Living Number Line

This is the living number line that 3rd grade uses to be a visual representation of distance for math concepts. The first picture shows the concepts that we work with and the second picture shows the "numberline" which is a long string that goes from one end of the room to the other. The 'tents' with the numbers on them are placed on the line. The first one starts off with being the #1 then the next card is the #2. When we discuss measurement that part begins to look like a ruler when we insert all of the cm or mm between the #1 and #2. When talking about percent we look at 0%, 25%, 50% , 75% and 100%. Then it becomes a tool for fractions in the same way. Students can see that 1/2 is 2/4 and is greater than 1/4 on the numberline. The great part about this "living" is that it is constantly changing and creating conversations. Some days I hand each student "tents" to put on the number line where they believe their number would go. WOW! Some of the misconceptions they have are very apparent. When starting decimals a .5 became 0.05 in their minds and it was a great assessment of their prior knowledge when starting a new unit. If you have any questions let me know. I would be glad to answer them. (This picture was taken at the end of the yr when all the concepts had been covered and so I had all of the concepts on the line but I would not start it that way. I even color coded my tents so students would see it was a different concept with each unit.)