Number Lines

Number Lines
Posted on 02/26/2020
Number Lines

Hello STEM Families!

A few weeks ago the math teachers at STEM attended a math Professional Development session with a fantastic math coach from KRESA. We spent lots of time studying our standards, our lessons, and our assessments, and then planning our next steps. One thing that really got us talking about math was when we were given a stack of number lines and asked to put them in order according to the age or grade of students who would be asked to use them. Here they are, in no particular order:

a.
Number Lines


b.



c.
Number Line


d.

 

e.



f.



g.



h.



i.



j.



k.

It took plenty of discussion and debate for us to finally settle on the order, but it was a great opportunity to reflect on all the different ways we use such a simple tool! Can you figure out the progression? Do you notice the very concrete (objects and counting) models and how they can gradually move to more abstract ideas?

Have you noticed your student using a number line? Take a minute to be curious about how it’s helping them and what skills they needed to learn in order to use it. Ask them about it and let them explain it. And then be on the lookout for what may be coming next!

In case you’re someone who likes to check your answers, here is the order of the number lines:

h - e - c - f - k - a - i - j - d - b - g  

You can read more about number lines and how and why we use them in this post from the Great Minds Math Blog. What are you wondering about? We’d love to answer your questions! Please send math questions to [email protected].