BIG NUMBERS!!! Everybody loves 'em.

Hi All,

Kids find big numbers fascinating and fun.

I've had more than a few students come up to me over the years and ask, "What's the biggest number?" My best response is to read them this book:

Can You Count to a Googol? by Robert E. Wells (Albert Whitman, 2000)

This is a great read aloud. Robert Wells progresses from 1 to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 and on all the way to a Googol. His drawings tell the story in a clear, easy to follow, entertaining manner. As you read aloud have students get involved as follows:

1. Give each student a copy of this paper and a pencil.

2. As they listen to the story and see the pictures, have them record each new number as it appears in the book. You can do the same on a large chart or screen. Debrief the illustrations, noticing how Wells uses grouping of different objects (like monkeys, bananas, eagles, boats, etc.) to keep them organized and easy to count.

3. Help students notice how when we write large numbers, we group the digits in periods of three and then separate them by commas, so it is easier to read. Try writing and reading large numbers without the commas! It is very hard. Grouping really helps.

4. Are zeros important? Yes! Try leaving them out and see what happens.

5. The very last page of the book tell about the Googol and how it came to be named. It's a very interesting story.

Here's a couple of fun pages to send home for students to try out and think about. They can even make their own Googol.

There's no expectation that elementary kids know what a quadrillion is, right? It's just very interesting to explore bigger numbers without the burden of memorization. It allows us to actually think about what we are seeing and how the number system is organized. It helps us see the patterns and how it all really makes sense. Can't ask for more than that! :)

Here's are links to all the papers here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YT65b6S9xSxKAUILDtDlJmnmJIWe3DRJ/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10gObn0vbNdfheclFNsDZwJQKYAd-z8om/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rYWkCWMoO3pks17IUyaaojX13yvlTqpO/view?usp=sharing

Best,

Bob

Comments

Piaget Would be Proud! Assessment, Mental Math, Manipulatives, Thinking, Missing Addends, and Kumquats!

Hi All, This is a super simple, but very revealing activity and so works as a good assessment. Fantastic for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grade 1. Try it out and see what you learn about your students. Display a small number of objects in your open hands. Here we have 4 kumquats. (Because I have a kumquat tree in my yard. Any small manipulative will do.) Put your hands behind your back. Close one hand and bring both hands back out in front of you to display 2 kumquats visible in one hand and a closed hand with the rest of them. Remind students that you started with 4 and there are still 4 all together. Ask students, what is in the closed hand. Ask how they know this. Then reveal and discuss. Try another one. Show the 4 objects again, 2 in each hand. Put your hands behind your back and redistribute with 1 object in one hand and 3 objects in the other. Bring your hands to the front and ask how many are in your closed hand. Ask how they know this. Then reveal and discuss. Yo...

What Does Not Belong?

Hi All, "What Does Not Belong" is such a great little concept and can be applied to so many different areas of math as well as other content areas. Great little game when you are waiting, like for buses to be called or for the day to begin. Also a great game for long car or bus rides where if there are no written numbers or pictures you really have to do the mental math. Present a group of numbers. Start with maybe six. Say, 10 56 17 122 4 98 Ask the players to identify which number does not belong and have them explain why. We want players to look at the characteristics of the numbers and compare them to try to find the selection criteria or "rule" so they can determine which does not belong. For example, we have a mix of 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers, so it's not the "rule" is not the number of digits. We have five even numbers and only one odd number. That's it! 17 does not belong,...

Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum? No! FIDDLE, FADDLE, FLOP!

Hi All, Ready for another great game? Ready for Fiddle, Faddle, Flop? It's a great game for place value, mental math, and number work. You can play anywhere at any time. All you need is a pencil and paper or board and markers. Tell students that you are thinking of a number. Explain that it has two digits. Invite them to guess the number. You will respond to their guesses by saying one of four words: Fiddle, Faddle, Flop, or Correct. Here is the translation for those words: Fiddle: one of the digits is correct, but is in the wrong place Faddle: one of the digits is correct and in the correct place Flop: none of the digits is correct Correct: both digits are correct For example, if you are thinking of the number 17 and my guess is 68, you would say Flop since none of the digits is correct. On your next guess, if you were to say 76, I would say, Fiddle, because one of the digits is correct, but in the wrong...

MathStuff

Search This Blog