Breaking Numbers Apart
🎯 What we're learning today
We are learning to partition numbers in different ways, because flexible numbers are easier to work with.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can partition a number the standard way (3,426 = 3,000 + 400 + 20 + 6)
- I can partition the same number in at least one non-standard way (3,426 = 3,400 + 26)
- I can explain when breaking a number apart makes a problem easier
The broken chocolate block
Connects to what your child already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
A chocolate block has 24 squares. You can snap it into 20 + 4, or 12 + 12, or 10 + 10 + 4 — it's still 24 squares of chocolate. Numbers work exactly the same way, and 'snapping' them cleverly is a mathematician's favourite trick.