Making Accommodations: Close to 100
Meeting with a small group that needs help with a particular skill or activity gives
the students a safe place to process what is expected of them and to express their
ideas with my support. One lesson that often requires accommodations is a game
called Close to 100 (Russell et al. 2008m). The students choose 6 cards from a set
of digit cards (digits 0–9 and wild cards). Out of these 6 cards, they need to choose
4 cards to make 2, 2-digit numbers that when combined will result in a sum as
close to 100 as possible. For example, if a student drew a 2, 7, 6, 0, 3, and 9, they
would ideally pick 26 and 73 or 37 and 62.
Before we begin the game, the whole class has a conversation about how to
get close to 100. Many students jump right in and start putting together the dig-
its, whether or not they get as close to 100 as possible. Many will discuss the
importance of paying attention to the 1s, others will focus on making the 10s
equal 90 or 100. This initial conversation can be somewhat overwhelming for
the students who do not have a strong number sense background or are not
computationally fluent. So, I will meet with a small group before they begin the
game to preview it. I help them understand what they need to know to play the
game and to reinforce the connections with what they already know about 100.
We develop a set of “rules” for them to work with. Usually, we tend to focus just
on the 10s and find ways to make 90, 100, and 110. The students record these
ideas and create their own strategy chart to use as a reference during the game.
We talk about what 100 is and then different ways to make 100. (We’ve already
done lots of work using a 100 chart, building 100, working with 10s, moving up
and down both the number line and the 100 chart by 10s.) The students usual-
ly begin by naming the ways with which they are familiar, such as: 50 50,
60 40, 70 30, and so on. These are then listed on one strategy chart. They
may also add 25 75 or 99 1, 98 2, 97 3, and so on. Expressions such
as these will be placed on an additional chart. Below is an excerpt from a con-
versation I had with three students who were struggling when moving around
on the 100 chart.
TEACHER: We have done a lot of work around 100. Can you name some
number sentences using 2 numbers that get us to 100? [A number line and 100
chart are accessible to the students.]
STEPHANIE: I know that 50 50 100.
DAQUAN: Oh, 70 30 and 20 80 and 60 40.
TEACHER: How did you know so many so quickly?
DAQUAN: Because it’s like getting to 10.
TEACHER: Can you explain what you mean by that?
DAQUAN:7 3 makes 10 so 70 30 makes 100.BUILDINGUNDERSTANDINGTHROUGHTALK