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The mathematical caterpillar

A programme to develop the sense of decimal positional notation

Anna Baccaglini-Frank, Alessandro Ramploud, Pietro Di Martino, Maria Mellone, Roberta Munarini

Product: Book

Trim size in cm: 21x29,7cm

Pages: 152

ISBN: 978-88-590-2460-6

Publication date: 01/03/2021

Suitable for: Primary 1st level (ages 6-7)


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The book proposes an original and alternative way to bring primary school children closer to mathematics, with particular attention to the breaking down of numbers, through the use of two special items, which allow you to play with breaking down and building up numbers to support the construction of fundamental mathematical concepts while working with natural numbers.

Fafù the caterpillar
The mathematical caterpillar Fafù is a cardboard cutout that was created with the aim of talking to children about mathematical concepts with a language suitable for their age and with activities designed specifically for the first years of school. There is a caterpillar for the first grade to build up and break down numbers up to 20, and a caterpillar for second and third grades for numbers up to 100.  The caterpillars are two accordion-folded strips, onto which children can attach the units, the tens and hundreds with velcro, always creating new numbers. After attaching the number cards, the caterpillar can be closed to view the number as it is written in decimal positional notation.

The proposed worksheets include:

  • Activities for managing a collective class discussion
  • Activities for exploring to be carried out individually (or in pairs)
  • Games for student pairs (or small groups)
  • Consolidation activities, which offer students an opportunity to become familiar with certain reasonings in a flexible way


Index

CHAPTER 1 The mathematical caterpillar Fafù and his number representation
WORKSHEETS
• Introduction to the number cards from 0 to 9
• Introduction to the two-digit number cards (10, 20, 30, etc.)
• Introduction to the caterpillar Fafù
• Discovery of number representation with Fafù
• Lexical aspects of decimal number composition and decomposition
• Representation of single digit numbers with Fafù
• Addition and subtraction with numbers up to 31 without the composition/decomposition of tens

CHAPTER 2 The mathematical caterpillar Fafù and numbers to 99
WORKSHEETS
• Discovering the representation of numbers to 99 with Fafù
• Lexical aspects of decimal number composition and decomposition
• Number representation with Fafù and the representation of tens and units
• Addition with the composition of tens
• Subtraction with the decomposition of tens
• Exercises with addition and subtraction
• Caterpillar puzzles for further thinking

CHAPTER 3 The mathematical caterpillar Fafù and numbers to 999
WORKSHEETS
• Discovering the representation of numbers from 100 to 999 with Fafù
• Lexical aspects of decimal number composition and decomposition
• Addition and subtraction within 999
• Caterpillars, bubbles and the “why” behind the algorithms of addition and subtraction in columns
• How would Fafù represent the number 1000? A mental experiment
• Caterpillar puzzles for further thinking