Taking A Trip Years 1 - 3

Summary Being counted when you go on a school trip is a common experience for children. In this activity, they become the teacher and the plugs become the children in their class. How will they count their children? Can they check their answer another way? As the photos show, the responses can be quite unexpected. Suitable for threading. Materials One Poly Plug per person

Procedure Sit the children on the floor in a circle. Today you are going to pretend that you are the teacher taking some children on a trip. The yellow Poly Plugs will be your pretend children. Take out your yellow/blue board. Leave the red board in the plastic bag and put it behind you. Now choose the number of children coming with you and arrange them in front of you so it will be easy to count them. Teachers always count children when they go on an excursion, so this request will not be unusual. However, photos below show that the variety of responses is often surprising. In this case, the teacher asked students to line up their children then... Now do it another way ... Now do it your favourite way.

Content complementary addition counting group (or skip) counting multiplication - array model pattern interpretation pattern recognition recording - calculator recording - written visual and kinaesthetic representation of number

Every response provides an opportunity for discussion with the person, between children or with the class. These discussions can be recorded personally or in some form of class display. A digital camera can be very valuable, especially if you have access to an electronic white board to display and discuss the images.

Wangaratta Primary School

Choosing our children and arranging them for counting. There are lots of ways in our classroom.

This is my favourite way. It is my house way. It has a leader and I can count it easily. This is my aeroplane way. And I know how many children didn't go on the trip.

Whichever way the children choose, the teacher asks them to demonstrate how they would count AND then asks: Can you check it another way? This is a key question of a mathematician. Also, using Poly Plug always provides opportunity for questions about complements which make 25. So don't forget questions like: Some of the children in the class couldn't come on the trip. How many children in your class have been left behind in the board? Can you check it another way? Please count your children for me. ... Very good. ... Can you count them another way? Please count your children for me. ... Very good. ... Can you count them another way? Can you see that nearby children are interested in the other childrens' responses to the teacher's questions?

I've picked 19 children and lined them up like 19. No wait a minute. Is that 19?

Recording

Recording is an important tool of a mathematician and an important learning tool for children. In this class the students were asked to draw a picture of the way they arranged their children. Now I want you to make a paper picture that looks the same as your carpet picture. I am using my fingers to help me count. Of course, they had to count the objects in the picture to make sure that it was the same as the Poly Plug picture.

Extensions Use your calculator to help you count the number of children. Record what you did. In more senior classes the children choose their own number and line them up in 1s, then 2s, then 3s, ... Each time they have to explain the number of groups of the chosen size and the 'left overs', confirm their explanation with the calculator and record the equation in their journal. Note: If the calculator is not programmed with the order of operations, using both times and addition in an equation may result in answers that don't match the Plug picture. For example if there are 19 students arranged in threes with one left over, the equation 1 + 6 x 3 gives the answer 21 with such calculators, but 6 x 3 +1 gives the Plug picture answer. There's a reason for discussion!

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