Use this lesson to introduce the tool of base-ten blocks to your students. This scaffolded EL support lesson can be used as a stand-alone activity, or prior to teaching Three-Digit Addition with Base-Ten Models.

In this lesson, students use cubes to build arrays to represent factor pairs of numbers within 100. They use this understanding to identify multiples as well.

Let’s start building numbers! Just as building skyscrapers is a visual representation of mathematics, students will use the visual representation of base-ten blocks to add—or build—onto a two-digit number.

Use this lesson to familiarize students with the place value of each digit within a three-digit number, along with practicing the written form of three-digit numbers. Use prior to teaching Place Value Hop or as a stand alone activity.