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Alice Keeler

Google Slides: Dice Place Value

Teach students place value with this Google Slides template that uses dice to help students to understand place value.
Google Slides: Dice Place Value
place value google slides dice

Write Numbers in Different Forms

Cassandra Gartung (@CassGartung) shared on Twitter her activity for using dice to have students create a 3 digit number and express it in different forms. One thing I try to design into activities is that not all students are doing the same thing. By using dice to generate the numbers students not only get to roll dice (let’s be honest it’s fun) but end up using different numbers than their peers. The students then express the number in multiple ways, an important strategy to develop understanding and number sense.

Completely agree. In a 2nd grade classroom this week we were playing a game for place value. For the 3 digit number we rolled the dice 3x and then wrote it in all the different forms. Ss we’re engaged in collaboration and T found a new perspective on Math. Ss recreated map. pic.twitter.com/isWeKYoFn1

— Cassandra Gartung (@CassGartung) February 23, 2018

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Template

Google Slides place value

I created a Google Slides template to do this activity digitally. However, I don’t necessarily think it is better digitally. This activity is probably better with actual dice. If you do not have dice, I have coded dice into the Google Slides. See below for directions.

Note: Since originally posting this article I have coded an Add-on for Google Slides that will place dice onto any Google Slides. Free. Collects no user data. No PII.

Activity Ideas

[tweet]Variety is better when looking at math problems than a bunch of problems that are the same.[/tweet] Rather than having all problems be 3 digits consider how sometimes the students are doing 2 digit or 4 digit numbers. Suggestion to draw a circle. Students roll 4 dice and see what falls in the circle.

If we want to know if students know the place value they should need to think about it. If we always have the first roll is the hundreds place and the second roll is the tens place there is a risk that students are not thinking about place value but rather just putting something in the 1st spot and 2nd spot. Consider using different colored die. The blue die is the hundreds place and the red one is the tens place.

Create paper slips that indicate the place value. Fold them in half. Students “draw from a hat” a slip of paper to indicate what place value they are rolling for.

One challenge for using dice is that the numbers represented are only 1 to 6. Zero is an important value to understand for place value. What does it mean to have a zero in the tens place? What if the thousands place was zero? How might you introduce zero into this activity? (My Google Slides template below accounts for the digits 0 to 9). Perhaps if the dice falls on the floor, in a crack or other reason the student can’t quite tell what the roll was… it’s a zero.

Google Slides

Even if students are using actual dice to choose the numbers they can still share their work in Google Slides. The best feedback is when we can sit next to a student and give them feedback to their face, however, it’s not possible to sit with each kid each dice roll. Capture student work in Google Slides. In the template click on the tiny triangle next to the plus icon to add a slide with the graphic organizer.
Add a template

The slide has placeholder text to give students a spot to type in their dice roll.
Dice roll placeholder

In the center, students would enter the number constructed from their dice roll.

4 Corners

Each of the 4 corners of the graphic organizer asks students to represent the number a different way. Expanded form, word form, graphically (base ten blocks), and what 10 more and 10 less looks like.

As Jon Corippo says, “everything is digital when we can take a picture.” The students do not have to demonstrate their multiple representations of the number digitally. They can use manipulative base 10 blocks, sketch it on quarter sheets of paper, write it on a white board, or other non digital ways to represent. Use the webcam or tablet camera to add a picture to the slide and shrink into the corner.

If students are using digital manipulatives (note: I am a fan of actual hands on manipulatives!) such as these base 10 blocks they can take a screenshot and place on the Google Slides.
digital manipulatives

sample number representation

Because Google Slides is multi-media students can use Screencastify to easily add video to their Google Slides.

Same Google Slides

You can assign each student their own copy of the Google Slides template but I would rather open ONE document than 30. Have each student add a slide to the SAME Google Slides template. Have students put their name in the speaker notes.

Rolling Digital Dice

I coded the Google Slides template to allow for rolling dice in the slides. Look for the “dice” menu next to the help menu.
roll dice

Note: You will need to authorize the script. It will show you a screen of doom with a big button saying “return to safety.” Instead, click on “Advanced.” Another warning paragraph will expand. Click on “roll dice (unsafe).” It is safe. I personally coded this.

Choosing “Roll dice” will add a new slide to the slides presentation and add 4 dice that are randomly assigned a place value.

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