Happy Fall everyone! It has been well over a month since my last post. School has been b*a*n*a*n*a*s!!
I wanted to share with you a great resource shared with me by a fab colleague. She found the idea on the internet. I do not know the whe who or where she found it (maybe pintrest?) so I can not give the proper credit/link to the idea.
Have you ever heard of place value cups? They are cheap and easy to make. All you need are Styrofoam cups and Sharpie markers (I love for any excuse to use Sharpie markers).
To make your place value cups, simply write the digits 0-9 along the edge of the cup. Use a different cup and color for each place value holder in the number. We were working on 3 digit numbers, so I used 3 cups.
My chickadees used these with a Brace Map to show the different parts of a number, and with the
co-operative learning structure Rally Coach to show the different forms of a number. They loved that they got to spin the cups around to create their own number.
When I was walking around helping/monitoring I could not believe the number of times my students kept saying to one another how much fun using the place value cups were. They thought they were the best thing ever. What more could I want!!?
My hubby (who teaches 1st) plans on using the place value cups when he teaches 2 digit numbers.
Give place value cups a try. You won't be disappointed!
Have a great 1st week of October!
