Exploring Numbers to 120—Concrete, Representational, and Abstract

Written by Donna Boucher

Donna has been a teacher, math instructional coach, interventionist, and curriculum coordinator. A frequent speaker at state and national conferences, she shares her love for math with a worldwide audience through her website, Math Coach’s Corner. Donna is also the co-author of Guided Math Workshop.

My first-grade teachers are working on numbers from 100 to 120, and they wanted a workstation that would encourage students to think flexibly about numbers—helping them to realize that numbers can be decomposed in ways other than along traditional place value lines.

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This activity takes students through the concrete (manipulatives), representational (pictorial), and abstract (numerals and symbols) stages of learning. Students record their work in their math journals. All you need for this workstation is the instruction card, base-10 blocks, and some number cards.

If you’d like some cute, themed number cards for your classroom, check out my Numbers to 120 sets.  This Friendly Frogs set is just one of many themes! Looking for more workstation activities? Check out my Workstation Activity Cards–Print and Digital, Numbers to 120.

Grab your free workstation activity here.  Enjoy!

 

 

13 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    I wish I could spend a week learning new strategies and getting ideas from you!

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Sweet comment! Thanks so much. 🙂

      Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      My pleasure, Beth!

      Reply
  2. jbales

    Donna- What anonymous said is probably what a lot of us are feeling. I am a first grade teacher who loves the way we teach math now, (less worksheets-more concrete practice), but my team mate and I are struggling to find curriculum. Our year, so far, has been made up of looking at the standards and then finding ideas online or creating lessons our selves. I feel like my students are learning, but my math program is scattered. Have you seen any programs/publishers you would feel comfortable endorsing? So far we have used a combination of Bridges and Engage New York.. I so appreciate any advise you can give me.
    Julie [email protected]

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      I have to be honest, Julie, and tell you that I don’t have a great deal of knowledge of all the different programs that are out there. Like you, we’ve been piecing ours together for years. That’s why my bookcase is so full of books on best practices! I do know that both Bridges and Engage NY are great resources.

      Reply
  3. TheElementary MathManiac

    Love the way this takes the kids through the levels of knowing!

    Great application for math! Enjoy your maternity leave!

    Tara
    The Math Maniac

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Maternity leave???? Not me! My one and only is a sophomore in college. Ha ha.

      Reply
  4. Anonymous

    Thank you for this, it is perfect for journals!

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      You’re very welcome!

      Reply
  5. Sue Anderson

    Great idea for work stations. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      My pleasure, Sue!

      Reply
  6. Abstract88

    Our staff regularly attends meetings to provide essential onsite services, which in turn, provides valuable context for our services that cannot be substituted. At One World abstract submitters are not reduced to conceptual entities or faceless users, as we have worked with thousands of submitters on a face to face basis once they become presenters at the conference.
    http://www.owpm.com

    Reply

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