Build student understanding of one more and one less by writing a numeral before or after a given number.

Provide pairs with a 20-sided dice and writing materials. Player 1 rolls the dice and writes the numeral in the middle of the page. Player 2 writes the 2 numbers that come before and after their partner’s number. Players swap roles and repeat.

Read Clancy and Millie and the very fine house by Libby Gleeson and illustrated by Freya Blackwood (or use an alternative text which explores sharing).

Provide students with a small collection of blocks. Explain that their blocks represent the boxes that Clancy and Millie used to create their towers and paths with. Now it is time for Clancy and Millie to go back to their homes at the end of a fun day of playing. They would like to share the boxes equally. 

Ask students:

Can you share your blocks so Clancy and Millie each get an equal share?

How many boxes do you estimate Clancy and Millie will each get?

Millie’s sister would also like some boxes. Can you sort the collection into 3 equal groups?

Select a representative from each group to share what they have discovered.

Begin by counting how many students there are in the class. Ask students to use ‘Talk moves’ to discuss if the group could be placed into 2 equal groups and estimate how many would be in each group.

Have students arrange themselves into 2 equal groups. Compare the groups with the estimations students shared in the class discussion. Use questions such as:

Are our groups equal or not?

Is it possible to make 2 equal groups with the students in our class?

Why is it possible or not possible to make 2 equal groups? Explain your thinking.

Ask each group to arrange themselves into 2 equal groups. Use questioning to discuss the equality of the 2 groups.

Ask students:

What have you noticed about sharing a collection into equal groups?

What do you wonder about sharing groups into smaller groups?

Which quantities have you noticed can be equally grouped?