Fall in Love with Teaching Blog Hop

Well, most of us have made it through one month or more of teaching. Congratulations! We have ~~survived~~ thrived through the most exhausting part - back to school. Now that you are starting to establish a routine, it is time to let loose (okay, don't let the reins loose on maintaining discipline) and fall in love with WHY we chose teaching as a profession in the first place - helping students.

Do you have students who struggle in math? Recently I had a student who struggled with adding ten to any number (9 + 10 more). Since we were adding multiple numbers and numbers in the hundreds, I knew I needed to intervene and soon! Number sense is crucial to students becoming fluent mathematicians. Students need a good grasp on strategies when counting, estimating, measuring, adding/subtracting, and multiplying/dividing. Without number sense fluency, students struggle with all math concepts. Out of this struggle, came two number sense activities.

The following two number sense activities are available in my TpT store. Click here to see these Number Sense Activities from my TpT store or create your own following the instructions below.

1. Race to 100

Materials needed: two different color dry erase markers, laminated 100's chart and cards that say "10 more", "10 less", "1 more," "1 less."

Students will shuffle the cards and lay them face down. Partners will take turns drawing and moving their way up or down the chart. (If you are at 1 and draw a "ten/one less" card then you lose a turn. Players use their color of dry erase marker to mark their new spot on the board. The player who reaches 100 first is the winner.

Number Sense: This activity was a huge help to my struggling mathematician, since they finally started to recognize the patterns (10 more means that the tens place changes but the ones place stays the same) after repeated play.

2. Pentomino Puzzles to 120

Materials needed: 2 Pentomino sets per puzzle you want to make.

The two Pentomino sets need to be constructed in two 6x10 arrays (click here for a link to an image). Number the Pentominoes from 1 - 120. Deconstruct and put them in a Ziploc bag. Students will construct the puzzle using the numbers as clues for the placement. This will be harder than you realize for your students who struggle with number sense (patterns, mental math, making math judgement).

Challenge your students who master this concept by making more challenging puzzles. Try writing only the even and odd numbers or just random numbers.

Number Sense: These Pentomino Puzzles help students become familiar with place value, ten more/less, one more/less and number patterns up to 120. For those that struggle, these puzzles can help their number fluency with repeated practice. Encourage your students to not just complete one, but to also try to beat their time! I am especially glad I spent time on this when my students get to elapsed time. It is a huge help when they have to add 20 minutes to 4:23.