Materials
Procedure
Ask the children to enter a number on their calculator which is
between limits chosen by the teacher.
Now sort yourselves out so the
person with the largest number is standing here and the person with
the smallest number is at the other end of the line.
As you do this task you will have to show
each other your calculator screen and talk to each other.
- What will the children do if there is more than one person
with the same number? After all, each number is only represented
once on a number line.
- 'Number off' when the children have settled into an order.
Repeat the activity on other occasions with different number
ranges.
Extensions
- Once an order has been established and checked, ask each person
to add 10 to their number.
Now put yourselves in order
again.
Repeat this on many occasions, asking children to operate on their
screen number in a different way each time.
- Assign each number on a dice to stand for a different number
range. eg:
- 1 = 26 - 35
- 2 = 36 - 45
- 3 = 46 - 55
- 4 = 56 - 65
- 5 = 66 - 75
- 6 = 76 - 85
Children then roll a dice to discover their range and chose a
number from it to type into their calculator. The class then
'Moves Around' as before.
- Try using overlapping ranges.
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Loxton North Primary School
South Australia
As part of the Maths on the Move 6-day workshop program titled Engineering 'aha' Moments K - 8, participants were challenged to choose an activity and Thread it into their curriculum for a few minutes a day, several days a week for a number of weeks. Staff from Loxton took up this challenge in the following way.
At our school we used the activity Move Around in the Yr 1/2, Yr 3/4 and Yr 5/6/7 classes, adapting it in different ways. This activity involves the children having a number and then ordering themselves from the smallest number to the largest.
Year 1/2
We played the game with calculators. Children had to order themselves with numbers between 0 - 50, 30 - 80, 0 - 100 etc. No two children were allowed the same number. A lot of mathematical language occurred, eg: less/more, bigger/smaller, higher/lower. I let them see a number chart to start with but once they became more confident, I removed the chart. Some children chose numbers that were safe, ie: they knew where they were going to stand, others closed their eyes and keyed in a 2 digit number and then ordered themselves.
Bernie Lipman
Year 3/4
In Year 3/4 we looked at numbers between 1000 and 1,000,000. The children quickly took the challenge of trying to get the smallest and largest number. Some of the conversations were:
- I have the smallest number, 1001.
- No, I have 1000.1, which is smaller.
- I have 999,999.9 which is the largest you can get.
- Mine is larger 999,999.9.9.9.9 (which he checked on a calculator and found didn't work).
After discussions they found 1000.001 and 999,999.999 could be extended to make smaller or larger numbers. Children also enjoyed saying large numbers along with ordering them. I did nothing and the children taught each other.
Paul Haenen
Year 5/6/7
In the 5/6/7 class we had been studying measurement so I adapted Move Around to support converting measurements. I gave them each a card which had a measurement either in mm, cm or m and the children put themselves in order of size. Some of the conversations were:
Conversation A
Is this 4.6m? (4.006 on the card)
No.
Don't you just take the zeroes out?
No you can't. Only if the zeroes are at the end.
Conversation B
Your 0.53m. That's bigger than 52cm.
If we all put them in centimetres it would be easier.
On other days they wrote their own measurements within a given range. A great way to practise conversions.
Janice Sawade
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