Count On Us

For our first graders, the first seven days of school has been getting to know each other, establishing routines, and reviewing some of the foundational skills the students learned in kindergarten.  In math, we began by reviewing counting and understanding the place value concepts behind those tricky teen numbers.

The teen numbers can be very difficult to learn.  We have been doing many activities to not only learn how to read and write the numbers but also to understand the place value behind the tricky teens.  We started by building these cube towers.  Then we ordered them.

The students noticed that each tower had a ten green cubes in it.  They also found that the black cubes increased by one each time.  I introduced them to the "math way" of counting.  Instead of saying eleven, the math way maintains the place value and we would say "one ten, one."  Twelve is "one ten, two."  Saying numbers the math way, also helps students remember to put the one first when writing teen numbers.  Next, I started to move the kids to the symbolic representation of the number with these cards. Instead of just a one in front, the students see a green ten stack like the cube towers.  Now they can "see" that the number 18 is a ten and an 8.  We ordered and matched these numbers to the cube towers. Of course, a song and video always helps to solidify tricky concepts.

Instead of just a one in front, the students see a green ten stack like the cube towers.  Now they can "see" that the number 18 is a ten and an 8.  We ordered and matched these numbers to the cube towers. Of course, a song and video always helps to solidify tricky concepts.



We played several different games where the students had to identify, order, and write the teen numbers.  For example, we made number crowns.  The students wrote the numbers 1-20, then mixed them up and reordered them.  Some classmates even had races to see who could build the number line the fastest.  We also played a card game where students placed numbers on a number line when the numbers were drawn in random order.

See if your child can show you the "math way" of counting.  Ask them to identify, order, and write the numbers 1-20.  Any extra practice you do at home always helps!