HANDS-ON LEARNING WITH A DIGITAL TWIST SERIES: PLACE VALUE

Hi, friends! How’s your school week going? I know a lot of you are just getting back into the swing of things this week after a holiday break. Hopefully, your students are jumping right back into learning and needing some place value practice. 

This week we are going to continue our discussion about how hands-on learning can complement digital learning in classrooms or through virtual classes. Some teachers have told me that they thought they were returning to their classrooms only to be told last minute that virtual learning is back. Reactions to this were varied. Raise your hand if this brought you joy…

PLACE VALUE

Anyway, back to why you’re here. Last week’s post gave ideas on how to incorporate hands-on activities easily with digital resources. I had good feedback, especially about the pizza part. (Click here to read about that pizza party). So, it got me thinking. What about a series highlighting the different common core math standards for 1^st and 2^nd grades? We all know that digital resources are here to stay in some form or fashion. And, we all know that hands-on learning is essential for our students in acquiring skills and concepts. With all of that in mind, here is part 2 in our series. This week we are highlighting place value. Oh, don’t worry, I have another way to incorporate a yummy treat into your lessons again. Keep reading.

HANDS-ON LEARNING

Let’s get started. We don’t want our students to think that math is all about technology-based learning and worksheets. Preschool provides them with hands-on learning for introductory math skills without them even realizing they’re learning math. Then, they enter elementary school. Worksheets can be the norm for many teachers. Virtual learning forced a lot of teachers to get more creative with teaching math concepts. 

Place-value mats are the usual go-to for place value activities. This is great for transitioning students from only counting by ones to counting by tens and hundreds. Base-ten blocks help children visualize what each block represents. Also, check out ten frames for another go-to activity. Some teachers find that they are easier for some students to use to comprehend the sense of ten. Ten frames use counters to help children visualize the context of ten. 

This digital math resource uses fun characters to guide students through engaging activities learning place value. The digital place value charts can complement hands-on learning for 2^nd graders. Rotate using digital and hands-on during the school week to keep your students from growing bored with the same style of learning each day. 

Learning Place Value through Games

Here’s a “Battleship” type game that I have found that students enjoy playing. Pairs of students each have a ten frame, or two, and place their counters to represent a number. Use some form of barrier between the students to hide their card(s). Then, each student takes a turn asking questions to guess the other’s number. Simple, huh?

Small Group Place Value Learning

Another fun activity to do with our students is to have a jar of collected items. Remember my Target obsession last week? (If not, read all about which section I can’t walk by here) Gather the students on a rug, and dump the contents in front of them. Tell them that you need to find out how many items are there. This is a great activity to do to bring a little calm into your classroom. You know what moments I’m talking about. It gets the students focused and thinking. This can even work for small groups. Tell the students that there must be an easier way to count the items other than by ones. Work towards counting by tens. If they suggest a smaller number, let them try it first.

Next item, sticky notes, they are useful for so many things. I bet you didn’t know they can also help with this area of learning. Put ten sticky squares vertically together on poster board. This is their ten-base block. Have additional sticky squares to represent ones. Students use these blocks to measure each other. Have the anchor chart available to help them describe the measurement in different ways. This can also be fun for families to do with their child at home. Adults will provide a higher number for the students to represent. 

LEARNING AT HOME

Let’s talk some more this week about activities that families can do together. Hands-on activities might be a little tougher for families to figure out when teaching place value. Remember from last week, we don’t want them thinking that worksheets and digital resources are the only thing we are using to teach their kiddos. Let’s get creative and visit Target again. Just kidding. Unless of course, you want to use this as a reason to go “browse” Target. 

For home activities, we want to create one that is based using real-world objects. (A fancy term for “things around the house”) An easy task for parents to do with their kids is to gather a large amount of one type of item and guide their child to group items in quantities of 10. Then, these groups can be counted to determine the number of items. It’s a simple activity that brings learning into the home.  

1^st Grade

Young children can read multiple digit numbers long before they understand what the placement of the numerals mean. Understanding number ordering is an important step for young children to grasp the place value concept. Dominoes are great for developing number sequences. Place dominoes in a row while creating two separate patterns to the dots. Encourage the children to find the number pattern and place the next two dominoes in the proper order. 

Number charts are great way to assist your students with remembering their numbers. A printed version can help with hands-on and digital learning. Digital math resources can also provide helpful digital number charts. For example, this digital math resource for understanding tens and ones is easily found when students need a reminder. There is no misplacing this helpful chart!

2^nd Grade

For digital math resources for these students, digital place value charts help to solidify the foundation that you are trying to build through number sense. Use anchor charts to reinforce how a number can be represented in more than one way. Write out the number in words and numerals. Also write it in base ten and expanded form. 

For digital math resources, seek out ones with moveable ten-base blocks. This helps students mimic the learning they practice with the real thing. This extension of learning reinforces the concepts. Click here for a 2nd grade digital resource that does just that! 

One More Fun Activity

I haven’t forgotten about using another yummy treat to help students learn. This has always worked really well on a Wednesday to help get through the week. Adults love charcuterie boards filled with cheese, meats, nuts, and olives. Let’s use this idea to help students learn. Individual plates can be filled with “place value” treats. Cheerios can be used for ones, pretzels sticks for tens, and cheese cubes for hundreds. Tell the students a number and have them start to count it out using the cheerios. Use a place value mat or create your own making simple columns. When they get to ten, guide them to place a “ten piece” in the proper column. Then, continue until the number is represented. 

Finally, all of the above hands-on activities can be used with any of your digital math resources. My most popular ones for teaching place value are my numbers and operations bundles. They cover the base ten areas needed for place value comprehension. For example, this link will take you to the 2^nd grade bundle. And, here’s the great 1st grade bundle. In short, it’s a great value to get you started with digital math learning in the area of place value. 

I hope these tips help you plan fun activities for your students. I’ll continue this series using another math standard later down the road. Let me know in the comments which activity you tried and tag me on social media.  

Don’t forget to download your free resource and be the first to be notified of new resources and insider sales!

Talk to you next week!

Jess @ Savvy Apple