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March 6, 2018
Using Bead Strings to Build Fluency with Number Lines

On the OGAP Additive Progression, open number lines play an important role in the transitional level in supporting the development of additive strategies with understanding.

Your math program most likely expects students to use number lines to represent and support their understanding of addition and subtraction, but do your students understand the attributes of a number line?  Some concepts that students struggle with include the understanding that:
  • Quantity is represented by distance or measurement on a number line, not the tick marks themselves;
  • The number line is continuous. Between any two numbers, there are more numbers.
Remember the red and white bead strings that you made in OGAP training last summer? These are concrete models that can provide an important bridge for students between their understanding of counting and the more abstract representation of magnitude on number lines. 
Click here to download an instructional guide with grade level recommendations for using bead strings and number paths to build fluency with number lines in the early grades. These brief activities can be added as warm-ups, number talks, centers or small group activities.

You can also find items in the Magnitude (M) section of the OGAP Additive item bank that focus specifically on students' understanding and use of number lines.
Action Item

Look through your upcoming units in your program to see where and how number lines or number paths are used.

Use the Building Fluency with Number Lines guide to embed the use of concrete number lines and number paths into your instruction by developing some warm-ups or center activities for students before they are expected to use number lines flexibly for addition and subtraction.

How do these models help support your students' understanding of:
  • grouping by 10's?
  • locating numbers in relation to multiples of 10?
  • incrementing and decrementing numbers by 10's and 1's? 
Did you know?

  • Number lines are introduced and used throughout the enVisionmath2.0 materials in 1st and 2nd grade.
  • HMH Expressions uses number paths throughout grade 1 and 2 (e.g., on the MathBoard) and introduces the number line at the end of grade 2.