Base Ten Blocks

     This may seem obvious to everyone else on the planet, even people who aren't teachers, but this week, after having taught place value for I don't know how many years, I finally had the light bulb go on in my own head.

I try to throw in related questions...is this number odd or even?  How do you know?

      While the kids used their own manipulatives, green foam base ten blocks and workmats, I could model the same number on the board big enough for them all to be able to see.  I used to draw the tens and ones, but it took sooo much time out of the learning, so today I made myself a large set from one piece of green construction paper.  I had a roll of magnetic adhesive tape so it was easy (even though I ended up having to glue stick the allegedly adhesive tape to the back).  Please ignore my dirty white board...
   
Here is what my kiddos did at their desks while I was fooling around at the board:

Ahhh, meticulous!

     To manage all this stuff out on tables, I have the ones and tens in plastic crayon boxes and before we start, I remind them all about grabbing and I have them sort the tens and ones into the separate sides.  They each have their own mat and pen and are told their finger is the best eraser of all, just wipe it off when you make a mistake or need to start over.  We spent 45 minutes building numbers today.  It was great!