Set up five activity stations. Divide the class into groups of four students and assign groups to stations. Encourage them to visit each of the stations during class time. [If you need more than five stations, you might choose to have more than one of any of the stations.] Since students will need more direction at Station 3, you may wish to introduce this to the whole class before
beginning station exploration time.
Each student should roll one die and make a set with as many buttons as there are dots on the die. Then the group should work together to compare the sets and write all the subtraction sentences that are indicated by the four sets. Ask them to record the comparisons in pictures and in number sentences.
Provide each pair with two dice and twelve buttons. The children work in pairs to roll dice, make a set with that many buttons, and compare the sets. The pair with the most buttons in their set makes a tallying mark. After 10 rounds, the children compare their tallies; the one with the most tallies wins the game.
Help the students find the Graphing Tool. When they arrive at the website, ask them to select Bar Chart. Using the class button data from Lesson 7, ask the students to make a bar chart. [You may want to describe the
difference between labeling the chart and labeling the vertical axis.] Allow them to choose the colors for each bar. [When the chart is displayed, the number of students who wore each number of buttons appears at the top of each bar.] Ask the students to print their graph after they are satisfied that it displays the data correctly. Then ask them to compare the computer-generated graph with the
graph they made with the sticky notes.
Distribute 10 buttons and a brightly colored sheet of paper to each pair of students. Have one student in each pair drop the buttons and count those that land on the paper. The other student will count those that land off the paper. After they compare the numbers, the student whose number is greater records the difference between the buttons that landed on the paper and the buttons that
landed off the paper as his or her score for that round. The play continues until one player has 25 points.
Provide buttons and a Button Bingo Grid Activity Sheet to the players. Remind the players
how to play the game (see Lesson 3). Then designate one player as caller.
After the children have had time at the stations, call them together and ask them to record in their journals what happened at their station.
