Bead Village — Lesson 8: Hundreds: 100 to 999

What your child does, card by card

Hundreds: 100 to 999. Two rods count up to 99. PlayType opens the lesson: “The third rod is the hundreds.”

Two rods fill up: tens to 90. Ones to 9. That is 99. Yellow marks the tens rod and the ones rod while the kids talk about them. The abacus makes 10, then clears. On the card, “10 to 40”, “50”, “60 to 90” and “99” light up one by one. Then the card invites a touch: “Tap a bead on any rod. Hear its number.”

Ten tens make one hundred: at 99, two rods are full. The ones rod, the tens rod and the hundreds rod are outlined in yellow while the kids explain. The beads show 99 and go back to zero. Each label lights in turn: “Full at 99” and “10 tens = 1 hundred”. After the show, the child can touch: “Tap a bead on any rod. Hear its number.”

100, 200, 300 … 900: on this rod, each bead is 100. A yellow line goes round the hundreds rod as the kids name it. 100 appears on the beads, then the rod clears again. “100 to 400”, “500: the top bead” and “600 to 900” glow on the card in step with the beads. The card ends on a touch: “Just like the tens rod.”

Three rods, one number: 300 and 50 and 2 make 352. Yellow marks the hundreds rod, the tens rod and the ones rod while the kids talk about them. Above, “3 hundreds = 300”, “5 tens = 50” and “2 ones = 2” take turns to glow. Its words: “Look at the little numbers under the rods.”

An empty rod is a zero: no beads on a rod: that place is 0. The tens rod, the hundreds rod and the ones rod are outlined in yellow while the kids explain. The beads show 105 and 230 and go back to zero. The labels “105 has no tens” and “230 has no ones” light up as each idea comes. “Look at the little numbers under the rods.” Any bead or finger may be tapped afterwards.

Try it puts a green ring on each next bead; your child makes 100, 352, 105 and 230, changing the beads from one number to the next.

A tiny practice with no ring: make 200, make 500, make 900, make 450, make 509, make 999 and clear the abacus, each number made from the one before without clearing.

In your head: the beads flash 104, 140 and 401, one at a time, for 2 seconds each and hide; your child picks the number from 104, 140 and 401, then sees the beads again.

You're ready! Ten tens make one hundred. You can make every number up to 999.

What this lesson trains

14 answers in about five minutes. The tasks take 31 bead moves in all: 14 with a top bead and 17 with bottom beads. 1 of them is a clear. Up to 999, read and set from the left. Then 3 quick looks in your head.

The first thing your child does: make 100, 352, 105 and 230.

Fingers and hands

Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 10 and 99 here, finger for bead: the left hand counts the tens, the right hand the ones.

Above 99 the drawn hands rest, faded, because ten fingers stop at 99; the abacus keeps going.

What PlayBuddy and PlayType say

PlayType: “The third rod is the hundreds.”

PlayType: “Ten, twenty, thirty, forty. And the top bead is fifty!”

PlayType: “Sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. Now the tens rod is full too!”

PlayBuddy: “Ninety-nine, and one more. No room again! So one bead goes up on the next rod.”

PlayBuddy: “Our hands stop at ninety-nine. The beads go on.”

PlayType: “One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred. The top bead is five hundred!”

PlayBuddy: “Three, five, two. That makes three hundred fifty-two!”

PlayType: “An empty rod is a zero. One, zero, five makes one hundred five.”

Stars

With 1 or fewer slips across the 14 answers your child earns three stars; 3 or fewer, two.