B1.1 Read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 1000, using a variety of tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life.
Activity 1: Representation of 500 and 1000
Directions
Read the book by Ginger Summers and Pansy Cowder, How much is fifty?
Discuss the different representations of this number.
Ask each student to represent the number 500 on a sheet of paper.
Then assemble the sheets into a book entitled: "500 is… "
Proceed in the same way with the number 1000.
Note: The important thing is not to find 500 or 1000 small drawings on each page, but rather to illustrate different representations (for example, 500 is 50 pizzas cut into 10 pieces; 1000 is 40 classes of 25 students).
Intervention
During consolidation, ask the students to explain the meaning of their representation to the other students.
Following the presentations, ask if they have any other ideas for representing the number.
Point out that their work all represents the same number.
Source: Guide d'enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la 1re à la 3e année, p. 82.
Activity 2: A Thousand is a Lot! (Reading, Writing, Representing)
Directions
Cut equal strips of cardboard.
Give each team of 2 a sequence of 10 numbers (for example, 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 91 to 100).
Tell them to make chains of 10 cardboard links, to write the number in letters and numbers on each link and to decorate the links differently, representing 10, 20, 30…
Proceed in the same way to represent numbers from 100 to 1000.
Hang the chain of numbers from 1 to 1000 in the classroom or hallway.
Note: Decorating the tens and hundreds differently makes it easier to count by 10s or 100s. A class of 25 students makes a 250-link chain in 1 session; 4 sessions will make a 1000-link chain.
Intervention
Check for stable order (consecutive numbers) and spelling of whole numbers. When the chain from 1 to 1000 is complete, ask questions such as:
- How do you know that this decorated link represents a ten? a hundred?
- Do the 2 representations (the number written in numbers and letters) on the link represent the same quantity?
- Where in our daily lives do we use numbers written in digits up to the tens? hundreds?
- Where are numbers written in letters used?
- Is there any other way to represent the number...?
Source: Guide d'enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la 1re à la 3e année, p. 81-82.