Spin, spin, spin the numbers on these wheels! They add lots of appeal to math success and build young mathletes’ self-confidence.

• 1.

  How exciting to learn how to add and subtract! These wheels can help you jump around between addition and subtraction. You’ll want to make several sets to make sure you know all of your number bonds (they’re also called equations)!

• 2.

  Make three wheels. Divide the back of a large paper plate into several pie sections using Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils and a straight edge. Label sections with numbers around the outside edge using Crayola Fine Line Markers.

• 3.

  With Crayola Scissors, cut out a circle from another plate (see the picture). Make it smaller than your numbered circle. Divide it into sections that match the first plate. Write numbers on each section so all the numbers line up.

• 4.

  On a third paper plate, draw a small center circle and add a tab. This tab needs to be large enough to cover numbers on the second circle. Cut out. On the tab, outline a large plus sign (or a minus sign to practice subtraction) and cut it out to make a hole in that shape. Write a number in the middle.

• 5.

  Assemble your number wheel. Place the plates on top of each other in the order that you made them. Ask an adult to poke a hole in the center of all three layers. Secure with a brass paper fastener.

• 6.

  Start spinning! Pick a number, for example 10. What two numbers combine to equal 10? Pick a number along the edge, like 9, set the plus tab at this number. What number do you need to add to 9 to equal 10? Move the inner numbered circle around so that the number 1 fits inside the plus sign. You’re found the number bond (equation). Can you figure out how to subtract by spinning your minus-sign wheels?

Standards

• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• MATH: Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
• MATH: Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work, using place value and the properties of operations.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Elevator Magic by Stuart J. Murphy; Animals on Board by Stuart J. Murphy
• Students work in small groups to write word problems that illustrate an equation that includes addition or subtraction. After reading the word problem, classmates determine the math equation that matches the problem.
• Use this lesson plan's format to create multiplication number wheels. Encourage students to write word problems to match multiplication equations.