What Is That Digit Doing? Tens and Ones
🎯 Today's mission briefing
We are learning that the spot a digit sits in tells you what it is worth — so we can build, write, read and compare two-digit numbers and know which one is bigger without counting every piece.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can build a two-digit number with bundles of ten and loose ones, and say how many of each
- I can write a number I have built, putting the tens digit first and the ones digit second
- I can say which of two numbers is bigger by looking at the tens first, and explain how I know
The 26 and 62 Argument
Connects to what your guest already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
Helper, read aloud and perform: I need you to settle an argument. (Write 26 on one card and 62 on another and hold them up.) I reckon these two are basically the same number. Look at them! Same two digits — a 2 and a 6 — just having a bit of a swap. Same shapes, same amount, surely? (Pause. Let them react.) You don't agree? Alright — prove it. Because I'm not budging until somebody SHOWS me. And here's the thing: by the end of today, you'll be able to show me with cups, and you'll be able to tell me exactly what each digit is doing standing there.