100 Chart Center Resources to teach Counting, Base 10, and Place Value + a FREEBIE

100 Charts are a BIG part of understanding our Base 10 math system. Making the 100 Chart playful helps kids practice with these important tools while having fun!

This resource has 13 choices of Number Cards 1-100 that when put in the 100 Pocket Chart make a seasonal mystery picture.

September Apple Center

★ Differentiate by putting some or many of the numbers in the chart in advance.

March St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Center

★ Use as a whole or small group activity by giving students cards to put in the pocket chart.

May Bumblebee Center

★ Use in a center or small group with the blank 100 charts that students can color to match the pocket chart. Cards can also be put on a ring.

January Snowman Center

October Jack-o'-lantern or Pumpkin Center

November Turkey Center

December Christmas Tree Center

Click any picture above to see all 13 puzzles! 

Here is a video of the digital version of this resource:

 

Here's my dorky self using the digital version on my Clevertouch. My students can use on ipads when I assign it on Google Classroom. 

This resource has 11 choices of Seasonal Number Cards 1-120. 

★ Differentiate by putting some or many of the numbers in the chart in advance.

                 

★ During whole group lessons, I will hide something behind one of the numbers and give clues for the students to guess what number it is behind. 

Here's a video of this resource in action: 

Coloring 100 Charts is also a fun and meaningful activity to learn about base ten, counting, and how a 100 Chart works. Each of the Pocket Chart Mystery Pictures have blank charts to color. The resources below are a set of cards that kids use to color to make a 100 Chart Picture. 

I use the American Flag center for Election Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day, or Memorial Day depending on when my students need practice with 100 charts. 

The bunny chart is fun at Easter time or in the Spring. It can be colored brown or left white. 

I usually use the tree picture center during Earth Day or Arbor Day but it is great for any time kids need practice with hundred charts. To differentiate, put the cards in order by number or color or mix them up to make it more difficult. 

Click on the resource below to see it in my store!

  

I hope you find these ideas useful for teaching place value, counting, and base 10 to your students! 

Get your FREEBIE by clicking here: 

Headfirst 120 Chart. 

CRA - THE new BIG thing in Math Instruction

 

After 13 years, I moved school districts last year. I needed a change. I took a job as a K-2 Math Interventionist. Not my dream job but a means to an end, and I thought, maybe I'll love it! 

While creating a math intervention program from scratch, I knew I had to learn as much as I could about the best ways to teach math to help my struggling math students as much as I could. So I read and I read books, I listened to podcasts, I watched videos, and I attended virtual conferences. And I learned a lot that I was sad I had not already known since I'd been teaching for 18 years already. 

Probably the most powerful learning I did came from an amazing math educator named Christina Tondevold. She calls herself The Recovering Traditionalist which is a perfect title for a math teacher who is learning how to help kids LEARN math instead of MEMORIZING math. She has a website with virtual pd, a podcast, YouTube videos, and puts on a virtual math conference with presentations from so many math gurus who totally transformed my views on how to teach math. 

So what is CRA?! 

Christina says that every math lesson needs to have all the components of CRA. We are trying to eventually get students to the Abstract, but they need the Concrete and Representational foundations in order to be able to get to the abstract.

Sooooo I put it into practice! By the beginning of 2nd quarter I started seeing RESULTS! Allie has been doing math running records on my students to see what skills they have and don't have, and she paid me a HUGE complement yesterday. Her exact words were, "Whatever you're doing in here, it's working!" I was in the middle of a lesson, but I actually jumped up and hugged her! 

So what am I using to make this magic happen? Welllll, our math curriculum isn't doing it. Really no math curriculum is going to do it. Not one that exists already. So I got to work this summer and using all those books and things I learned, and I made some resources.  

Number Sense is a HUGE part of early math instruction. And we have been ignoring it and it shows. Kids who are successful in math have strong number sense. Here are some ways you can improve it. 

Kids love these hands on experiences. I try to do this activity about once a month. He's my haul from the dollar store that I use. 

We use the trays to spread out the materials. We use the cups and containers to hold groups of 10 objects. 

Oral counting routines help with number sense too.

I use a 100 chart to help kids with the abstract numerals. 

Guess the number is probably one my students' favorite activities. I display a sequence of numbers and put the arrows on the ends. I secretly pick a number and kids guess numbers. I move the arrows according to their guesses to narrow down the numbers. So many skills to practice in this one activity!

Same But Different is a website I love to use. I created some of my own slides to use as well. Click below to see Same But Different Math from Looney Math. 

Number of the Day is not a new concept but it has GREAT number sense building power. So far I have created one for 1-10 and 11-20. I am working on one for numbers 21-99. 

Another way I am working on using the CRA technique is through story problems. Addressing the Mathematical Practice Standards, we do problem solving every day to use our math skills in real-world situations. 

Students are so excited to be part of the problems. They look forward to seeing who is in it each day!

We sit in a circle and I use manipulatives to work on the problems. 

Kids tell their number sentences to solve and use the manipulatives themselves to show others their thinking. Included are strips they can glue in a notebook to record their answers. 

Here are some of the manipulatives and tools I have use successfully this year to aide in the CRA approach. 

magnetic board                        magnets

      with Cricut 10 Frames

Number Talks or Math Talks have also been a big part of my math instruction this year. I created slides to elicit mathematical conversations about different math concepts. Students will use manipulatives to work out their thoughts. I was amazed this week when I tried out the number strings and my students were able to make 10 when adding 3 numbers even though I haven't directly taught about it yet! I usually don't tackle adding 3 numbers until 2nd semester but these kids are READY!

I hope at least some of these things help you as you continue on your teaching journey. Our students are worth it!