A New Approach to the Tricky Teens: Developing Early Place Value Concepts in Kindergarten Teen numbers always present

a challenge for our Kindergarten students. Looking at the numeral 18 our students would often ask, Is that eighteen or eighty-one? Writing teen numbers with the digits in the correct order was even more problematic. Were teen numbers too difficult for Kindergarten students to grasp? Our curriculum at the time called these numbers the tricky teens and emphasized activities that were engaging but devoid of place value concepts. Our students lacked the understanding that teen numbers could be composed and decomposed into ten ones and some further ones, as directed by the Common Core Standards (CCSSI 2010, pg. 12). Teen numbers are particularly difficult for English-speaking students because the digits are not written in the same order that they are heard (Baroody 1990). The English names for teen numbers eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc. do not follow any conventional structure. In many Asian languages, however, the naming of teen numbers follows a base-ten structure. Eleven is called ten-one and 15 is called ten-five (Fuson 1990; Murata 2004; Yang and Cobb 1995). Not only does this naming system support students in writing the numerals in the correct order, but it also develops an understanding that two-digit numbers can be thought of as groups of tens and other loose ones (Murata 2004; Fosnot and Dolk 2001). Asian students are often encouraged to make groups of tens as soon as they learn to count, whereas American students are rarely taught to interpret numbers in this way (Murata 2004; Yang and Cobb 1995). Would encouraging our Kindergarten students to group by tens and ones help them truly understand teen numbers? Our Kindergarten teachers decided to focus on using literature and hands-on manipulatives, including ten-frames and Digi-Blocks, to foster an understanding of teen numbers as one group of tens and further ones. Happys Happy Birthday

Students cluster excitedly around the rug to inspect the bear manipulatives and ten-frames at their places. In front of each student is a bag of nine small bear manipulatives and two ten-frames. The tools for the lesson were carefully selected to reinforce the idea that teen numbers are a pack of ten plus some loose (Fosnot and Dolk 2001). The ten-frame is a manipulative with two rows of five squares. The squares are filled from left to right and top to bottom to represent quantities of zero to ten (Van de Walle 2004). The ten-frame allows students to internalize the shape of a quantity and verify the completeness of a ten without counting from one each time (Losq 2005). To make the model suitable for this lesson, we stacked two ten-frames on top of one another. The top ten-frame was filled with small pictures of bears, and the bottom ten-frame was completed as we read the story Happys Happy Birthday. This model proved particularly powerful for teen numbers because students could see the pack of ten plus some loose that becomes central to their early place value development (see Figure 1). Figure 1:

Page from the story Happys Happy Birthday

Bear Stacked Ten-Frame

The story Happys Happy Birthday was written by our math specialist after an unsuccessful search for a picture book that emphasized the base-ten nature of teen numbers. In the story, ten teddy bears host a party for their friend, a dog named Happy. The full top ten-frame represents these ten bears. As the story progresses, bears continue to join the party one by one. The students listen intently to the story, and whenever the teacher says, Another bear joined the party, they add one bear manipulative to the bottom ten-frame. The teacher acts out the story alongside her students and records the number of bears at the party on chart paper. To encourage the students to see teen numbers as ten plus some loose, she asks them, How many bears were at the party in the beginning? How many have joined the party? and How many bears altogether? She then records these responses as 10+1=11, 10+2=12, 10+3=13, and so on until they reach 10+9=19. In this way, the teacher prompts the students to see the relationship between a pack of ten and loose ones (see Figure 2). Teacher: [directing student attention to the chart created during the story] What do you notice about teen numbers? What do all teen numbers have in common? Lisa- [looking at the equations on the board]. 1 is the lucky number! There is always a 1 and then it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Paul- Yeah, look, its like if I get rid of the zero and squish the numbers together, then you get it [the teen number]. See[Paul walks over to the board and points to the equation 10+1=11. He physically covers the 0 with his hand and shows his classmates that you get 11] Figure 2

Teen Number Chart Many students nod in agreement with Paul and Lisa. The teacher is impressed with their insights but knows that more exploration is needed to solidify these ideas. The conjecture that one is a lucky number will reappear in later discussions, and the teacher is excited to see her students connect this idea to place value in the coming days. The students set off to further explore teen numbers in math workshop centers, including teen number bingo and Digi-Block books. Teen Number Bingo A group of students makes their way to the teen number bingo center. In addition to giving them more practice with the ten-frame model, this activity also encourages students to match the tenframe representation of a quantity with the appropriate numeral. The teacher uses two stacked tenframes to represent a teen number (see Figure 3), which she shows to the students for three to five seconds before asking, What did you see? and How do you know? Several students excitedly reiterate their conjecture that teen numbers are composed of a full pack of ten and some further ones. After identifying the quantity represented on the ten-frames, students cover the appropriate numeral on their bingo card. They play until one child gets a bingo, at which point the game begins again.

Figure 3:

Teen Number Bingo Teen Number Digi-Block Books As some students play number bingo, another group is busy working on their teen number DigiBlock books (see Figure 4). Digi-Blocks are manipulatives that support development of place value and the relationship between tens and ones. Digi-Blocks are small, rectangular-shaped blocks that fit into empty holders. Ten small blocks fit into a medium holder (100 block) and ten medium blocks fit into the largest holder (1,000 block). The top of the holders will only snap into place when exactly ten blocks have been correctly packed (Piccolo and Test 2011). Prior to the teen lesson, the students had lots of practice counting and packing with the Digi-Blocks (see Figure 5). Figure 4:

Pages from Digi-Block Book Students placed one Digi-Block on each picture and then packed as many as they could to figure out how many packs of ten, how many loose ones, and how many altogether. As students worked, the teacher offered guiding prompts to further solidify that teen numbers are one pack of ten and some loose ones: -Will there be enough for a pack of ten? More than a pack of ten? -Will there be any loose ones left over? -What are you noticing? What do all of these teen numbers have in common?

Figure 5: Figure 5:

The book How Many Snails by Paul Giganti (1994) is a great way to introduce counting with Digi-Blocks. Gathering a small group of students around her, the teacher reads the starfish page and asks, How many starfish

were there on the beach? The students soon realize there are so many starfish that it is difficult to keep track. Pulling
a bin of Digi-Blocks over, the teacher encourages students to place one Digi-Block on each starfish and asks, I wonder if we have enough Digi-Blocks to make a pack of ten? The students quickly agreed that there would be enough and set to work packing as many as they can. Once all of the Digi-Blocks are packed, the students recognize that there are enough for 1 pack of ten and 7 loose ones leftover, or 17 starfish altogether. Using this same method, the students went to work figuring out the remaining questions.

Teen Number Discussions: What do Teen Numbers Have in Common? After working in their teen number centers, students gather back on the rug to discuss their findings. The Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices state that students should construct

viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others (CCSSI 2010, pg. 6), and it is quite common to find our Kindergarten students engaged in partner pair-shares or convincing the whole class. Our students enjoyed discussing their conjectures about teen numbers, finding examples that strengthened their arguments and analyzing counterexamples. Paul- I notice that teen numbers always start with a 1. Lisa- Yeah! There is always a 1 in the beginning! Cara- There is no 20! Where is the 20? Teacher- Thats interesting! I wonder why there is no 20? Sean- Because all teen numbers begin with a 1, thats why we dont have a 20! 20 starts with a 2 instead of 1! Teacher- Who agrees with Sean that teen numbers always begin with a 1 [Students nod in agreement], Im very curious about that! Im wondering why teen numbers always start with a 1? What does that 1 mean? At this point the students agree that teen numbers start with the numeral one. However, few associate this numeral 1 with one pack of ten. The teacher knows that her students are still grappling with this idea and decides to wait until the next days math workshop to launch into further discussion. Writing Teen Number Rules Our students most thoughtful discussions occurred when they examined examples and counterexamples of teen numbers. Is 100 a teen number? What about 21? Why is the placement of the numerals important? When it was time for our discussion the next day, it was apparent that our students had continued to think about teen numbers.

Teacher- Yesterday, we were thinking that teen numbers always start with a 1. I went home last night thinking, why? Why do teen numbers start with a 1? Marc- Is 100 is a teen number? Teacher- Why do you think 100 is a teen number? Marc- Because it starts with a 1! Teacher- What does the 1 mean? Anna- Is 21 a teen number? Kate- Yes! Because it has a one in it! Cara- No, the 1 has to go first! Teacher- Why does the 1 have to go first? Marc- 1 pack of ten and 1 loose one. It makes 11 together. [Pointing to 10+1=11 on the board]. 1 pack of ten and 6 loose ones. That means together it makes 16. Sean- Look! In all teen numbers, there is one pack of ten. Teacher- What about Marcus question? Is 100 a teen number because it starts with 1? Marc- Yeah, but it doesnt have one pack of ten. It has ten packs of ten! It cant be a teen. Theo- What about 1? That starts with a 1. Cara- No, it doesnt have a pack of ten! Frank- Yeah, it is the loose one. It is just one loose.

Sean- [points to the 11 written on the board]. See, this is 1 pack of ten and 1 loose one. This number [pointing to the numeral in the tens place] means pack of ten. Marc-[Looking intently at the chart]. Hey, its in the number! 11 has 1 pack and 1 loose one. 12 has 1 pack and 2 loose onesits like these numbers make that teen number! Students nod in agreement with Sean and Marcs discovery. There is a buzz of energy in the classroom. The students are excited to write their mathematical conjectures into a set of teen number rules (see figure 6). Figure 6:

Teen Number Rules Is Ten a Teen Number? After creating these rules, our students confidently ruled out several earlier conjectures. Twenty-one was not a teen number because it had 2 packs of ten. 100 had 10 packs of ten, while 1 had no packs of ten. But what about 10? Several of our students argued that 10 could not be considered a teen number because, while it had 1 pack of ten, there were no loose ones, and a teen number has to

be ten plus some loose ones. Other students argued that 10 was a teen number because it was 1 pack of ten and 0 loose ones. As the students set about finishing their end of the day routines, we could hear them continuing to discuss this question with one another and it became a hot discussion topic for several weeks. Digging Deeper Into Place Value Our Kindergarten students were feeling more confident in their understanding of place value in teen numbers, but this understanding was still tenuous. With the intent to dig a bit deeper into student understanding of place value, our math specialist sat with a small group of students and a bunch of DigiBlocks. Jenna- In a teen number you need 1 pack and some loose. Like 11 is 1 pack and 1 loose [Students nod their heads in agreement] Math Specialist- Huh! I thought when I add 1+1 (showing 1 pack of ten and 1 loose one) that I get 2, not 11. How does that work? Some students look confused and agree with the math specialist that 1+1 does equal 2. Paul- Well, its like the one represents the 10! It is not 1. It is 1 pack! Math Specialist- I have one (counting pack of ten), two, three. Paul- No! That big one is 10 blocks, not one. So its a pack of ten and 2 loose. Its 12!

Paul is secure in his understanding of unitizing, that a numeral can represent ones or tens depending on where it is placed (Fosnot and Dolk 2001), whereas many of his classmates are still developing this new idea. Where Do We Go Next? Throughout the remaining months of Kindergarten, we provide our students with many opportunities to grapple with the idea of unitizing and follow-up on the ideas generated during our teen number lesson. In the weeks directly following, we put a collection of objects in the teens in our weekly counting jar (TERC 2010). After counting the objects, we encourage our students to separate them into a group of ten and loose ones and show the corresponding amount with the Digi-Blocks. When writing or reading numbers our students frequently refer back to the teen number rules chart that is posted in the classroom. In the spring, our students engage in the Contexts for Learning Mathematics unit Organizing and Collecting: The Number System (Liu, Dolk, and Fosnot 2008). In this unit, students take inventory of the classroom and count large amounts of items by grouping by tens. The data is recorded on a chart with the packs of ten, the loose ones, and the total number of objects. Our students are amazed to realize that the discovery Sean and Marc made earlier in the year with the teen numbers still holds true for all 2-digit and 3-digit numbers, leading to further interesting classroom discussions. Conclusion Through our study of teen numbers, our Kindergarten students explored many of the big ideas underlying place value in a developmentally appropriate and rigorous way. Our classrooms were abuzz with discussions about the teen number rules and debates about whether ten should be considered a teen. Throughout our study, many of our students parents commented that their child came home excited to share their thinking and wonderful math discussions continued at home. While our students

still need plenty of time and further exploration to fully understand place value, they are well on their way to uncovering the big mathematical ideas underlying our base-ten system.

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