The Brown Bag Teacher

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Working our Way to 120: Games and Centers

Hi, friends! Over the past week, we have been working hard to make our way to 120. We put off starting our first unit in Go Math to build some foundations and make turning pages in our books MUCH easier. 🙂 As five and six-years olds, we are definitely concrete learners. Our first-grade friends love things they can touch, explore, and physically see. This meant while we had to build number sense with the 120s chart, it also had to be ‘real’ for our friends. Below are some of our favorite activities and games! 🙂

120s Gold Medals

The first day we started our 120s learning, we used the 120s chart as a pre-assessment – Write as far as your can on the 120s chart. Out of my 23 friends, 1 friend made it. Then, everyday we spent 10-12 minutes to re-try each day. Our goal? To become 120 Champions! What does every 120 Champion need? A goal medal, of course. 😉 As students made it to 120, we had an Olympic Medal Ceremony. I became an Olympic Announcer, we played Olympic Music from YouTube, and I put the Olympic Rings on our SMART Board for students to stand in front of. After being awarded their medal (purchased from WalMart’s party section), the crowd went wild and students threw their hands up in the air. It was rather dramatic and awesome. Our first-grade class was given a very hard task. We practiced and succeeded!

Scaffolding the 120s Chart

I have one 1st-grade friend who is easily overwhelmed with written tasks we complete. We’re working on building that ‘grit’ factor, but until we can complete academic tasks without crying, I help him breakdown tasks. An easily solution for the 120s chart is to fold it over 2 rows at a time. After your friend writes 20 numbers, they can show you the chart, you can celebrate, he/she can grab a drink a water of and then, you unveil the next two rows. Each day, our goal was to get 1 fold lower! It took us a week-and-a-half, but HE MADE IT!!! I was so proud of him, he received his gold medal, and he didn’t cry. We learned that he CAN do hard things. Woohoo!!

Chart to Number Line – Say What?!?

We also spent time looking and playing with patterns on the 120s chart. Before making our 120s number lines, students hunted for ‘patterns’, that we then highlighted on our own charts. Friends, I’ll admit – this is hit or miss. Some of my friends ‘saw’ the patterns while others just highlighted it…BUT eventually it will come. These are patterns I can’t just ‘tell’ students about and they’ll believe them. Students have to spend enough time working with the chart before it ‘clicks’. We will continue using and working with these patterns in RtI and math centers until we all have our wow moments.

Noticing Patterns on the 120s Chart

Another great game for recognizing number patterns on the 100s chart, as well as, ‘before’ and ‘after’ is SPLAT online! We played as a class on our SMART Board. Using different paint colors, students can visualize patters on the chart. We also played that students would take turns making number puzzles, “I’m think of a number that is one more than 15.” Everyone would circle it on their 100s chart (at their desk using a dry erase marker) and then, one special friend would SPLAT a number on the board.

After highlighting patterns on our 120s chart, we turned our charts into number lines! This was a Lightbulb Moment for so many of my friends. “The 120s Chart is actually just a number line?? Say what?!?!” If you try any activity in this post with your friends, this is the ONE! I blogged about it earlier in the month; you’ll definitely want to check it out here.

Real Life Splat

A partner-version of SPLAT, 4-in-a-Row offers students practice in saying and identifying numbers on the 120s chart. Students take turns pulling a number, saying it out loud, and finding the number on the 120s chart. Students ‘win’ the game by pulling 4 numbers in a row (horizontally, vertically, diagonally). fullsizerender_3

Race to 120

We’ve also been Racing to 120 with a partner. Using laminated 120s charts, clear counters, and a dice, students have been getting hands-on practice with the hundreds chart. As students move their piece, I asked that they say the number they are passing – just to make sure we have practice calling all the numbers to 120 by their names! For groups that were ready, they were given 2 dice to roll at a time.
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120s Puzzles

We’re also loving our 120 Puzzles. I snagged a 120s chart from online, quickly cut each puzzle into 10-12 pieces, and placed each puzzle in a Ziploc bag. During our whole-group time, students worked with their table to make the puzzles (each player taking a turn placing a piece before the next partner could go), and during centers, students had the choice to work individually or with a partner. If you have multiple puzzles going, make sure to print each puzzle on a different piece of cardstock so you can easily sort the sets if they get mixed up!

fullsizerender_2 Music & Math

Also, a highlight of our day is always Jack Martmann’s “Count to 100 Everyday” Song. It is a blast and gets my first-grade friends up and moving. Each decade is accompanied with a different exercise (windmills, running in place, shoulder shrugs). Since Jack’s song only goes to 100, we finish the last 20 numbers acapella. 😉

 It was a fabulous first look at 120, and we had a great time practicing. After practicing as a class, we were able to use the games and activities in math centers. This definitely won’t be our only look at 120, but it is a great starting place. PLUS, my friends can now turn the pages in our Reading Textbook – woohoo!!! 🙂

What are your favorite 120s activities? We’re always looking for ideas for our RtI groups, as well as, centers, so please do share!

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  4. We did our first 120 Olympics ceremony today and my friends LOVED IT! 8 out of my 30 first graders were able to write to 120 on their first attempt, and they received their gold medals this afternoon. I did the Olympics rings background, music, and announced the champions in a deep announcer voice. So fun. Thanks for the idea!
    I have a student who can only write to 9 right now (with many reversals) but we are determined to reach 120 by the end of first grade!!

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