This month, we have been working on place value. The concept is that digits form numbers, and that each digit has a value based on it's place in the number. For example, 36 is 3 groups of 10 plus 6 ones. Our number system is a Base 10, meaning that values increase by groups of 10. I use manipulatives all the time to help students gain and demonstrate their understanding of this skill.
Today however, the manipulatives changed. Each partnership was given a bag of blocks of a different base system. They had to determine the value of the blocks by comparing sizes and determining the pattern to which each block increased. Without realizing it, the students were patterning, building, skip counting, and using repeated addition (and someone figured out that was the same as mulitplication) to define the value of their blocks. They were plain wooden blocks with no markings on them. Many went on a and made a counting strip in that base, and could see that in a base 5, you never used the 6, 7, 8, or 9 digits! This lesson reached out to all levels, and I was very shocked how everyone got it! Be sure to click on the video as AK explains what every child was doing today.
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| To see how many rods KA needed, he stacked them on top of the large flat piece. |
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| Everyone had their own system to calculating totals. Repeated addition and counting on were a big part of today, and many had to use calculators for the higher numbers. |
