LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Number Reasoning
Place Value and Expanded Form
ENGAGE (10 min.)
 Review the expectations of working in the outdoor classroom.
 Ask students to record some quick weather observations (as a
whole class or in individual journals).
 Ask students if they have ever thought about how many leaves
they can find on a single plant. How would they estimate this?
(Ask students to share their ideas with a partner).
 Tell students they’ll have some time to estimate how many leaves
are on some of the plants in the garden.
Grade
3rd
Timeframe
45 minutes
Materials
 Student journals/pencils
EXPLORE (20 min.)
 Before allowing students to get started, model how to look at a plant and make an estimate of how
many leaves are on the plant. (Look at one branch, estimate the leaves, and then multiply by the
number of branches)
 Model how to write the name of the plant in a journal (or do a quick sketch if name is not known) and
write down the estimate.
 Give students plenty of time to wander the outdoor classroom making at least 5 – 10 different
estimates in their own journals.
EXPLAIN (15 min.)
 Bring students back to the central gathering area. Ask students to briefly share their estimates with a
partner and share the strategies they used for making their estimate.
 Ask students to create a place value chart in their journal and put each of their estimates into the chart
(check journals as students work).
 Ask students to share one of their numbers with a partner and have that partner write out their
number with expanded form (check journals as they work). Repeat with 2 – 3 numbers, depending on
available time.
 Ask students to list their numbers in order from least to greatest.
ELABORATE (flexible)
 Provide students with another opportunity to create a list of estimated numbers in their journal and
provide them with a list of the different ways they should process the numbers they gathered
(expanded form, place value, list from greatest to least, etc.).
EVALUATE (flexible)
 Check students’ journals for work/understanding.
 Assess students’ understanding of concepts with traditional paper/pencil testing.
Copyright  2014 REAL School Gardens
www.realschoolgardens.org
OBJECTIVES
Math
3.2 Number and operations. The student applies mathematical process standards to represent and
compare whole numbers and understand relationships related to place value. The student is expected to:
(A) compose and decompose numbers up to 100,000 as a sum of so many ten thousands, so many
thousands, so many hundreds, so many tens, and so many ones using objects, pictorial models, and
numbers, including expanded notation as appropriate;
(B) describe the mathematical relationships found in the base-10 place value system
Copyright  2014 REAL School Gardens
www.realschoolgardens.org