How to use base 10 blocks in upper elementary

[Earthmerlin]

I may be late coming to the party but I just acquired a set of base 10 blocks for my 4th grader. I'd like to know how I can use them with thpical 4th grade math topics. Most online guides are geared towards primary. Can you suggest both pertinent activities as well as additional online ideas? 

[HomeAgain]

Have you checked out Education Unboxed?  I'd start there.

After that, I'd check out The Super Source books for ideas.

[desertflower]

Showing the area of a rectangle/square.

Hth

[kbutton]

Decimal place value: https://www.google.com/search?q=base+ten+blocks+for+decimals&hl=en&authuser=0&rlz=1C1KDEC_enUS827US827&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=9wnj3ViSsRb8UM%3A%2CjiSBSrWsgh453M%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTZCSYzWf4LqpDnUc8AJITWtOux9A&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwi4t-G0rfjgAhVK5rwKHS6dATYQ9QEwAHoECAAQIQ#imgrc=9wnj3ViSsRb8UM:

 

 

[Targhee]

Decimals for sure. If you use a thousands cube as a 1, you can go back to tenths (ten rod) and hundredths (unit cube) to illustrate that decimals are just an extension of base ten.

[LMD]

I used them a lot in teaching long division

[wathe]

I second the education unboxed videos recommendation

I use the base ten  tens rods, hundreds flats and thousands cubes to complement our work with cuisenaire rods.  Especially for multi-digit multiplication, long division, and decimal work.  C-rod and base ten blocks both use centimeter units so are fully compatible.  I don't use the unit cubes much.

[Farrar]

We found them (along with a set of C-rods) really useful for long division as well as multiplication and division with decimals.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My dd just finished level 4 of singapore math.  Here are some of the activities we did with blocks:

- Long division using blocks to clearly show what EACH step actually meant

- Reviewing multi-digit multiplication, and making mental problems of 2digit x 1digit much easier.

- Factoring.  Think of factoring as creating different rectangles with the same number of unit cubes.  So, 12 can be made into a 1by12, 2by6, and 3by4 rectangle, and those are also the factors.  This is also great for getting deeper into factoring, and why a factor of 6 automatically means the number has factors of 2 and 3.  And so on.  

- Fractions.  We used the 100 flat to represent 1 (1 dollar is the easiest way for kids to think of it).  Then ten rods become tenths (aka dimes) and one cubes are hundredths, aka pennies.  Then do the whole mental exercise again, this time calling the 1000 cube one (100s become tenths, tens become hundredths, and ones become thousandths.)  Using the 100 flat as a dollar also makes it really easy to see how to make change.  If 47 pennies are spent, we see easily that 53 are not spent.  So subtracting from 100 becomes a very fast mental skill.

Concept of larger numbers.  What does ten thousand look like? - like a giant ten-rod.  100,000 looks like a giant 100 flat, but with thousands instead of ones.  A million looks like a giant (!) cube, which we measured out (1 m x 1m x 1m) to see just how much space one million ones would look like.  We also did things like, how many one rods or ten rods to go 1km?  What about to cover 1 square km of land?  

- Problems of area and volume.  We did calculations of how many square cm our table top is, then measured it out to see why area is length times width.  Similarly with volume.  We started with volumes of shapes we could make with the one cubes, then figured out how we would calculate the number of cubes to fill the volume under our table.  So we went from working with the base ten blocks to working with measuring tape.  

I hope that gives you some ideas!

[goldenecho]

My kiddo is a little behind so may not be doing what you're doing.... but here are some things I do with mine:

I show him how carrying works by showing what carrying is doing with the blocks (you can teach carrying without this, but it can be helpful for them to understand why it works).

Base 10 blocks are great for multiplication arrays or demonstrating division.