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Place Value: Lesson 2: bears

2 - Whiteboard Challenges

The Lesson

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In this exciting lesson, we will be reading, writing, comparing and ordering numbers up to 1,000. At the same time, we will be finding out how different bear species differ in terms of their size, mass and other important characteristics.

Useful prior knowledge:

  • To confidently read, write and represent numbers to 100 in a variety ways (including counters in a place value chart and base 10 blocks).
  • To be able to compare and order numbers up to 100.

Did you know?

When a bear ‘hibernates’ during the cold winter months, it is really in a deep sleep. Its body temperature drops and it lives off stores of fat that it built up when food was more plentiful. Some bears lose up to a quarter of their body mass during hibernation.

Whiteboard Challenges

The table below shows some typical body masses of 4 different bear species. They are represented by base 10 blocks and place value counters.

1) What is the mass of each bear in kilograms (kg)?

2) Can you order the different bear weights from lightest to heaviest? 

3) How much heavier is the black bear than the sun bear?