Workshop: Large Numbers

Est. Class Sessions: 1–2

Developing the Lesson

Part 2: Organizing the Workshop

Set Up the Workshop. Distribute the feedback you prepared for each student on the Big Number Quiz from Lesson 6 or other related assessment tasks. Refer students to the Workshop Menu on the Moving Ahead with Large Numbers pages in their Student Activity Book. Have students think about the questions in the left-hand column of the Workshop Menu. Ask students to review their work, your feedback and other work from previous lessons to decide which problems to choose from the following groups:

Students who are “working on it” and need some extra help should circle the problem set marked with a triangle (). These problems provide scaffolded support for developing the essential underlying concepts as well as some opportunities for practice.
Students who are “getting it” and just need more practice should circle the problem set marked with a circle (). These problems mainly provide opportunities to practice with some concept reinforcement and some opportunities for extension.
Students who have “got it” and are ready for a challenge or extension should circle problems marked with a square (). These problems provide some practice and then move into opportunities for extension.

Note that students' self-assessment of their own abilities may vary between rows in a menu or between menus. For example, a student might circle the “” questions in one row and the “” or “” questions in another row or in a subsequent menu. A student's comfort and ability may vary by Expectation, and the Workshop allows each student to choose problems flexibly based on what type of practice he or she needs for each “Can I Do This?” question.

The workshop is divided into two sections that address Expectations as shown in Figure 2. Minis of the Student Activity Book pages not shown here are in the Answer Key.

Check students' choices to see how well they match your own assessment of their progress on the related Expectation(s). Help students make selections that will provide the kinds of practice they need.

Familiarize students with the representations and examples on the Writing Numbers in Words and Representing Large Numbers pages in the Student Guide Reference section.

Referring to the Representing Large Numbers page, ask:

What number is represented on this page? (124,386)
What does it mean to write a number in standard form? (Write it like a regular number using digits.)
Compare the number written in expanded form and the number shown with big base-ten pieces. How are the two representations alike? How are they different? (They both represent the same number. Expanded form shows what each place means by writing out the number in digits. Big base-ten pieces show the number of blocks that represent each place.)
Which representation can help you read large numbers? (Possible response: the place value chart.)
How can the number line help you round numbers? Show us how to use the number line on this page to round 124,386 to the nearest ten thousand. (When the number is located on the number line, you can look for the nearest ten thousand. For this number, the mark is closest to 120,000.)
Which representations help you understand how large numbers are? Why? (Possible response: The big base-ten pieces, because you can see the size of each digit using the pieces.)

Remind students to use these reference pages as they complete the workshop tasks. Have copies of the Place Value Chart Master available so students can choose to write the numbers in the chart before they write the numbers in words.

Workshop. Organize students into pairs or groups and ask students to complete the problems they have selected from the menu. The table in Figure 3 provides suggestions for helping individual students based on Expectation and question number.

Minis of the Moving Ahead with Large Number pages from the Student Activity Book not shown here are in the Answer Key.

Observe students as they work and evaluate their written work on the Check-In: Questions in the Student Activity Book.

Check-In: Question 10 assesses students' abilities to represent large numbers using number sentences [E3] and to write numbers in words [E1].
Check-In: Questions 13–14 assess students' skills locating numbers on number lines [E3], ordering large numbers [E2], and rounding numbers [E6].
Check-In: Question 24 assesses students' abilities to estimate sums and differences [E9].