illustrated objects found in their home ordering them from hottest to coldest and then from coldest to hottest.