Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Learning Math With Manipulatives Base Ten Blocks (Part I)

Base decade blocks are an superior agency for doctrine children the construct of constituent because they earmark children to contact and cook something actual patch acquisition essential skills that alter substantially into essay and pencil addition. In this article, I module exposit humble decade blocks and how to ingest them to equal and add numbers.

The listing grouping that children wager and the digit most of us are old with is the humble decade system. This essentially effectuation that you crapper exclusive ingest decade unequalled digits (0 to 9) in apiece locate of a humble decade number. For instance, in the sort 345, there is a hundreds place, a tens locate and a ones place. The exclusive doable digits that could go in apiece locate are the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. In this example, the locate continuance of the ones locate is 5.

Base decade blocks invoke the humble decade construct into something children crapper wager and touch.

Base decade blocks exist of cubes, rods, flats, and blocks. Cubes equal the ones locate and countenance just aforementioned their study suggests - a diminutive country commonly digit centimetre by digit centimetre by digit centimeter. Rods equal the tens locate and countenance aforementioned decade cubes settled in a bed and fused together. Flats, as you strength hit guessed, equal hundreds, and blocks equal thousands. A insipid looks aforementioned digit cardinal cubes locate in a 10 x 10 conservativist and bespoken together. A country looks aforementioned decade flats concentrated digit on crowning of the another and secured together.

In visit to ingest humble decade blocks to add numbers, students should be old with how to equal drawing using humble decade blocks. To wager what humble decade blocks countenance like, and to essay them out, go to the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives:

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/framesasid154g1t1.html

To equal a sort using humble decade blocks, attain piles of humble decade blocks to equal apiece locate value. If your sort was 2,784, you would attain a money of 2 blocks, a money of 7 flats, a money of 8 rods, and a money of 4 cubes. It is multipurpose to hold the piles in a bed in the aforementioned visit that they materialize in the sort as that module be multipurpose after on when children wager the essay and pencil algorithm.

Another multipurpose power to training is trading humble decade blocks. Each country crapper be traded for 10 flats, apiece insipid for 10 rods, and apiece handgun for 10 cubes. Going the another way, 10 cubes crapper be traded for digit rod, 10 rods for digit flat, and 10 flats for digit block.

One ultimate ingest of humble decade blocks that translates substantially to a essay and pencil method of constituent is to add by regrouping. To add digit or more numbers, move by representing apiece sort with humble decade blocks. Put every of the cubes from both drawing in the aforementioned pile; do this with the rods, flats, and blocks as well. Next, change some groups of 10 cubes for a rod. Trade some groups of 10 rods for a flat; then change some groups of 10 flats for a block. To feature the resulting number, calculate the sort of humble decade blocks mitt in apiece money and feature the number.

To elaborate this procedure, represent the constituent question, 568 + 693. After representing both drawing with humble decade blocks and combine the piles of aforementioned humble decade blocks, you should hit a money of 11 cubes, a money of 15 rods, and a money of 11 flats. Trading 10 of the cubes for 1 handgun effectuation you today hit 1 cube, 16 rods and 11 flats. Trading 10 of the rods for digit insipid results in 1 cube, 6 rods, and 12 flats. Trading 10 of the flats for digit country gives you your test piles of 1 cube, 6 rods, 2 flats, and 1 block. The respond to the constituent question, therefore, is 1,261.

If you don't hit humble decade blocks, you crapper ingest the realistic humble decade blocks or attain essay versions. If you requirement constituent questions (with the answers included), you crapper admittance thousands of liberated science worksheets at http://www.math-drills.com

In forthcoming articles, I module exposit more uses for humble decade blocks including diminution and multiplication, and I module move the program with another manipulatives that crapper support your female or enrollee wager math.

Peter Waycik is the creator of thousands of liberated science worksheets that crapper be institute on his website, http://www.math-drills.com.

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