TpT Number Line Freebies

Since everything I seem to be posting lately deals with Number Lines, I thought I would continue the theme with a few Teachers Pay Teachers Freebies that focus on understanding and using number lines.

Number Path/Sequencing
Counting Flip Chart has children count how many items are on the page and then circle the corresponding number on a Number Path.

Help children identify missing numbers along a number line by using this Number Line Scoot Activity.


Addition
Check out this Out of This World number line game that uses addition and subtraction of numbers.  Includes a variation with negative numbers.

This fall themed Double Digit Addition activity gives students the freedom to show their own strategy on the open number line.


Rounding
Rounding to the nearest 10 or 100 can be a difficult concept for students, but using a number line gives them a visual representation that makes it easier to understand.  Check out this great Rounding With a Number Line activity and practice/homework sheets.


Multiplication
Download this simple, yet powerful Multiplication Strategies Anchor Chart.


Fractions
Number Line Lane is a nice activity to help kids use benchmark numbers when placing fractions on a number line.

Get your students up and moving as they build a fraction number line in Fraction Number Line Challenge.

Okay, so this one isn't a free one, but since it is Thanksgiving time I thought I'd share these Turkey Subitizing Cards.

Pinterest Pins I Love!

In my life, this month has unofficially been devoted to Number Lines and Number Paths.  For one of my other blogs I compiled a list of my favorite Number Line Apps, so for my favorite Pinterest Pins this month I thought I'd keep with the theme!

Hang numerals on a line to create a Numbers Washing Line.

From Lessons Learnt Journal 

Build your own Numeral Track to help kids learn the pattern of numbers. 

From the Math Coach's Corner

This pin links to a blog that shows three ways kids might use an Open Number Line for Addition.  

From the Math Coach's Corner 

This pin links to a blog about Multiplication Games, including one that helps kids see multiplication as repeated addition and as hops along a number line. 

From the Math Coach's Corner

Children need to see multiplication in a variety of ways.  Use this idea for a Multiple Representations of Multiplication Facts Sheet

 

From 3 Teacher Chicks

Fractions on a Number Line - the Pinterest pin just links to an image so I am not sure where this activity originated, but it is a wonderful visual that you can build with your students.  

Classroom Fraction Number Line Activity in which the kids build this wonderful number line.  You don't have to include all the fractions she does, maybe just halves, thirds, fourths and their equivalents…depending upon your grade level.

 From Miss Math Dork

Okay, since this is Turkey Month I had to include at least one Thanksgiving Themed Pin:

Practice Subitizing by rolling the die and create a Roll A Turkey 

From A Lemon Squeezy Home

Using number lines for Time problems

The newest addition to our family finally slept through the night.  So besides the panic wake up at 3:30, rushing to his bedside to ensure he was in fact still alive, it was a great night of sleep.  When he woke up at 5 am, I was feeding him and of course figuring out a math problem. :) Here is how it would be written in a typical math textbook:

Riggins went to bed at 8:00 PM.  He woke up at 5:00 AM.  How many hours did he sleep?

These elapsed time problems are difficult for children who are used to just pulling out numbers and either adding or subtracting, because neither of those works.  So what we typically teach children is to picture the clock hands going around the clock from 8 all the way to 5.  Then the kids actually draw that happening.  Two things are wrong with this model for solving time problems.  1) Kids spend too much time drawing the clock.  They want to add in all the numbers on the clock face and draw the hands.  2) When they model the hands moving around the clock, it gets really hard to keep track of all the circles they are making round and round the clock.


So, instead, a more efficient model is a number line, or in this case a time line. Starting in 2nd grade, children start using number lines to help them solve math problems. Before 2nd grade children should be using a number path instead of a number line, but that I will save for another post. The more children solve problems on number lines, the more they look for "friendly" numbers.  Those are numbers that are nice numbers to jump or nice to jump to.  Here are two examples for a brief demonstration on using number lines for addition:

As children transition from using a number line to using a time line, the emphasis should be on knowing what those friendly numbers are when it comes to time.  With whole numbers children like getting to the multiples of ten and/or the hundreds.  But with time problems, the friendly numbers are getting to 12 pm/am and getting to 60 minutes in order to get to the next hour. So this morning as I was contemplating how long Riggins slept last night, I was visualizing the problem on a number/time line that looked like this:

The distance from 8 pm to 5 am is 9 hours because it is 4 hours to that friendly time of 12 am and then another 5 hours to get to 5 am.  Those were nice, easy jumps for me but what does this look like when the times are not so nice.

Jaeger starts school at 7:50 am.  School gets out at 3:15.  How long is he in school?

As you can see, they jumped to the next hour (8am), then to noon, again to the closest hour (3pm) and then to the ending time of 3:15.  The answer is the amount of time from 7:50 to 3:15, so when you add the hours and minutes together you get 7 hours 25 minutes.  The number/time line is useful for all types of time problems.  Here are a few more examples.

Sierra's softball game started at 11:30 am.  It lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes.  What time did her game end?

Camden woke up at 6:15 am.  He slept for 9 hours and 45 minutes.  What time did he go to bed?

Next time you are working on time problems, encourage your kids to make use of a time line.