Students have been spending time during our math block exploring a unit called The Double Decker Bus. Within the context of a story about a little girl who watches passengers get on and off the top and bottom levels of a bus from her bedroom window, this unit introduces the math rack as a model and tool for addition. It focuses on building student understanding of five as a unit for counting accurately and efficiently. In large and small group activities, students manipulate the beads on the math rack to represent passengers going from one deck on the bus to the other and sitting in various combinations of red and white seats. Discussions revolve around the big ideas of unitizing, compensation and equivalence, and strategies for counting. Moving forward, young mathematicians will use the math rack as a tool to solve add to and take from story problems with a result unknown and to examine the relationship between addition and subtraction.
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