More and Less-A Great Math Unit

My class has soaked up every moment of our More and Less unit.  I introduced this number line on my chalkboard.  I would place the red frame on a number and have the frog jump one or two more, and one or two less.  The students would tell me what the number was.  When frog jumps to more he jumps above the numbers.  He jumps below the numbers when he is going to one and two less.  (This is in preparation for teaching addition and subtraction.  I ask students to jump above the number line when adding, and below the number line when subtracting.)  We also have number covers to play guessing games with the number line.

We have several games that we use for guided practice.  Each table has several number lines that are shared by partners.  The partners have a small red frame and a bear that bounces to numbers that are one and two more and less.

The students enjoyed several centers based on the more and less concept.

I had game boards that were labeled 1 More, 1 less, 2 More, and 2 Less.  Partners worked together using cubes to build towers on the corresponding boards.

Then, students worked to put number cards on a giant number line.  The teams took turns putting the red frame on a number and making the frog hop to one and two more and less.  Students were asked to identify the number that the frame highlighted, as well as the numbers that the frog hopped to.

Another center was a game using the number line on our chalkboard.  I placed three giant foam dice in the center.  Students were to roll the dice and count the total number of red dots.  Then, the team worked together to place the red frame around that number on the number line.  Students used the frog to hop to one and two more and less.

We created a class more and less project to demonstrate our understanding of the concept.  I folded a paper into four sections and labeled them 1 Less, 2 Less, 1 More, and 2 More.  We glued small collage squares into the sections.  (This project was great fun, but a challenge for our fine motor skills.)