As I have been adding lessons to my
Math Workshop Curriculum, I wanted to share some of my favorite Place Value Activities for first grade!
In first grade, I like to teach everything HANDS ON. I want my students to build the numbers, feel the numbers, see the numbers. I find that a tricky concept like place value is just so abstract. I like for my students to be able to really get a feel for it through some basic place value games.
Here are a few of my favorite:
Scoop and Group:
This simple idea has students practicing putting items into groups of tens and ones. Students simply scoop a bunch of items and then group them into tens. When they can no longer make a group of 10, the rest go into the leftovers square. Students will then count up how many items they have altogether.
We play this game A LOT in my class because I can always switch out the manipulatives (beans, counting bears, marbles, etc) and I find fun, new scoops and cups to use to help us play!
Race to 50:
This game has been around forever, but it's really such a perfect, HANDS ON, way for students to continue adding numbers and get an understanding for when a bunch of single units can become a ten. Students simply take turns rolling a die and collecting that many cubes. Once they get to 10 they build a stack of ten before they continue adding. You can play this with base 10 cubes as well and as students get to 10, they trade their 10 units for a 10 rod. I like to play with the above mat so I can quickly walk around and ask students how many they each have and check it.
We also play race to 100 and 120!
What's My Value Memory:
While my students could identify the tens and ones place, they sometimes had a difficult time identifying the VALUE of the number in each place. They would often see the 4 in 47 as just a 4 and not 40. After a lesson on this exact skill, we play a little memory with these cards. Students have to identify and match the value of the underline digit on each card. After we work on 2 digit numbers, we also start 3 digit numbers! If students are still struggling, have them build each number while they play this game!
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Labels: math, math workshop, place value
