It also uses just a few materials from your Math Kit—making it easy to weave into your daily math routine.
The Why Behind the Warm-Up
In early math, students need repeated, hands-on experiences with composing numbers. Understanding that a number can be made in different ways—by combining two parts—is foundational for addition, part-part-whole thinking, and later, algebraic reasoning.This warm-up emphasizes:
- Cooperation between two students
- Verbalizing strategies (math talk)
- Flexible thinking about number combinations
What You’ll Need:
- Any food-themed play mat (we love the watermelon one from the Math Kit!
- A deck of number cards (or just write numbers on slips of paper)
- Two different colored counters (e.g., blue and yellow)
How to Play:
- Pair up students.
- Flip a number card (between 5 and 10 is a great range to start with).
- Students work together to place that many counters on the play mat
The students discuss and agree on how to split the number. For example:
- If the number is 7, one student might use 3 blue counters and the other might place 4 yellow counters on the mat.
- Encourage students to explain their reasoning: “We made 7 by combining 3 and 4.”, “I put down 2, and she put down 5. 2 + 5 is 7!”
Bonus: Encourage Math Talk
- Give students prompts to guide their discussion:
- “How many do you have?”
- “What number are we trying to make?”
- “What’s another way we could do it?”
- “What does your group look like?”
Keep It Fresh:
- Try with different number ranges (e.g., 1–5 for younger learners, 10–20 for extension).
- Switch up play mats—pizza slices, fruit bowls, or ten frames all work beautifully.
- Challenge students to find all the combinations for a number.