Story: You are a ninja! You decide to enter the sport of Karate at the Olympics to be able to declare yourself the champion of the world. Wait - the Olympics has changed a bit. No punching or kicking at the Karate anymore, but breaking numbers into their parts. Just like ninjas can break a huge plank of wood with their hands, can your brain break a big number into its parts? Are you strong enough to handle that?
Top Ten member schools have had great success with these for both ongoing class routines and home learning, throughout Foundation and up to Year 2 as needed.
Tools: Pipe cleaners with beads.
Ninja partitioning certificates: Awarded once a student can fluently partition that total WITHOUT their bead slider (orally only).
Push beads from one side to the other to see and explore all the ways to make that total.
Students receive a certificate when they can orally partition the number very fluently, without using their bead slider for support.
Teacher: "Tell me everything you know about 7/break 7 into parts."
Student: "4 and 3, 3 and 4, 5 and 2, 2 and 5, 6 and 1, 1 and 6, 7 and 0, 0 and 7."
Must also be able to do this out-of-order: "What is 3 and 4?" "What is 5 and 1?" If the student says 7 to both - no certificate yet! Must know that 3 and 4 is 7, and not identify 5 and 1 as 7 but as 6. It is not just about the pattern (7 and 0, 6 and 1, 5 and 2), but also developing a deep instinctive trust of what makes 7 and what does not make 7 (or whichever number they are working on).
Assessment record:
Note home for parents (ideal bedtime routine alongside home reading):
Pro tip: Use two colours of beads to make the subitising and partitioning easier visually. For example, for the green belt of '8' use 4 of one colour and 4 of another contrasting colour (4 red, 4 yellow). This makes the beads easier to subitise/see than if all are rainbow coloured.
Pro tip: Match the pipe cleaner colour to the matching certificate colour.
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