Register Tape Number Lines

Over the past couple of days, we've been working on building number lines to further develop our understanding of number sense and place value. 

We began by making a number line all together.  Mrs. Deyoe placed 0 on one end of the register tape, and 100 on the other.  She then folded it and asked what number would be half way between 0 and 100.  We quickly decided it was 50.  We then added the groups of ten.  After some thought, we decided to use the width of our hand as a good guideline to help us evenly space the tens.  After we had finished numbering our register tape, Mrs. Deyoe brought out some pretty cool dice.  They were large, foam, place value dice.  Mrs. Deyoe began by rolling the tens dice and the ones dice to create a number.  She then asked a student to help her decide where it should go on the number line.  When we had decided where, we added that number to the register tape as well.  After a few turns, the students took turns coming up and rolling the dice to create a number.  They would then find where it would go on the number line and then it would be added.  

After our whole group practice, we were ready to try this activity with a partner.  Each pair got their own piece of register tape with the instructions to add the 0, 100, and then the 50.  These we could do in marker.  We had to add the groups of ten in pencil first (in case we needed to erase them), and once they were checked we could go over them with marker, and we would get our own set of place value dice to use.  Together each partner did the activity the same way we did as a class, they would roll the dice and place the number on the number line.  It was the partner's job who was not rolling to make sure the number went in the right spot.

 Today we continued our learning.  This time, Mrs. Deyoe took the Grade 3 students out into the hall to work on their own number line, while the Grade 2 students remained with Mr. McFarlane to complete register tape number lines independently.  They all did a fantastic job!

While in the hall, Mrs. Deyoe made a new number line.  This time, she took a really long piece of register tape and taped it to the wall.  She then placed a 0 at one end, and a 1000 at the other end.  The next step was to fold the number line and decide what number would be half way between 0 and 1000.  Five hundred was added to the paper.  We then discussed how we couldn't use groups of ten on this number line because it would just be too hard with way too many numbers, so instead we would use groups of 100.  Spacing these properly on the paper was a bit more challenging then then tens, but we soon got it right.  Next we quickly added 50s (150, 250, etc.) to the chart to give us additional assistance with our placing of numbers.  We were ready for the dice!  This time, we got to use the hundreds dice as well.  We rolled the dice in the hall, and students would come up and show where the numbers went.  After a few practice rounds, we once again began adding the numbers to our number line.

By the end of our lesson, we decided that we felt ready to give it a try with a partner.  The Grade 3 students will get a chance to do this while Mrs. Deyoe works on a different activity with the Grade 2s.