“Fiveteen, eighteen, twenty-nineteen…” All teachers have heard the adorable and creative counting that young elementary students often bring to the classroom. Do you remember learning to count to one hundred as a child? It’s quite an accomplishment! This is where the hundreds chart comes in. The hundreds chart is an essential tool that every elementary school teacher, from kindergarten through fifth grade, needs. This versatile tool is valuable for teaching many lessons while also providing a fun, engaging range of activities for students.
Designed as a 10-by-10 grid, a hundreds chart displays the numbers from one to one hundred in order. The hundreds chart is very similar to a number line but uses a design that draws attention to place value and patterns. Each row on the hundreds chart contains a group of ten numbers. This allows students to use the chart to count to 100 in different ways. They can count across rows by ones and count by tens along the far right column. A hundreds chart is a great tool for practicing a variety of math skills including number sense, number patterns, skip counting, and more.
The hundreds chart is a valuable learning tool students can use to learn and master our number system. Using this resource offers students a visual aid to explore the structure of the decimal or base-ten system while also building a mental model of number progression. The hundreds chart helps students see the patterns in counting and can be used to teach a range of math skills. These skills include counting to 100, skip counting, odd and even numbers, addition and subtraction, multiplication, and much more! You can even use a hundreds chart to teach the value of money.
You can start teaching a hundreds chart in many different ways. Most teachers start by introducing children to counting the first few rows of the hundreds chart. In other words, they count a 1-20 number chart. For example, you could project the interactive hundreds chart on the board. Then, black out all of the numbers. Finally, highlight the numbers one at a time as you count as a class. Every day, you can add another row of ten numbers to the chart until you reach one hundred. Once students have a basic understanding of the hundreds chart, you can start to introduce other activities to deepen their understanding.
There are many engaging hundreds chart activities that can help teach students a variety of concepts. Take a look at the following ideas that you can use in your classroom. Among the hundreds chart activities are whole-class, small-group, and individual activities. Take a look: