Lesson Plan Title: Zero is Our Hero

Grade Level: Pre K-K

Duration: Two 45-minute sessions

Student Goals:
1. Students will understand that counting by 10s is counting large sets of things;
2. Students will build a mental picture of what 100 things look like (100 milk cartons, 100 pennies, 100 children, 100 square feet);
3. Children will see logic to the sequence 10, 20, 30, 40, etc.

Student Objectives:
1. Students will make folding cards that hide a zero and when opened up reveal a new numeral;
2. Students will be able to put folding numeral cards in sequential order;
3. Students will be able to recognize numerals 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

List Materials:
1. Royal blue 12" X 18" construction paper
2. White paper 6" X 6"
3. Red zeros cut out on die cut or traced and pre-cut
4. Crayons
5. 200 yellow rectangles 2" X 2", with 1/3 of the rectangle folded over. Lay the rectangle flat on the table. Fold the right side over until the right paper-edge makes a line down the center of the folded paper. Imagine writing a numeral 10 on this paper. The 1 will be out in the open. The 0 will be under the flap.
6. Glue
7. 20 fine line black markers
8. Typed couplet, one for each student:

Zero is our Hero.
He makes numbers bigger!

Set Up and Prepare:
1. Have 20 zeros pre-cut
2. Cut 200 yellow rectangles 2" X 2" and fold with the 1/3rd flap
3. Cut white paper into 20, 6" X 6" pieces

Directions:

Day 1
Step 1: Have students glue the zero on the middle of the white paper.

Step 2: Using crayons, draw face inside the zero.

Step 3: Using crayons, make a cowboy hat on top of the zero
.
Step 4: Using crayons, make arms and legs coming out from the zero.

Step 5: Teacher cuts out each Hero for next day's activity.

Day 2
Step 1: Glue Hero to the middle of the Royal Blue 12" X 18" construction paper

Step 2: With marker or pencil, have students write numeral 10 on one yellow rectangle that has 1/3 of the paper is folded. Show students that the 1should show and the zero should be behind the flap. When the paper is completely open, the whole numeral 10 shows.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 for numerals 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100

Step 4: Glue numerals 10-50 above Zero the Hero on the blue paper. Glue the numerals 60-100 across the bottom.

Step 5: Glue on the words:

Zero is a Hero
He makes numbers bigger!

Lesson Extension:
1. Use ten paper plates to put ten objects on each plate. Label each plate with a numeral (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100). This is a great activity to use when sharing collections. The students like to break down each other's collections into ten groups of ten.

Assess Students:
Teacher Observation:
1. Were students able to count by ten?
2. Were students able to put numerals in sequential order?

Evaluate Lesson:
1. Do students see the relationship between 3 and 30, between 4 and 4 sets of 10 or 40?
2. Do they understand that if they sequence the numbers 1-10, when they open the yellow rectangles, the numbers 10-100 will already be sequenced?
3. Can students tell me why Zero is our Hero?

Assignments:
1. Have students bring in a collection of 100 items.
2. Break collections down into ten groups of 100 items