100 Numbers Group Task

"100 Numbers Group Activity" Sheets. 8 different number arrangements. Free Printable 100 numbers sheets. Fun math activities for the first week of school. Beginning of the year group activity for math class. Number identification to 100.

Image: 100 numbers activity sheets

1. Goal

Students will name features of good group work in a safe beginning of the year activity.

2. Task Description

This activity from Sara VanDerWerf is a keeper. Refer to her original blog post 100 Numbers to Get Students Talking, for details and additional ideas.

  • Students work in groups of 3-5
  • Each student has a highlighter
  • Each group has one of the sheets
  • Give the groups 2 minutes to find as many of the numbers from 1-100, consecutively, as possible
  • At 2 min call "time" and have students put highlighters down.
  • Group members will take turns going in a circle highlighting each number as they find it.
    • Student 1 will highlight 1, student 2 highlights 2, student 3 highlights 3…. When we get back to student 1, they highlight the next number.
    • They can help each other find numbers, but each student has to highlight their number in turn.
    • Students have usually found between 15-40 numbers.
  • Have groups discuss strategy of how they found the numbers.
  • Repeat the task with a new sheet of paper and 2 more minutes.
  • Have students discuss again and then discuss as a class.
  • Show patterns of sheets
  • Do 3rd time. Usually one group gets to 100 during their 3rd try.
    • Teacher task: During students working time, take photos of each group trying to attract the least attention.
  • After the 3rd try, show the photos to students in your class working with their groups and ask then to list what a good group work looks like.
  • Write a class list of features of quality group work.

Image: patterns 100 numbers

3. Suggestions

  • use this task the first week of school.
  • This task is considered 'safe' by most. Students don't need to know one another to engage in the task. It requires little math knowledge.
  • Follow up this task in the next couple of days with tasks with richer mathematics so students believe group work will be a norm in mathematics class.

This file contains the 8 different arrangements of numbers: 4 arrangements for 3 sectors (useful for 3 team members) and 4 arrangements for 4 sectors (for 4 or 5 players). Download it in PDF format [PDF Document]. Use the password worksheets.site to open it.