Learning Those Tough Teens



If your student, despite getting other mathematical concepts, is still having difficulty with those tough teens, you don't  have to be alarmed. I once read that only 50% of 5th graders in the U.S. understand place value but that over 90% of Japanese and Chinese children understand place value in first grade. In looking at why, it was discovered that in the Asian number system, numbers 11-19, for example, are called 1-ten, one through 1-ten, nine, instead of having unique names as we do in English. This is continued throughout all their numbers, going on with the twenties and so on, calling them 2-tens instead of our shortened version. This constant reinforcement of what the numbers actually stand for give the Asians an concept of place value at a very early age.

If you need to figure out a way for your student to get the practice he needs with place value without making it a miserable process, a game always seems to make learning facts more enjoyable.
Although this printout was originally found on the blog, Mrs Goodman's Frog Blog, this no longer exists, but you can make something similar to the game board in the picture below by sketching it out freehand.
When the student lands on a square, you have to say the name of the number and what the number represents. For example, for the numeral 14, he had to say "fourteen," and "one ten and four." Your student might have some trouble at first in saying both of those elements but, if you play along too, you student will be able to   hear you say a few of them on your turns, and soon your student should be able to do so as well. A few times of playing the game and your student will have them down and it was all done in a very fun way -with a little game instead of a number of workbook pages.

An additional incentive is to play for the treasure of a snack or treat at the end.



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