Session 1

The following activities are designed for students to work in collaborative groups of 6 –10 students. For the first day, students explore number patterns and relationships that they see in the play money by making amounts with the money and grouping it into ones, tens, hundreds, and other higher place values.

Hand out a mixed bundle of play money with denominations up to $10 000 (from Copymaster 1) to each group of students and have them play "The Great Money Sort!" where they are asked to sort play money into denominations.

The Great Money Sort!

1. As students take the mess of play money and begin to sort the money into piles, prompt them to discuss any patterns that they observe. Have students sort as much of the play money as possible. Have them discuss how they are choosing to organise the money into piles, and why.
   Possible questions / prompts as students are sorting the money into piles:
   • What numbers do you see?
   • What do you notice about the amounts on these notes (the denominations)?
   • Why were these amounts used?
   • How is this toy money the same/different to the money we really use?
2. The money will get sorted into piles that replicate the place value house designations (ones/tens/hundreds/thousands/ten thousands)
   If a greater denomination is needed, what amount should it be? Why?
3. Discuss how the denominations might be extended to the millions.
   Encourage students to offer suggestions about patterns that they see in the numbers and to describe the same pattern in different ways:
   What numbers can you see that are the same, or are in the same positions, on all of the notes?
   I see the 1 repeating at the start of each denomination (1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000…)
   I see zeros repeating. (10, 100, 1,000, 10,000…)
   I see the zeros growing at the ends of the numbers… 1 zero here – 10 (tens), 2 zeros here - 100 (hundreds), 3 zeros here - 1 000 (thousands) etc.
   I see 1, 10, 100 and that keeps repeating in the thousands (1 thousand, 10 thousand, 100 thousand), the millions (1 million, 10 million, 100 million) etc.
   Be aware that seeing a symbolic pattern such as “adding zeros” is different from recognising that a given denomination is worth ten times as much as the next smallest denomination, e.g. $100 note is worth ten times $10 note.
   Since money is a non-proportional representation of place value you might use a proportional representation as well to help students understand how the quantity changes although the notes all look the same size. Placing matching place value blocks on top of the $1, $10, $100, and $1,000 notes will help.
   How big is the block that goes on the …$10,000 note? …$100,000 note? …$1,000,000 note?
4. Once students have communicated their patterns with the group, turn their attention back to the piles of money.  Ask questions that will help students focus on the pattern as grouping by tens (10 ones makes 1 ten, 10 tens makes 1 hundred).  This can also be discussed and recorded as powers of ten though this is an interesting pattern, not a requirement at this level (100 = 10 x 10 = 10²; 1000 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 10³).
   Ask questions like:
   How many tens do you need to make… one hundred dollars?...one thousand dollars? etc.
   How many hundreds do you need to make… one thousand dollars?...ten thousand dollars?etc.
   How much do I add… to $380 to make $1,000? To $4,900 to make it $10,000? etc.
5. Set the groups challenges to find total amounts for various collections of notes. Consider your students’ basic facts knowledge when setting these amounts
   Good examples include:
   Get 37× $10 notes. How much have you got?
   Get 24× $100 notes. How much have you got?
   Get 19× $100 notes and 34× $10 notes. How much have you got?
   Get 29× $10 notes, 17 $100 notes, and 33× $1 notes. How much have you got?
   And other similar questions.
6. Gather the class to discuss any patterns they noticed. Look for understandings related to place values, such as “If you have 23 × $10 then you multiply 23 by ten to get $230” of “If you have over ten of one note, that will make more of the next biggest note.”

Session 2

Over the next three days, students will continue working with the play money, practise making pay packets in Pay Packet Play, carry out fair trades in the Go Fair Trading Game, explore number problems by grouping money on Place Value Houses, and think about rounding, grouping, and estimating to solve money story problems. Provide students with the opportunity to develop word problems that are relevant to them.

Pay Packets

1. For the first day of exploration, provide pairs or small groups of students with plastic bags or clear-faced envelopes into which they can place collections of notes.  Discuss a scenario with the students where they control banking and payroll at a company.  It is their job to put together worker’s pay packets and keep track of the total amount of money needed to pay staff for the week. 
2. Provide groups with Copymaster 2 which shows different amounts to be paid to people at the company. Ask students to make up a pay packet for each person and use a calculator or other method to find the total cost of the pay round. Consider whether students would benefit from practice adding whole-numbers, or whether this extra cognitive-load will impede the aim of the lesson (i.e. to read and write large whole-number money amounts).
   Roam as students work. Look for:
   Can students read the numbers, making use of the groups of digits separated by commas?
   Can students recognise the place of digits in the numbers?
   Do students understand the significance of zero as indicating none of a denomination?
   Do students check to confirm the amount is correct in an organised way?
3. Rotate the groups so each group checks the pay packets of another group. 
   Where errors occur, the checking group needs to leave a note explaining the problem. Provide students with time to look back at their original pay packet, rectify any errors, and write a note explaining how they made the error in the first place (if possible). You may need to support students with understanding their errors.
4. Bring the class together to discuss the task and strategies they employed to get the correct amounts.
   The boss is feeling generous as the company has made a good profit this year.
   Discuss what the term ‘profit’ means.
   She decides to increase each payment by 10% as a bonus.
   What does an increase of 10% mean?
   Discuss that 10% means 10 in every 100 so each worker will get $10 extra for every $100 they earn.
   How much extra will they get for every $1,000 they earn? Every $10 they earn? Every $1 they earn?
   Sorry pay clerks, it is your job to include the 10% bonus in every envelope. Get to it. You might get a bonus yourself.
5. Observe students as they work. Look to see if they develop efficient ways to add 10% to each pay packet. Methods might be cumbersome initially like calculating one tenth of each place value. Support students to realise that multiplying the amount by 10% or 0.1 on a calculator gives the increase. Encourage discussion amongst students as they work through this process and justify their thinking.
6. After a suitable time, gather the class to discuss efficient ways to increase each amount by 10%.
   How would you increase each payment by 20%? What would that mean?
   Students might suggest dividing the amount by ten then adding the answer on to the original amount. You might offer multiplying the amount by 1.1. Why does that work?
7. Have students challenge each other in groups by one student naming a pay amount, recording the amount as $___ and other students making up the envelope for the employee. 
   Encourage students to use place value structure rather than counting. Ask questions like:
   I put 67× $10 notes in the packet.  How much money do you have? 
   Can you work it out without counting?
   I put in 19× $10 000 notes.  How much money do you have?  How do you know?
   I have put in 106× $1 000 notes.  How much money do you have?  How do you know?
8. Throughout the pay packet play, have students discuss what patterns they are observing and how they are working out how much is in their pay packet.  Students take turns to make pay packets for each other.  Have them record their problems using words and numerals on pieces of paper.
   Students can discuss possible ways to record the problems using only numerals and symbols.
   For example:
   10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = $120 (Repeated addition is less efficient)
   or
   12 x $10 = $120 (Multiplication is more efficient.)
9. Finally, vary the pay packet amount through scenarios like working overtime or paying tax. At the conclusion of the lesson, tell students to make up a pay packet with a five-digit dollar amount in it. Encourage students to use a lot of notes, not simply use the digits, such as $12,345 as 1×$10,000  and 2× $1,000, etc. Ask them to record their amount on a pay slip inside the envelope.

Session 3

Go Fair Trading Game

1. This activity can be played in a small group or as a whole class.  Ask students to sit in a circle.  Tell them you are going to give them some money in a pay packet that is theirs to keep and trade with throughout the "Go Fair Trading Game".  The aim is to not lose any money as they play each round of the game. Hand out "packets" of pay that were created yesterday. Ask students to check their pay packet of money to see that it matches the pay slip.
2. The moves in the Go Fair Trading Game are:
   • Find someone else in the group who has an equivalent amount of money made from different denominations with whom they can make a fair trade for their money. For example, one student trades twenty $10 notes with another student in the circle for two $100 notes.  These students can make a fair trade as they do not lose any money in the transaction and they both have different denominations of money to make $200.
   • Each student must complete five acts of trading and check at the end whether, or not, the packet still contains the correct amount.

3. Play several rounds, ensuring students receive different pay packets each round. Collect the money at the end of each round.
   Encourage students to avoid counting or repeated addition to work out the total of their pay packet. Push them to adopt more efficient strategies such as:
   I have thirty $100 notes.  I know that ten $100 notes make $1 000 so three groups of ten $100 would be $1 000 + $1 000 + $1 000.  That makes 3 x $1 000 or $3 000 altogether that I have.
   Also encourage efficient recording strategies, such as a table, with amounts arranged in vertical alignment. This could be completed on paper or on a digital device.

   Note	Number	Total amount
   $1	5	$5
   $10	12	$120
   $100	34	$3,400
   $1,000	6	$6,000
   $10,000	17	$170,000
   $100,000	9	$900,000
   $1,000,000	3	$3,000,000
   Sum		$4,079,525

   Continue discussing the trades increasing the complexity and number size with each round.  Have students share and record their strategies for each round.

4. Provide a challenging problem to complete the lesson:
   [Name] has $27,094 in his/her pay packet. 
   How many notes are in his/her pay packet?
   How many different answers can you find?
   Encourage the students to think beyond the simplest answer of 2 + 7 + 9 + 4 = 22 notes.

Session 4

Place Value Houses and Problems

In this lesson students make further links between the play money and the place value system by placing money on the Place Value Houses template.  Students will gain confidence reading multi-digit whole numbers using the Place Value Houses to help them to structure large whole numbers. They will solve addition and subtraction problems by using their knowledge of grouping play money in tens/hundreds/thousands/ten thousands. and by making sensible estimates that they can check with the play money.

1. Use A3 laminated Place Value Houses (Material Master 4-11) along with the Play Money that has been used throughout the past lessons.  Ask students to explain the structure of the Place Value Houses template.
2. Students should connect the Place Value Houses in order starting with the "Trend setter house" on the far right. These three columns refer to the ones period. Each set of three places is a period. Next left from ones, is the thousands period, then the millions period, etc. It is helpful to record $1, $1,000, $1,000,000, $1,000,000 so students understand how commas are used to separate periods when money amounts are written. That system makes reading large numbers easier than a string of digits. Note the use of gaps and commas in writing. large numbers. Display both conventions to your class and choose one to use throughout this unit.
   
3. Ask students to read the amount $111,111,111 and make that amount using play money on the Place Value Houses template. Ask them to remove notes and read the resulting amount, e.g. $101,111,111.
4. Have pairs or trios of students place all their play money into piles in the appropriate places in the House template, e.g. $100 notes in the hundreds place. 
5. Tell students to remove most notes from each column, so there are just a few notes in each place. Ask them to work out how to read and write the amount they have left. Students can swap their amounts with a neighbouring pair or trio for more practice.
6. On the whiteboard or on a piece of paper, write amounts of money. Ask students to read then make the amounts, such as:
   $3,450
   $75,010
   $407,908
   $37,090,324
7. Let students challenge another pair or small group to tell them what piles of money they would place on the Place Value Houses for an amount that they write on paper. Practise reading the amounts as well.
8. Help students read increasingly large numbers by always having them begin reading numbers at the far left and saying first the "ones, tens and hundreds" and then the Place Value House name and so on.
   In this way, the number $45 874 230 would be explained and read as:
   (Always start reading with the far-left-hand side of the number):
   (ones, tens, hundreds) 45 (millions house) million, (ones, tens, hundreds) 874 (thousands house) thousand, (ones, tens, hundreds) 230 (trend setter house so we just say the number of ones, tens, hundreds).
9. Practise reading each other’s large numbers written on paper and making them on the Place Value Houses.

Session 5

For the final day, students will be given an open-ended task involving Advertising circulars (such as a Warehouse, Rebel Sport or Farmers advertising flyer) and play money. 

1. The teacher should discuss the learning task with students and then roam and observe the strategies used by students. Students can use the play money, Place Value Houses, number lines and hundred charts to assist them as they work and reflect on the following task.
2. Open-Ended Task:  This is the class's lucky day!  We have received an envelope from a mysterious donor with ten $100 notes inside!  Your task:
   • Work out how much money you have. The aim is to spend as much of that amount as you can without going into debt.
   • Look through the advertising flyers provided and decide on the items you would really like to purchase for our classroom, other classes around the school, what you’d like to donate, and what you’d like to save.
   • See if you can combine 2 or more items that you would like to buy and estimate if you will have enough money to buy them.
   • Try to work out the maximum number of items that you can buy with your money.
   • Record your preferred purchases on paper.
   • Be prepared to discuss how you have worked out the amounts.
   • You may use play money, place value houses and any of the number lines or charts to help you.

The constant function on the calculator can be used to develop counting patterns. Ask the students to key in the sequence 5 + = = = = ... It will produce a display of increasing multiples of five. Challenge your students to work out the sequence. Note that with some calculators, like Casio, the + key must be pressed twice to activate the constant function.

Use the hundreds board to record the skip-counting sequence. For example, flip over every fifth number. This can also be done by recording the sequence on the blank side of a strip and sliding it into a number flip strip.

Activity

Seat the students in pairs and get one of the pair to put in the first few terms of a sequence, using + (a number) = = =. The student hands the calculator to their partner to push = = = ... The partner tries to work out what number is being repeatedly added.

Tell the students to key in + number but not to press =.

For example, + 4. Instruct them to hold their finger over the equals button, and, without looking, press equals until they think a target number has been reached in the window. For example, aim for 24. This is good practice for skip-counting sequences and multiplication facts.

This can be extended to sequences of two-digit numbers and decimals.

For example, + 23 = = = ..., + 99 = = = ..., + 0.3 = = = ..., + 1.6 = = = ...

Repeat for subtraction. For example: 46 – 5 = = = ... produces the sequence 41, 36, 31, ... on most calculators.

Extension Activity

The students investigate calculator inputs like 4 + 5 = = = ... In this example, most calculators produce the sequence 9, 14, 19, 24, ...

Examples: 0.9 + 0.3 = = = ..., 2.45 + 0.02 = = = ..., 48 – 4 = = = ..., 8.4 – 0.5 = = = ..., 7.5 – 0.25 = = = ..., 2.602 – 0.002 = = = ...

The students use the numeral cards to recreate counting sequences in a way that’s similar to the action of a car odometer. They can wear hats marked with the place values involved, for example, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands ...

 Have a student as the ones counter, counting in ones. Stop them at nine. Ask, “What will happen when one is added?” Discuss how adding one rolls nine over to 10 and that another counting place (tens) is needed.

Count in ones from 95 until 99 rolls over to 100.

Start with 93 and add 10 to it. Discuss how the nine rolls over. Repeat by adding 10 to 94, 99, 90 ...

Add 1, 10, then 100 to 99. Add 1, 10, 100 to 899. Add 1, 10, 100 to 998.

Activity

Roll 1 000 back 1, 10, 100. Roll 3 000 back 1, 10, 100. Roll 309 back 1, 10, 100.

Extension Activity

Increase the size of the numbers to show the students that roll over/back can be applied to all whole numbers and decimals. For example, Add 1, 10, 100, 1 000, 10 000 to 99 999. Add 1, 10, 100 to 99 989. Add 1, 10, 100, 1 000, 10 000 to 109 990. Add 1, 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 to 99.999. Roll 309 000

back 1, 10, 100, 1 000, 10 000. Roll 309.000 back 10, 1, 0.1, 0.01, 0.001.”

Extension Activity

Complete each of these problems and check with a calculator.

395 + ? = 405                          36 099 – ? = 34 100

99 962 + ? = 100 062              ? – 99 999 = 1 000

? + 9 900 = 10 000                 100 000 – ? = 90 000 ...

Key Ideas

Check that the students understand that 10 one thousands equals one ten thousand not,  as is commonly thought, one million.

Using Materials

Problem: “Work out $9,993 + $9.”

Record $9,993 + $9 on the board or modelling book. With play money, model $9,993  and $9. Discuss why the 12 single dollars must be swapped for a ten-dollar note and  two single dollar notes. Discuss why nine tens plus the extra ten-dollar note makes 10  tens, which must be swapped for a one-hundred-dollar note. Continue these swaps  until there is a single ten-thousand-dollar note and two single dollars. Record the  answer of $10,002 on the board or modelling book.

Problem: “Work out $10,003 – $4.”

Record $10,003 – $4 on the board or modelling book. Using play money, break the $10,000 down to 10 one-thousand-dollar notes, break the one-thousand-dollar note down to 10 one-hundred-dollar notes, and so on until there are 13 single dollars.

Record the answer of $9,999 on the board or modelling book.Examples: Word stories and recording for: $9,988 + $19   $6 + $52,994,   $116 + $9,884   $40,003 – $7   $20,000 – $100   $999 + $1,004   $1,001– $45   $50,003 – $5 ...

Using Number Properties

Examples: Word stories and recording for: 8 992 + 9   6 + 12 996   16 + 6 684 44 503 – 7   18 900 + 102   99 + 12 099   50 + 6 150   102 003 – 5 ...

1. Each student needs a gameboard and 10 transparent counters.
2. The target number needs to be up on the board (15 287).
3. The aim is be on target or as close as possible by adding all the numbers that have a counter on them at the end of 10 rolls of the dice.
4. The teacher rolls the die 10 times. Not all at once, as the students need time to keep a running total.
5. Every time the dice is rolled the students choose which number to cover. For example, if you call 5 the students elect to cover 5 or 50 or 500 or 5000.
6. They must participate in every roll of the die.
7. Counters cannot be moved once they have been placed.
8. They cannot put counters on top of each other.
9. If 0 is thrown then everyone misses a turn and the counter is put above the card so the students can keep track of how many rolls are left.
10. When finished the closest totals are put up on the board and compared.
11. Depending on the ability of the students you may need to stop after 5 rolls and let them check their totals.

This game can be played simultaneously with Level Four Target 15.287, allowing for students of a range of abilities to participate.

Acknowledgement

This game of Target has been adapted from one originally made up by a group of South Auckland teachers.

Preliminary Knowledge

The students need to know 10 hundreds make 1 thousand and vice versa, and 10

thousands make 1 ten thousand and vice versa.

Using Materials

Problem: The Bank of Mathematics has run out of $1000 notes. Alison wants to

withdraw $2315 in $1, $10 and $100 dollar. How many $100 notes does she get?

Examples. Repeat for: $2601, $3190, $1555, $1209, $2001, $1222, $2081….

Using Imaging

Problem: Tickets to a concert cost $100 each. How many tickets could you buy if you  have $3215?

Write $3215 on the board. Shield 3 one thousands, 2 one hundreds, 1 ten and 5 ones.

Ask the students what you can see. Discuss how many hundred dollar notes you could  get by exchanging the thousands. Discuss which notes are irrelevant (the ten and the ones).

Shielding and Imaging only: Examples. Find the number of hundreds in:

$1608, $2897, $2782, $3519, $3091, $4000….

Using the Number Properties

Examples. Find the number of hundreds in: 3459, 8012, 9090, 6088, 3280, 5823,

7721, 2083….

Challenging examples. Find the number of hundreds in: 13 409, 28 002, 78 370, 12

088, 45 290, 82 356, 21 344….

Find the number of tens in: 3709, 8002, 8579, 5208, 4829, 82 333, 12 897, 30

897, 89 000, 50 890

Good number sense skills are required to “sense” when answers are wrong. This is often achieved by doing estimates.

Using Number Properties

Problem: “Julian adds 34 567 and 478 on his calculator and gets 34 089.” Write 34 567 + 478 = 34 089 on the board. Discuss why Julian must be wrong.
(Answer: The answer had to be bigger than 34 567 because he is adding.)
Discuss what Julian did wrong.
(Answer: Probably he pressed the subtraction button rather than the addition button.)
Problem: “Julian adds 34 567 and 478 on his calculator and this time gets 35 045. Check this answer by estimation.”
(Possible answer: 567 + 478 is a bit over 1 000 so the answer must be a bit over 35 000. So Julian’s answer looks reasonable. So Julian accepts the calculator answer.)

Examples: Worksheet (Material Master 8–1).

Understanding Number Properties:

Make up a five-digit plus five-digit subtraction of your own and explain how you would estimate the answer.

Using Materials

Problem: “Ray has $34, and he gets $25 for a birthday present. How much money does Ray have now?”
Record 34 + 25 on the board or modelling book. The students model 34 and 25 using the chosen materials and group the ones and tens.
Discuss the answer and record 34 + 25 = 59 on the board or modelling book.
Examples: Word stories and recording for: 45 + 22 52 + 13 42 + 25 35 + 43
53 + 25 43 + 22 ...

Using Imaging

Shielding and Imaging Only: Examples: Word stories and recording for: 14 + 43
31 + 25 23 + 41 24 + 25 32 + 26 38 + 21 13 + 41 25 + 23
44 + 24 ...
 

Using Number Properties

Examples: Word stories and recording for: 87 + 12 73 + 26 24 + 52 16 + 62
81 + 17 ...
Challenging examples: The students will need to understand the meaning of three-digit
numbers to do these: 241 + 21 342 + 44 643 + 21 27 + 210 303 + 44
25 + 510 ...

Required Knowledge
Before attempting this activity check that the students can instantly recall the single digit subtraction facts.

Using Materials

Examples. Word stories and recording for: 45 – 20, 52 - 10, 42 – 20, 35 – 30, 63 – 50, 48 - 30....

Using Imaging

Shielding and Imaging Only: Examples. (Instant recall of single digit subtraction facts  is needed here.) Word stories and recording for:  48 – 40, 51 – 20, 53 – 50, 27 – 20, 64 – 10, 43 – 40, 57 – 50, 71 - 40....

Using Number Properties

Examples. 97 – 10, 78 – 30, 20 + 62, 46 + 50, 80 + 17....

Challenging examples. The students will need to understand the meaning of three digit numbers to do these: 240 – 20, 340 – 40, 443 – 20, 570 - 20....

There are two components to this unit - modelling your own number and modelling a given number. You should model both of these components for students and provide ample time for students' exploration of these. Consider how you will provide opportunities for students to engage with the learning object, either alongside or after your modelling. You could allow individual students or pairs of students to work with the learning object independently (perhaps they could think of a number for their partner to model or create). They could be encouraged to complete a given number of examples. Students can also explore making their own number, saying it aloud and then checking using the speaker icon. As an extension, you could provide students with a familiar context (e.g. quantities of resources in the sports shed) and ask students to use the place value equipment or the learning object to represent a model of the relevant quantities (e.g. there are 39 tennis balls in the sports shed - can you show this with the learning object?).

If the number of devices is a barrier to engagement with this learning object, consider having some students work with place value equipment to represent numbers, whilst the others work with the digital representation (then switch). Working in pairs provides students with the opportunities to work together to practice saying and representing numbers with equipment.

Model your own number

1. Show students the learning object and explain that it provides a model for representing numbers using place value equipment.
2. Use the up and down buttons at the top of the screen to show students how to make a number. Start from one and click through the numbers so the students can see the colour change at the 6th cube. Discuss how this makes it easier to immediately recognise numbers between 6 and 9.
3. Ask the students to count as you click the arrows to make the numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Watch as the 10 cubes join to make a rod and slide into the tens column.
4. Ask the students what they think will happen when you make the number 11 and if you count backwards 11, 10, 9. Demonstrate how the place value equipment changes as you click back using the arrow in the ones place.
5. Ask the students how the numbers 250 and 305 (for example, you could explore others as well) will be represented. Use the learning object to show each number. Make sure students understand a how a zero digit in a number is represented. Do enough examples together for students to see how the equipment shows the change between the ones, tens and hundreds column.
6. Click the right arrow at the bottom of the screen to see the number represented using a place value house, in standard form, or on a 3-bar abacus. Use the left and right arrows to choose how to represent the number. You may wish to explain these different representations to the students. If you have selected to show the number using written words then below the place value equipment a speaker icon is available to click. If you click the speaker icon you will hear the number being spoken.

Model a given number

1. Click on the die at the bottom left of the screen. A number will appear in words in the box for the student to build using the place value equipment. The student can click on the speaker icon to hear the number being spoken.
2. Ask a student to use the arrow keys to build the number. The learning object will provide feedback to the student. Ensure that you try enough examples that students see that the second feedback provided by the computer indicates which column their error is in.
3. Clicking the down arrow at the bottom of the screen will return you to modelling your own number.

A Day Without Zero
This activity is based on the picture book Nesta and the Missing Zero

Author: Julie Leibrich
Illustrator: Ross Kinnaird
Publisher: Scholastic (2006)
ISBN: 1-86943-730-6

Summary:
In the sequel to The Biggest Number in the Universe, Nesta has to help her neighbor, Mr Abacus, find zero. The loss of “nothing” throws the world into chaos and Nesta discovers the power of zero as a place-holder.

Lesson Sequence:

1. Prior to reading, ask students to brainstorm:
   What do we know about ZERO? 
   Record the ideas in one colour. Tell students that after reading the book you will record any new ideas in another colour.
   If you have read The Biggest Number in the Universe, introduce this as a sequel and ask them what they remember about the characters and the maths from the last book.
2. Share the book with your students, stopping to question or probe when there may be something that can be added to the brainstorm at the end of the reading. For example:
   Is zero odd or even (p. 8), What does it mean: “nought”? (p. 32), What happened at the bank? (p.13)
3. Next, revisit the brainstorm and add any new ideas in a different colour to demonstrate “what we’ve learned about zero” or cross off any old ideas that have changed following the reading.
4. Revisit the address and car example (p.10), bank example (p.13) and the age example (p. 23) from the book with a set of place value houses.
   Discuss what would happen if zero did disappear from the world for a day.
   Where would you notice it was missing the most?
5. Hand out a newspaper to pairs or small groups of students with the instructions that they are to find the date on the front page and use their highlighter or felt to “Highlight the day zero disappeared”. Students now work their way through sections of the paper hunting for zero and highlighting it and discussing what impact it would have on the item if it was missing (for example: in sports scores 30-14 become 3-14, house and car prices drop dramatically, the date goes from 2012 to 212 etc.) They can cut out the most interesting examples and make a poster of what happened the day zero disappeared.

Explain to the students how each place-value house is broken into hundreds, tens, and ones.

Help the students to read the numbers in their house positions. In particular, assist the students to read numbers like 34 009 083 080, where the zeros must be noticed but are not read out loud.

Notice the first house needs no name. (It is called “The Trend Setter House” in Material Master 4–11 because it starts the pattern of column names within every house.)

Give the students a number and get them to add the place-value houses then read aloud the number. Once the students’ knowledge is secure ask them to read numbers like 34 908 345 002 without houses.

Extension Activity

Go on to reading numbers in the quadrillions and quintillions houses, and/or include the decimal place values tenths, hundredths, thousandths, ...