MA 2.02Large Numeral Cards
The child learns to read 1, 10, 100, and 1000 and then all the category cards, noticing how many zeros each category has.
Presentation
- 1
Lay out cards 1, 10, 100, and 1000 in a row on the rug.
- 2
Point to each: 'This is one unit… one ten… one hundred… one thousand.' Have the child count the zeros on each card.
- 3
Three-period lesson with the four cards.
- 4
In a later lesson, lay out the full set in columns, thousands on the left and units on the right, and read down each column: 'one ten, two tens, three tens…'.
- 5
Give the usual names for the tens after the category names: 'three tens, we say thirty'.
- 6
Three-period lesson across categories with the same digit (3, 30, 300, 3000).
- 7
Mix the cards and have the child rebuild the columns.
Extensions, easiest to hardest
- Child reads any card chosen at random.
- Guide names a number ('four hundred'); the child finds the card.
- Child lays out the full set from a mixed pile.
Control of error
Card color and the number of zeros identify each category; the columns fill evenly only when every card is in its place.
Ready to move on when the child…
- Reads any card in the set
- States how many zeros each category has
- Lays out the full set in correct columns
Guide note
The usual English names for 20–90 are irregular (twenty, not two-ty). Say the category name first ('six tens') and then the usual name ('sixty').