Newswire

Hang a Wire. Hang the wire or cord where it is easily accessible to students. Students will work with it over the next several days. If possible, hang the wire against a wall to protect the index cards from being knocked off.

It is useful to have a wire at least 5 meters long so that several students can work on the wire at one time. Using a 10-meter wire will allow the needed length to convert the wire to a number line in Lesson 5. In Lesson 5, students will place the index cards at measured intervals on a number line to illustrate the relative distances between zero, one thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million. Figure 1 shows an example of a completed Newswire display. Figure 2 shows how the wire will be converted to a number line in Lesson 5.

Choose a Method to Find Large Numbers. Choose from Option A, B, and C as described below. Students will need newspapers, internet access, or items from the Big Number News Masters. Each student pair needs four large numbers from one of these sources.

Option A

Have students conduct research, looking for large numbers. The Big Number Search Master provides a list of possible questions and potentially useful resources. These are meant to be a starting point for students to find big numbers. You can also direct students to your local newspapers, as well as newspapers from cities and towns nearby. If students have access to a printer, have them print out the page or a portion of the page on which they find the number. Alternatively, students can simply copy the number and its context or label. Have student pairs find at least four large numbers.

Option B

Collect and identify enough resources so that each pair of students can search for one or two large numbers and capture the context of those large numbers. Student pairs look for numbers greater than 1000 and cut out or print the whole article to provide the context. Numbers are frequently written in words rather than numerals and rounded. For example, 2,236,488 may be written as 2.2 million. Students look for at least four large numbers written in numerals, not in words.

Option C

Make a copy of both pages of the Big Number News Master. Cut out the individual news blurbs and distribute them to student pairs. Note that some blurbs have more than one large number. Try to ensure that each student pair has at least four numbers.