Use this lesson to introduce the tool of base-ten blocks to your students. This scaffolded EL support lesson can be used as a stand-alone activity, or prior to teaching Three-Digit Addition with Base-Ten Models.

Provide students with an opportunity to identify the wholes that are correctly divided into halves, thirds, and fourths (equal shares). Use this activity alone as a support lesson or alongside Cookie Fractions Fun.

Students will get to explore three-digit numbers through base-ten blocks and written form. Students will get plenty of practice identifying the place values of a number both individually and with the class.

Use this lesson to review three-digit addition strategies including base-ten drawings, number lines, and the standard algorithm.

Let’s start building numbers! Just as building skyscrapers is a visual representation of mathematics, students will use the visual representation of base-ten blocks to add—or build—onto a two-digit number.

In this lesson, students will practice listening comprehension skills after reading “The Paper Bag Princess” together as a class. Afterward, students will role-play, make inferences, and use summarization to strengthen literacy skills.