Chapter 4: Beginning Number Concepts Work Stations

At the conclusion of the chapter, Debbie Diller offered a section for reflections and dialogue to share interpretations with faculty, staff, and colleagues. I used these questions to guide my discussion. The game provided has graphics from Just So Scrappy.

What investigations and partner games can you use or adapt from your core program or trainings your district provided to develop beginning number concepts stations? (See Batter Up Game)
Place value is a beginning concept for second grade. Understanding place value helps reinforce addition and subtraction strategies. My instruction includes: Words and Numbers The words for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. The words for 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 are: eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty. After twenty, there is a pattern to the words. The tens place uses the words twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90. If the ones place has more than zero, the word is formed by using the ten's place word, a hyphen, and then the ones place word. Examples are: 38 is thirty-eight 84 is eighty-four 25 is twenty-five Place Values Numbers, such as 84, have two digits. Each digit is a different place value. The left digit is the tens' place. It tells you that there are 8 tens. The last or right digit is the ones' place which is 4 in this example. Therefore, there are 8 sets of 10, plus 4 ones in the number 84.

8 4 | |__Ones Place |_________ Tens Place

What kinds of counting opportunities do your children need next? How can you make these experiences with number meaningful and authentic? (see place value flash
cards)

To reinforce place value and the understanding of each value represented, I would use base ten blocks for representation and have kids compare using inequalities. Using flashcards provides a meaningful concrete experience. My next step would be to guide students into various addition strategies using place value.

Addition and Subtraction Talk Decompose 24 20 Base Ten 4 Decade 10 to 20 on a 100 Chart.

This strategy, supporting mental math, is where I would like my kids working by the end of the school year.
35 + 47 = (30 + 40) + (5 + 7) | adding tens first = 70 + 12 = 82. - or 123 + 457 = (100 + 400) + 23 + 57 | adding hundreds first = 500 + (20 + 50) + 3 + 7 | then tens, and ones = 500 + 70 + 10 = 580

Observe your students at a beginning number concepts station. Take notes about what you see children doing. How does this help you plan for small group instruction? Whole group instruction? Additional work stations? (see Skills and Concepts
Checklist)

My district has provided a resource developed by the University of Central Florida. The mathematics concepts and skills checklist provides a one stop shop for observing and remediating instruction. I find this checklist to be useful when identifying who is working towards, meeting, or exceeding the standard. A legend and rubric is provided with codes which allow minimum writing while observing. Also provided are the big idea, standards, complexity level, and specific task to be observed. I keep this sheet on a clipboard and grab it quickly when the explore time of my math workshop begins. I like that it provides multiple opportunities for students to meet or exceed the standard AND also provides a space for anecdotal notes.