Linking Cube Fun!

Happy Hump Day!

Today's lesson was on comparing the efficiency of counting by ones vs. counting by tens.  I gave the students 40 linking cubes in a bag.  20 each of 2 colors.  They were simply told to count the linking cubes!

These students thought it was fastest to count by ones.

These ladies thought it might be best to count them in a tower.

These kiddos started counting by fives!

These girls decided to put the cubes in a ten frame format and count by 10s!

I like to project 40 cubes on the board and count by 1's but mess up a few times and start over.  I love how frustrated they get with me each time I swipe them to the side and start over.  Then we discuss the different ways the students counted to 40 and which was most efficient.  We found out that if we put the cubes in towers of ten, we can quickly and accurately count the cubes.  Tomorrow we will discuss using a place value chart to record and name tens and ones within a two-digit number!

I'm having fun taking a moment to reflect on what I'm teaching in the middle of the week.  Head on over to Stanford's Hump Day Highlight to check out what other teachers are doing this week!