LE Studio

Math Monday Blog Hop - Place Value Sliders

I can't believe I have been blogging for 3 weeks now! I realized it had been 3 weeks when I started thinking of what idea I would submit for love2learn2day's Math Monday Blog Hop - how quickly time flies!

This week, I am posting my Place Value Sliders. I like to use this to supplement our current textbook. Unfortunately, our curriculum does not have enough place value practice and I was desperate for a way to have the kids play with numbers that was kinesthetic.

To make the sliders, I give every student a set of number "slides" and one "holder" (the green slip of paper in the picture). I use 5 slides because our state GLEs require students to know numbers up to 99,999. I'm sure you can use as many place values as you would like. After the kids cut out their slides and holder, I laminate them so they will last all year. I then use an Xacto knife to (very!) carefully cut the slits in the holders to hold the sliders (you can also tape the ends of the number sliders together to make an odometer look). I give the sliders and holders back to the kids to keep in their math tool kit.

As for using the sliders in the classroom, I often ask students to make a 4-digit number, a 2-digit number, etc. I also ask for them to make numbers using only odd/even numbers or ask for them to make a number with an odd/even number on the ends. I might ask for their number to include 2 odd/even numbers, etc.

Number Sliders

How would you use Place Value Sliders? I would love to hear more ideas on how to use them in the classroom!

Thanks for stopping by!