A New Twist on an Old Favorite

My students LOVE hundreds chart mystery pictures, which is why I've created so many of them.  They love racing to see who can figure out the hidden picture first, they love coloring the pages, and they love working in teams to solve the puzzles.  Change things up a little with addition and subtraction?  Sure!  Solve mystery pictures with base 10 blocks?  Cool!  Recently I came up with a whole new way to do hundreds charts and it is a game changer: in the hundreds pocket chart!

Now I'm asking myself why I didn't think of it before.  We know students need a lot of time and practice understanding 2 digit numbers, but they don't always need paper and pencil tasks.  Somehow they're always ready for hands on active learning though, and my students really love getting to work at the pocket charts.  That works well for me too - I love how little space it takes to use a vertical surface for a center, and that it frees up table tops for things that can't go vertical.

Want to see how these work?  Easy-peasy!

Step 1: print number cards on colored paper.

Step 2: cut on straight lines.

Step 3: have students put them in the hundreds pocket chart!

I like to use these as math centers, assigning 3-5 students at a time to work on solving the puzzle together, but that's not the only option!  You can use these puzzles as a class reward too - each time a student is caught being wonderful, you can give them a number to add to the chart.  When it's completed you can give a reward, or solving the puzzle can be the reward.  Want to use them as a whole class game?  Give each student a blank 100s chart, shuffle the cards for a puzzle, then project the cards one at a time as students find and color the number on their charts!

It's easy to differentiate these puzzles too - you can start with an empty hundreds chart and challenge students to figure out where each number belongs (click Papa Bear for video):

or you can start with some or all of the numbers showing so students only need to match the numbers (click big bad wolf for video).

You may be wondering how I store all these hundreds pocket charts, especially since each one has 100 pieces.  I've come up with several different storage solutions, which all start with one extra card - a picture card of the completed puzzle (I include these in the sets I make).  I put it on the top of the pile of cards for each puzzle, so the puzzles are only mysteries to the children - not to me!

At first I used rubber bands to keep each set together, and stored them in a small box.

I've also used small baggies, binder clips, and even empty candy tins (I do like Altoids!).

I think I found my favorite solution yet at the Target Dollar Spot: divided plastic boxes.  Check these out, they are absolutely perfect!

So now I have my hundreds pocket charts stored by theme in these divided boxes.  I can easily find just what I want, and my students can get hands on practice with 2 digit numbers as often as we need it!  Can you see why this is my new favorite math station?

                                                                                                   Thank you for stopping by!
                                                                                                                      Paula

If you like the idea of using hundreds pocket charts, but don't have time to make them yourself, I'd be honored if you'd consider the growing selection available in my TeachersPayTeachers store.