Growth Point 3
Place Value Growth Points activities
The tasks listed on the following pages are rich tasks from various sources that may be used with multi-level groups or students who are working at a particular level.
3. Reading, writing, interpreting and ordering three-digit numbers
Can read, write, interpret and order three-digit numbers.
What's my number?
Materials: Dice, blank number line.
Activity: Roll the dice three times and create a three-digit number. Teacher places the range on either end of the number line. For instance, if the number rolled is 326, the teacher will say this number is between 300 and 400. Ask, ‘Where does this number go?’, ‘How will you decide where to place it?’ Discuss benchmarks and the partitioning of the space on the number line.
Related key ideas: Quantity, base-10 system, comparison.
Variation: Play ‘Guess my number’. Teacher poses a question, such as ‘I am thinking of a number between 300 and 500, what could it be?’ Students ask questions in which the teacher can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Teacher uses the number line to record guesses and model the partitioning of the number line.
Number paths
Materials: Dice, number path template.
Activity: Students take turns to roll a dice to generate a three-digit number and then decide where they will place that number on the number path. Discuss the range of numbers that can possibly be produced. What do students need to be mindful of so that they do not block themselves? If the number they generate does not fit, they forfeit their turn. The winner is the player that was able to place the most numbers.
Related key ideas: Quantity, base-10 system, comparison.
Variation: At the end of the game, students place all of their numbers on a number line between 0 to 1000. The length of the path can also be modified.
Target number
Materials: Three dice, reusable number line.
Activity: Students roll a three-digit number and mark it on the number line. Each then take turns to roll the dice and make their own three-digit number and place it on the number line. The person who is closest to the target number wins that round.
Related key ideas: Quantity, digit position, place-value partitioning, comparison
Variation: Allow players to roll four dice and discard one of the digits. Modify the game to pay with two-digit or four-digit numbers. Find the difference between the smallest and largest numbers.
Highest number
Materials: Playing cards with picture cards removed.
Activity: Students play this game in a small group. Each student gets dealt out three cards and needs to make the largest possible three-digit number they can. The player that makes the largest number wins the round.
Related key ideas: Quantity, digit position.
Win a block
Materials: Place value mats, 10-sided dice, MAB.
Activity: The aim of this game is to win a ‘block’ of MAB (equal to 1000). Students take turns in rolling the dice and deciding if they will use that number to buy ones, tens or hundreds. As the game progresses they can exchange 10 ones for one 10, 10 tens for 1 hundred, and so on.
Related key ideas: Quantity, digit position, place - value partitioning, base-10 system.
Please may I have?
Materials: Calculator.
Activity: Each person types a three-digit number into their calculator which remains hidden. Students or the teacher take turns to ask each other for a digit (e.g. ‘Please may I have a 5?’). If the person has that digit in their number, then they may subtract it (e.g. ‘My number is 352, therefore I may subtract 50 or 5 tens from my number’). The first person to get to zero wins.
Related key ideas: Quantity, digit position, place-value partitioning.
Variation: Roll a dice to determine the digit that will be subtracted.
Pass it on
Materials: Pack of playing cards with only cards 1 to 9 included (Ace =1).
Activity: Shuffle cards and place face-down in the centre. One student deals four cards to each player. Students aim to make the highest three-digit number possible. Each player chooses to discard one card into another centre pile, and pass one card on to the next player in a clockwise direction. Players then use their three cards to make the highest three-digit number possible. The winner of each round collects all of the cards. Once all cards have been played, the overall winner, with the most cards, can be calculated.
Related key ideas: Digit position, quantity.
Variation: Students aim to make the lowest three-digit number possible.
Who lives where?
Materials: Worksheet for each student.
Activity: Discussion with students about the numbering of houses in streets and the fact that all of the odd numbers are on one side of the road, and the evens on the other. Label the houses from 1 to 10 using this knowledge. Questions such as ‘Who lives next door to Number 4?’ ‘Who lives opposite Number 7?’ Encourage discussion about odd and even numbers and their counting order.
Related key ideas: Quantity, stable-order principle, order irrelevance principle.
Variation: Encourage students to discuss an extension of the street. Which side of the road would Number 31 be? How do you know this? Who would be next door to Number 24? May lead to a class ‘road’ with individuals each completing a section of the road. Encourage students to check the numbering of the houses in their own street.
Celebrity head
Materials: Whiteboard.
Activity: Three students sit in front of the whiteboard, facing the class. Three other students are asked to select a three-digit number and write it onto the whiteboard behind where the students are sitting so that they are not able to see it. The three contestants then proceed to ask questions to help them identify their number. These questions can only be answered with yes or no. If the answer is no, play then moves to the next student. The winner is the first student to determine their number. Encourage use of questions which focus upon place value, such as, ‘Do I have 4 hundreds?’ ‘Do I have an even numeral in my tens column?’ Discussion can also follow about ‘good questions’ which omit possibilities very quickly, such as ‘Am I an even number?’, as opposed to very narrow questions such as ‘Am I 542?’, which only rules out one possibility.
Related key ideas: Digit position, place-value partitioning, quantity.
What's my number?
Materials: One sticker with a three-digit number for each student.
Activity: ‘Celebrity head’ (see previous activity) is a good means of modelling this activity, in order to enhance the opportunities for all students to experience success. Each student has a sticker placed on their back so that they cannot see it. They must then proceed to move amongst classmates and ask questions to determine what their number is. Again, the responses can only be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If a ‘no’ answer is given, students must find another person to question. When they have successfully determined their number, they must place their sticker on the front of their jumper and assist others by answering their questions.
Related key ideas: Digit position, place-value partitioning, quantity.
Three card numbers
Materials: Pack of playing cards with only cards 1 to 9 included (Ace = 1), one activity sheet per student.
Activity: Student selects three cards from the pile and tries to satisfy one of the five criteria on the worksheet using these three digits to make a three-digit number. They record the number in the right hand column. Even if they are unable to make a number, play then passes to the next student. The first student to complete the worksheet by writing all five numbers, wins.
Related key ideas: Digit position, place-value partitioning, quantity, number triad.
Three dice numbers
Materials: One activity sheet per student, three different-coloured dice, coin.
Activity: The three coloured dice are assigned to ones, tens and hundreds (e.g. blue dice for hundreds, red dice for tens, and white dice for ones). Student A rolls the three dice and selects one of the digits to place onto their own activity sheet in the place indicated by the dice (e.g. a red 4 for 40). Student A then allocates the other two scores (the ones and the hundreds) to Student B and Student C, who record the number on their own activity sheet. Student B then rolls the three dice, selects which of the remaining two digits to keep (because they already have a number from Student A), and again allocates the others to the two other players.
Note that digits can only be passed to students who have not yet filled that column. For instance, if Student B’s first roll filled the hundreds column, on the next roll they must be given the score rolled on either the red (tens) or white (ones) dice. Student C then has the final roll, to fill their own remaining column, and therefore also those of the other two students. When all three players have had a turn, they record their three-digit number in the ‘total’ column.
Student A then tosses the coin. If it lands as heads, the player with the highest score wins one point, and if it lands as tails, the player with the lowest score wins the point. The next round then begins with Student B rolling the dice first. The first student to score 10 points wins.
Related key ideas: Digit position, place-value partitioning, quantity.
