A picture line can be fun!Author(s): KATHERINE PATTERSONSource: The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 16, No. 8 (DECEMBER 1969), pp. 603-605Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41187557 .

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A picture line can be fun! KATHERINE PATTERSON

Katherine Patterson is an assistant principal at the Laytonsville Elementary School in Montgomery County, Maryland. She has been a classroom teacher, a student-teacher sponsor, and a resource teacher in elementary mathematics.

When the young child enters school, he has many opportunities to become involved with mathematics. Among the varied class- room activities that the writer has used, the walk-on picture line is one that delights children. This activity uses movement, -I builds on the child's environment, and de- velops oral language. The pictures may be changed according to the interest of the group. The activities with the picture line are informal in nature, and they are fun! Many mathematical concepts can be intro- duced, such as the cardinal and ordinal use of numbers; idea of a starting point; use of a precise vocabulary such as before, after, between, how many, which one, and which place; directions on a line; counting; one-to-one correspondence; addition and subtraction.

To work with a picture line, start with a set of five pictures. As the child's concepts of number values from one to ten increase, the set may be enlarged to ten pictures. The pictures should be large cutout pic- tures that can be taped to the floor. A 12" x 15" picture is a good size.

Pictures are cut out to show the shape of the object to add to the interest level. At first, the set can include a variety of objects such as cat, ball, top, tree, and kite. After the set is assembled, the teacher can hold up one picture at a time, and the children can have a chance to identify the picture. As a child identifies a picture, he can hold the picture and stand in line with the other children side by side. Also, the class can

work on spatial relationships as they place the pictures on the floor. Questions can be asked such as: "How can we place our pictures in a straight line?" "Is there the same space between each picture?"

After the pictures are taped in place on the floor, the teacher and the class can establish some rules for the games. A recall of outdoor games in which a starting place is needed will serve as a basis for deciding on the rules.

1. A starting place is needed. (We need a place to wait for directions. This place indicates that we have not taken any steps. A chalk mark or a piece of tape can be used for this purpose.)

2. Let each picture represent a step. 3. Always start on the starting line un-

less told otherwise. 4. Proceed from left to right unless

given special directions.

Example :

II Ь 0 Ф $ $ Then the teacher and children play the game.

Types of questions and activities

Where will you start? Take two steps. On which picture are

you standing? Take five steps, etc. Walk to the tree. How many steps did it

take to get to the tree?

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How many steps is the ball from the kite? The cat from the tree?

Which picture is two steps away from the ball?

Take two steps and one more step. On which picture are you standing? How many steps from the starting place is it?

Take four steps. Go back two steps. On which picture are you standing? How many steps from the starting place is it?

Show a pattern. - >- » Explain that when arrows are used, each arrow represents one step. The arrow also shows the direction of the step. Therefore, - > means one step to the right. - »- > means two steps to the right. > > > means three steps to the right. The three arrows may be arranged into different patterns such as

- ► - >- » or - >- » - >

Four may be arranged as

Show a pattern. Example:

Take this many steps plus one more step. Show a pattern. Example:

Take the number of steps that is one less than what the pattern shows.

Show two patterns. Example:

and

Take the number of steps that is the smaller number of steps in the picture; the larger number.

Take one step. On which picture are you standing? Which place is the picture?

How many steps to the third picture? Which picture is it?

Walk to the last picture, first, third, etc. Walk to the picture just before the tree,

kite, etc. Walk to the picture just after the ball. Walk to the picture between the top and

the kite; the ball and the tree.

604

Walk to the picture just before the third picture; just after the second picture; be- tween the first and third picture, etc.

Walk to the second picture. Take three more steps. Where are you? How many steps is it altogether from the starting place?

Walk to the picture of something that bounces.

Have children close eyes and change the order of the pictures. (This is one reason why it is a good idea to tape the pictures rather than have them painted on the floor. ) Then ask the same questions as be- fore.

Have children change the fourth picture with the last picture; the second with the fourth.

After the children have had many ex- periences walking the picture line and are ready for paper work, each child can make his individual picture line. The child's pic- ture line could be made on adding-machine paper and rolled up when not in use. The same type of questions as before may be asked, and the child could point to the correct picture or could cover up the pic- ture with a counter. After much work with the individual picture line, a follow-up ac- tivity such as the following could be pro- vided.

- » means one step to the right; <- means one step to the left. - ><- means to take one step to the right and turn around and go back one step to the left.

means go three steps to the right and at that point go one step to the left.

Finish the chart on the next page. When two parts of the chart are given,

the child should discover the third part for himself. A different column can be left blank each time. This provides variety.

After many experiences with a picture line, the transition to the number line is quite logical. Have a picture line made and have another line with points marked'.

The Arithmetic Teacher /December 1969

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Finish the Г START 1 NUMBER OF STEPS I STOP "j chart: I I STAKT

I

I

ч ■• • • * • -- • >

Procedure - The position on the picture line that indicated the child was waiting for direction and hadn't taken any steps was symbolized by the word "start." There- fore the symbol that could be used on the number line to indicate no steps have been taken, and the child is waiting to begin, is zero.

*o ' ' ' ' ~

On the picture line, it took one step to

get from "start" to the (J) . On the number line it takes one step to get from "0" to the next point that can be labeled "1." To get from "0" to the point after "1," it takes two steps that we can label "2," etc.

Children can see order and sequence on the number line. Likewise, they can see the reason why we start on '0" and not "1" when taking steps.

There are many more activities and games that can be done with the number line. Be creative. Try some and have fun!

Thumb-Tacktics

When we fasten a drawing to a wall or to a bulletin board, we usually use four thumbtacks - when we. can find them. We settle for one, two, or three when thumbtacks are scarce.

Ä Ä

Figure 1 Figure 2

pushed through two thicknesses of paper. In figure 2 we get by with six thumbtacks.

fi fr fr

fr Ifr L

If we have two drawings to mount, we some- times double up by using the same thumbtacks

We might, of course, put up two drawings as

[Continued on p. 630]

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