Expanded form can be a bit tricky for the little guys – we worked on it this week and thanks to one of my teaching friends I have a fun saying that will stick with them.
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I have always talked about how expanded form is stretchy like a snake but she has a memorable saying that I liked even better. She says that she always teaches it with a rubber band.
So like you see above I wrote these numbers on my board and held up a rubber band just like shown. I stretched it out to show them how you can expand numbers like this.
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Maybe you are familiar with this idea – If you have used the squishy toys ( snakes ) to stretch sounds/ words for phonics it’s a similar idea. I’ve used this in reading groups for years.
I think the saying expand like a rubber band has a better ring to it than showing the stretchy snake personally. So, I will be using this idea from my friend from now on…so smart. #lovecollaborating
Try it out, don’t forget to follow me here every Wednesday for my Wait for it Wednesday blog posts or on Instagram for my Sunday Night Snippets every Sunday night where I share tips and tricks you can use right away in your classroom.
Happy teaching my friends!
