How Many, How Long, How Far, is 1,000?!

We have been investigating the concept of 1,000. Students worked collaboratively as a whole group and in partnerships to investigate multiples of 10 and multiples of 100 as they created paper clip chains of 10s, 100s, and then finally, one long chain of 1,000. The chain was made with bi-colored paperclips grouped into sets of ten. Students decided it was "easier to see tens" if they alternated red and white clips in their chains. 

After making a set of ten, students estimated that maybe 100 paper clips would be taller than a second grader. They estimated that maybe 1,000 paperclips would be as long as our classroom. Students were delighted and surprised to realize midway into linking each partnership's chain of 100 that we actually had to leave our classroom and relocate to the upstairs hallway because 1,000 was just simply too many, too long, too far for our room!

Students skip counted by 10s and 100s to 1,000 as well as applied mental addition and subtraction strategies from given points in our building process. In order to be successful with this fun math experience, students needed to work productively and cooperatively with peers and as a classroom community, attend to precision, and apply numerical operations as well as their understanding of our base ten system. 

What's next? Measuring with paper clip chains and then transferring this manipulative model to the concept of a number line to solve problems involving three-digit numbers.

Stay tuned for this post to debut in the district newsletter, Region in Review, this Friday 12/13!