Mystery Bags! Learning to Count with Ten Frames

Hi All,

The best way to learn to count well, is by counting lots of stuff. This is a simple activity kids love and they learn a great deal by the direct, real experience. It's called "Mystery Bags." In this activity, kids learn one to one correspondence, accurate counting, the idea of tens and ones and place value, and cooperative skills.

Preparation:

1. Take gallon plastic bags and fill them with the number of small items you want counted. Mark each bag with a different color dot for identification. You could also use a letter. Also in the bag include pre-cut tens frames. Each group should be given at least ten ten frames.2. Partner students up and give each student a response sheet to record their estimates and counts on,

3. Put the 12 pre-packed bags in a box. Invite partners to come up and choose a bag to begin with.

3a. Model emptying a bag (dont' say "dumping out" or that's what you will get, with pieces scattering across the floor) and then estimating and recording the estimate. Then show how you fill a ten frame, and then another, and keep going until you have a partially filled ten frame.

3b. Show students how to record the number of tens and number of ones and then the complete number. Model checking your count.

4. Students can work at desks, tables, or on the floor. Wherever there is enough room to spread out the items on the ten frames.

5. Tell students to "Write down the letter or color of your bag on your recording sheet. Estimate first and write the estimate down.

Open the bag and lay out the items on ten frames.

Count the tens. Count the ones. Write down the total.

Close up the bag. Return it to the box. Choose a new bag to count. Do as many bags as you can in a class period."

6. As you circulate notice how accurate student counts are. Observe how they are counting. Are they filling the ten frames and then counting by tens, or are they still counting by ones or maybe twos? Model again as needed.

7. Try to use a variety of items such as counting bears, counting chips, plastic animals, paper clips, bread bag tags, unifix cubes, digi-blocks, bottle caps, anything that fits in the ten frames squares. Mixed bags are also interesting for kids to work with.

This is a favorite math lab activity for counting and place value. Once the bags are made up and the ten frames copied, you can use them again and again.

Here are the links to the reproducibles (though I know the ones you would make yourself will be better!)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nrzskN2o3LVEIiljjoQja36ThVeRXjTB/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qLTeCqO8Vhs57AcGUZ_ShhjbUde12KSx/view?usp=sharing

Enjoy!

Bob

Comments

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, because it's odd. All the rest are even.

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Hi All, Shake it up! Egg Box Shake is noisy and fun! That's a big plus right there for most kids. Students like to create and keep their own math tools, and this is a great opportunity to do that as well. And, teachers can adapt the game to fit any level or mathematical operation. Win. Win. Win. Egg Box Shake originated as a coin identification and addition game for grades 1 – 3. I had students bring in an egg carton from home and then provided them with play money or coin stamps, ink pads, and card stock. They stamped out pictures of the coins onto card stock, front and back images, and then cut out the pictures. Students glued these pictures into the bottom of the twelve sections of the egg carton. Each player would get two beads, beans, chips, marbles, or any other small manipulative. They put these into the box and closed it. They then shook the box. When they stopped they opened it and saw where the beads had landed. Players added those two coins o

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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

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