0-120 Place Value Decks from The Math Maniac

Hi, Teaching Friends!


I'm so excited today to have the opportunity to share with you a wonderful resource and some activities from Tara, The Math Maniac!

In so many ways, the cards in this resource remind me of a big box of Legos.

 

* They're all the same, yet all different
* You pull out something different every time you reach in.
* You can use them in a different way every time you use them.
* The deeper you dig, the more ways you discover to use them.


The Math Maniac has worked for nine years as an elementary math specialist. Tara's approach is constructivist, with an emphasis on helping her students make connections between things they have learned. This resource is a wonderful tool to do just that!

She calls this set "the hardest working thing I have ever made", and I would agree that this is definitely an extremely versatile set. Like many of her resources, at first glance it's just a very simple

no-frills set.  After you print and cut the decks, there is little to no teacher prep required for the activities. 

Here's the Hidden Value to this resource: Tara has added in photos and some of the most thorough suggestions for implementation I've ever seen!

"Place Value Decks: Numbers to 120" consists of three card sets, all from one through 120: place value representations with corresponding numeral, place value representations without numerals, and numerals.


The product description and suggestions list it as suitable for K-3, and I put that to the test working with two of my grandchildren, ages 5 and 7.


Mr.E, age five, hasn't started kindergarten yet, but has a good grasp of early math concepts. He counts to 100, matches one-to-one in counting, counts by tens, and does simple addition and subtraction word problems in his head. Here's how we used the cards together.


We started with some sequencing of the numeral cards, emphasizing the teen numbers, and then doing a bit of review with pulling through the decades. After he arranged the cards in order, we practiced some counting up and counting back, with E pointing to the cards as he counted.


Then out came the Legos! We started building models for some of the numbers and then compared pairs of the Lego sticks, using math comparative words like longer/shorter, more/less, and greater number/lesser number.


We made models for 12 and 21, because the names of teen pairs (12/21, 13/31, etc.) are still not secure skills for him. Using the model and then bringing in the numeral cards to reinforce was helpful.


With the teen numbers, we talked about how easy it is to miscount when you use very long sticks of Legos, which made a simple segue into making sticks of ten blocks and then counting on by ones. We practiced this with several numbers in the teens and twenties. Since he's already able to count by tens, transitioning to counting on by ones was simple for him. Hopefully that will also be the case when we apply this to counting dimes and pennies some day soon! :)

Then we brought out the place value representation cards. Although E and I didn't go beyond 30, it was great to have all of the cards through 120 available, to make it easy to follow his lead and respond with both support and challenges as needed.

When E was very comfortable with going back and forth between the numerals, Lego models for numbers, and Base Ten cards, it was time for a game!


I put out a selection of some of the Base Ten cards between one and thirty. E named the number for each card and then lined them up in rows from least to greatest.  Then I brought out this extremely cool thirty-faced die! {What's the correct mathematical term for that, Elementary Math Maniac? ;) Whatever it is, every classroom needs a selection of great dice like this one!}  Edit: Tara tells me that it's a triacontahedron. It's more commonly known as a 30-hedron, but personally I think the long name is much cooler. Wouldn't some of your little ones enjoy tossing around a word like that? It's almost as good as Tyrannosaurus Rex!


We took turns rolling the die and checking the cards to see if the number we rolled was there. If it was, the player took the card. If not, the other player rolled. The first to get five cards won. So simple, but such good practice, and fun!

I love these cards - they make these spontaneous truly no-prep games a breeze!


This resource would be a wonderful choice for homeschoolers and math specialists because of the range of numbers, the many ways to use them, and the ease of differentiation for levels.

There are two more things that I consider to be major pluses for this card set:

1. There's a complete listing of the standards addressed - the whole standard, not just the number.
2. There are links to related blog posts for you to see the cards in use.

Click here to see 0-120 Place Value Decks at Tara's store. For second and third grade, try the Numbers to 1000 set!


Check out The Math Maniac's blog and Facebook page. Tara just completed a great book study, Chris Biffle's Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids, and is always offering up some new and interesting insights on teaching math K-5.


Thanks so much for sharing this set with me, Tara!
Look for Part 2 of this post next week to see how I used the same set with E's big sister, age 7.



Happy Teaching!