There are many ways to use a hundred chart to help students develop a better understanding of math concepts, along with making connections within and between concepts. When students see patterns or are able to connect math concepts in different and challenging settings, they truly understand and not just memorized math facts.
In addition to developing a better understanding of math concepts, students develop long term strategies for problem solving.
Five Ways to Use a Hundred Chart
I have come up with 5 ways to use a hundreds chart:
- Use the hundred chart as a number line to do addition and subtraction. Let the students challenge each other or the class to solve number line problems. One example is to add or subtract the fives first by counting up or down and then counting left or right.
- Look for counting-by multiplication patterns. Colored disks or other small manipulatives work well for marking numbers. Mark the numbers you hit when you count by 4. What pattern do they make? Make the counting-by 6 pattern, or mark the 7s, etc. You may want to print several charts so you can color in the patterns and compare them. Some questions to ask include:
- “Why does the counting-by 5 pattern go down the way it does?”
- “Why do the 9’s move diagonally across the chart?”
- The hundred chart can be used to convert between fractions, decimals, and percents. “Percent” means “out of 100.” So 30% means “30 out of 100″—which is how much of the whole chart? Some questions to ask include:
- “If we say that the chart is one whole unit, then how much is each row and in decimal notation?”
- “What size is each box?”
- “Can you color 0.47 of the chart?”
- “What decimal would mean the same as 1/5 of the chart?”
- Factors & Multiples: The first player marks any number on the hundred board. His/her opponent marks a factor or multiple of that number. Players alternate, each time marking a factor or multiple of the last number played. The player who marks the last number, leaving his opponent with no move, wins the game.
- “Race to 100.″ Take turns rolling one or two dice and moving that many spaces on the hundreds chart. If you correctly predict your landing place before you move (without counting squares!), then you can go one extra space as a bonus. The first person to reach or pass 100 wins the game.
Other Ways to Use a Hundred Chart?
Does any one have other ways to use a hundred chart to help students develop a better understanding of math, along with developing problem solving skills?
Tags: hundred chart activities, making connections in math, math problem solving
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