How Much IS 1,000? Do 3rd grade kids know?

Kids are always intrigued by the measuring tape, but this
group took it a bit further, stretching them all out to see
how many TOTAL CMs.  It was easier counting than some
of the groups, but stretched out further.

Our current focus in math is place value; actually reading, writing and representing numbers to 1,000.  Yep that's right out of the CORE.  Over the years, I've discovered that kids learn to put numbers into the right "places" and read these numbers quite easily.  The tricky part comes with understanding what these number REALLY represent.  How much is 1,000?

How much is 1,000?

Naturally our class had an EXPLORATION of the number 1,000.  I started the ball rolling by setting out our money bin and a recording sheet with different currency (bill) amounts.  I DIDN'T include 100 dollar bills.  Kids took some time with the money and figured out a way to make $1,000.  Some industrious kiddos took on the task of figuring this out for each currency.  They did lots of counting, sorting and discussing related to 1,000…hee, hee, her!!  Don't you love it when they're doing great math thinking and don't even know it?

All of our meter sticks, plus the discovery
of a RARE yard stick that threw off the
easy counting!!!!

The day before we LOOKED for and CREATED a chart of things that we had MORE THAN 1,000 of in the classroom.  I taught some quick estimation strategies, but it was hard to know if they really knew what 1,000 was…so...of course, we dug even deeper.

This partnership did some awesome counting, sorting
and even recorded their data on sticky notes so they
wouldn't forget.  Just so you know, these are a couple
boys who tend to get off task and have been know to
cause a bit of trouble.  Nice to know that ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT works better than BEHAVIOR CHARTS!

Small groups or pairs of kids started to explore different areas in the room.  Each group was given or chose a set of objects to count; so they could prove it was more than 1,000.  I must admit that THE TEACHER was even surprised that some of these collections weren't even 1,000.

Cooperative counting, putting together large numbers;
yet it is still not 1,000 Rainbow Tiles:0)

We had MORE than 1,000 words, of course my groups of
words are no longer organized for word work…sigh.

Once again digging into the numbers helps to build a solid conceptual base.  Next we'll look at the number line and how these big numbers fit together.

Good to know that we have MORE than 1,000 books in our
classroom library.

Math Strategies: But do I HAVE to think?

How do we get children to the next level in their learning?  Is it possible to take them from learning steps and procedures to thinking, REALLY thinking?  In math we've been exploring strategies for adding numbers.  One strategy was to use a number line, they could break the numbers apart into different jumps, but needed to show their thinking.

With the whole community together, we explored a few different methods.  It seemed as though the kids were getting the idea; so I had them do one on their whiteboard to see their individual thinking.  The results were quite interesting for a few kids...I wish I had pictures, but I'll show you what they did.

This was their "thinking" or "lack of" related to putting together  two numbers.  

Since they HAD to use a number line these kiddos decided to put one number to start and make hops to the end.  Funny enough when I asked, "How much money would you have if you had $38 in the bank and got $49 more dollars?"  After a bit of thought they came up with the the exact dollar amount.

Fast forward to today's math lesson - thinking!!!  We had a great discussion about how the most important part of math is thinking about what you're doing and why.  I reminded the kids that our strategies are there to help us figure out and understand what we are doing, but we NEED to THINK if what we are doing makes sense.  So we rolled up our sleeves and approached addition strategies again.  I'm happy to say lightbulbs went on and they were really thinking through different ways to put together numbers.

Don't let number lines get to you and your kids.  They are an amazing way to get kids discussing and thinking about numbers.  I'm getting ready to dive into finding the difference on a number line, wish me luck!!!

I've put together some problems for math notebooks involving number lines, number sense and place value.  Adding and subtracting on a number line is "IN PROGRESS".

Digging into Learning (Teacher's Pay Teachers Store)

Strength in Numbers: Building Community

So it is a typical day in third grade with too much to do and the kids are showing the signs of stress.  Or maybe that's just me!!!  You know what I mean, nothing earth shattering, but the "feel" of the room just isn't right.  No it isn't time for a vacation, the kids just need to learn to work together.

Today I made an effort to work on our sense of community.  In the morning we always start with a community circle; I'm a Tribes trainer, believe in it and live it everyday.  I know they have a sense of inclusion (togetherness), but we haven't done enough work on how to work together in pairs and groups.  The CORE has lots of group and partner learning so it will save time in the long run to get them functioning in different situations.

tribes.com Visit their website if your haven't heard of this process!

During math we've be working on 10's and a strategy to learn 5's as half of 10.  Some of the kids understood this concept right away, but haven't internalized it.  Other kids were still exploring the concept of multiples and what it means.  I pulled the kids together into what I call "purposeful partners".  I explain that some days I pick random partners and other days I have a reason I want them to work with a certain person.  Today my purpose was to help the kids make positive connections and to have one of the kids with a solid understanding working with another who was still building their foundational understanding.  I modeled how to make an array for a ten's fact and how to fold it into a five's fact.  Their task was to build all the ten's and five's facts up to ten.  Before I sent them off to work we talked about sharing the job, deciding on colors and planning designs together so partners will learn and be satisfied.  At the end of the math time partners were encouraged to give appreciations to their partner.  All the groups finished the task successfully, had experience seeing the relationship between tens and fives and learned from each other.

After lunch, I decided to delve into discourse and polite conversation.  Up to this point, I've been monitoring who shares and who doesn't.  That is an awful lot of power to wield for one teacher.  I shared with the kids my idea about sharing our voice and ideas.  Again stressing that we are stronger together than we are by ourselves.  I set up the expectations for the kids to reflect back what the other child was saying and politely agree, add on or respectfully disagree.  I let them know that this is the way most people have conversations.  Our read aloud, Rock River by Bill Maynard piqued their interest and encouraged the conversation.  Once the first few cautious voices chimed in the floodgates opened and ideas flowed.  I'm not saying all was rosy, but the kids were empowered and they got into a variety of topics.

Since my family is needing me (it's good to be needed), I'll save the rest of the day for another entry.