Numberline Tightrope Activity

It took a while to really "sell" me on the idea of using number lines (and I'm a visual learner)!  However, since number lines don't seem to be going away when it comes to curricula and standardized testing, I knew I had to accept them, get comfortable with them, break them down for those kids who also are not initially "sold" on them either, and make them interesting for my class.  I've developed coloring worksheets and homework pages, but this year I wanted to "step" it up a notch and engage those kinesthetic learners.  So that's when I created "Number-line Tightropes!" 

The set up: 

While my fourth graders were at music, I broke out the masking tape.  I taped 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines on the floor.

Next, I labeled the whole numbers with tenths at each intersecting tile.  I started on a vertical line with zero and worked my way up to 2.20.  Notice at that point, there was an intersecting horizontal line.  

On the horizontal line, I did the same thing, but instead of starting at the end with zero, I worked around the intersection.  To the left it says 2.10, and to the right (although you can't see it) it says 2.3.  Of course, I did not fill in every number; some of that work had to be for the kids!

Next, I drew smaller increments on the horizontal lines.  Those represent the hundredths.

 I followed the horizontal line to the left until I got to 1.3.  At that point I came to another intersection.  Just as before, I worked up and down the vertical line from 1.3, filling in the tenths, but saving some spots for the kids to complete.

Below, I followed the vertical line to 0.4, which brought me to the final intersection.  I filled in the hundredths on the horizontal line.

The activity:

When the kids walked in after music, they were "floored."  They could not WAIT to interact with the tape on the floor!

I had each of the 4 groups take a "line" to fill in some of the blanks.

Finally, a simple dice rolling game kept the kids engaged in studying the lines.  Roll a dice, move your "guy" that many tenths (for the vertical lines) or that many hundredths (for the horizontal lines). 

So much more fun than worksheets!

How have you turned number lines into fun?

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