Decomposing Numbers
Decompose:
To break numbers down into component parts; for example, 7 can be thought of as
5 + 2 or 3 + 4
Videos for Educators
Important Information:
There is value in students being able to see the groupings, relationships and patterns in numbers. We are laying the foundation for students to be able to eventually solve 53+12 and see that they can manipulate it.
Seeing numbers broken down into a pattern of their groupings of tens and then the addition of some ones makes these numbers easier for students to work with.
By teaching this foundation of how to decompose numbers into their groups of tens and ones, students begin to actually understand why 16 has a one and then a six.
Strategies to Support Learning
Encourage your student to take the time to use the learning tools.
Organized concrete and visual representations can help with understanding numbers and the relationships between numbers.
Things You Can Do In The Classroom
Games (Click Links Below)
This game promotes the foundation for strategy of up/down over 10. Students work on naming all of the pairs of number that make up the target number. (Lawson, Pg 169)
In this game, students take turns playing I Spy with target numbers. It is played like the traditional game but students must identify two cards that when added together make the target number. (Lawson, Pg 169)
In this game students match pairs of cards in their hand to a sum on one of the dominos. Students work on adding two numbers together to reach each target number on the dominos. (Lawson, Pg 170)
Students organize the cards in their hand and look for pairs of cards that make 10. Students continue to play the game the same way the traditional version is played but instead of asking for a card to make a pair, they are searching for a number to make 10. (Lawson, Pg 171)
In this game, students create an array with playing cards. Students take turns flipping over two cards, with the hope of turning over two cards with the sum of 10. (Lawson, Pg 172)
Players try to make ten by matching a card from their hand with one of the four cards placed in the middle of the game space. Players continue to take turns until all cards have been dealt and played. (Lawson, Pg 174)
All games and activities located above are directly linked. Some can be found in the Alex Lawson What to Look For Resource. Page locations have been included in the description of each activity.