How+many+pockets

Learning targets:
 * I can accurately count bigger numbers and double-check my counting.
 * I can put objects into groups of ten in order to count them accurately.

//Do this lesson in two groups. A smaller group, with struggling students, will work with smaller numbers because there will be fewer students in the group. A larger groups, with perhaps 2/3 of the class, will work with bigger numbers. Advanced students may also get the data from the small group and add it to the data from their larger group.//

Basic Lesson (struggling students in a small group, mid-level kids in a bigger group)
"Today we are going to figure out how many pockets we have in our group. Who has an estimate of how many pockets there are? Remember that an estimate is a good guess." Write estimates on the board; ask why they think that or where their estimate comes from. "One way to count the number of pockets in our group is for each of you to take one cube for each pocket that you are wearing today. When you count your pockets, don't forget to count all the pockets you have in any part of your clothes, even little tiny ones." Demonstrate, or have a volunteer demonstrate, how to count all their pockets. Put out a box of cubes so students can take one cube for each pocket they have. Hold up a clear container for the cubes. "I am going to call out a number. If you are wearing that many pockets, come up and put your cubes in the jar." Start with zero, and continue until everyone has put their cubes in the jar. Keep track with tally marks:

Pockets Students
0 1 2 3

As you go, ask: "Do you think we are going to have more than 10 pockets? More than 20? More than 30?" When you are done collecting all the cubes, ask: "How can we count to find out exactly how many pockets we are wearing today?" Have a student count by ones, then ask how you can double-check. Find someone who thinks of putting them in groups of ten, and make towers of 10 together (counting together.) As you make the towers, ask: "How many groups of 10 do we have now? Do you think we have enough cubes to make another group of ten?" When you are done, ask these questions of several children: "How many groups of ten did we have? How many extras? How many pockets?" Practice counting by tens a number of times. Ask students to record on a small piece of paper the total. Record it on the board in the same format as it is on the handout. [|pocket data tens.doc] Say, "That's why we write 34 [insert number] like this: because it is 3 groups of 10, and 4 extras." (Point to the numbers you have recorded in groups of tens and extras as you say this.) "Which way of counting was more efficient? Which way was faster?" "Which way of counting was more accurate? Is it easier to make a mistake counting by tens, or ones?"

If there's time, practice coin identification by giving each student one penny, one quarter, and one nickel, and asking them to hold up a coin that's worth one cent, five cents, and / or a coin that's called a penny, a nickel. (Don't do the quarter yet, just include it in their choices.)

Extension (for advanced kids)
As students bring cubes up to put in the container, one teacher records the totals like this:

4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7

These students figure out the total on their own, on paper, using this worksheet. [|pocket data advanced.doc]