Jamie Blankenship-Blog 3

      I work in the same classroom as Kristine, so this week I got the chance to do the Bobbing for Apples math game with three students.  One at a time, the students would reach into a bag and pull out a number.  They would then have to say the number to me and color in that numbered apple on their worksheet.  I did make my own modification to this activity since we discussed some of the weak aspects of it last week in class.  One thing I did differently with the students was to have them count all of the numbered apples until they reached the apple that they had drawn.  This way, students who were unsure of how to say the number could count to that number and then say it out-loud.  Some of the students who I know struggle with the tens place were able to count the numbers and know whether the number was a 12 or 21 for example.  A lot of times a student would shout out that the number was 21 for example, since he said you write that number with a 2 and a 1.  Once I would tell him to count all the apples until he reached the number that was on his card, he would see that the number was 12 and that he had the order of the numbers mixed up.
      One way that these students with this type of problem could be helped would be to teach a lesson on place value. By modeling the idea that the same numbers 1-9 can be written in different order to make different numbers is important for students to know. This could be done with repetition with flash cards or by using counters and showing that the 10's place has more counters in the 21 example, so therefore it is a different number and is greater than 12.