Resources / Activity / Paper Plate Part-Part-Whole

Paper Plate Part-Part-Whole

Back to Activities Print
  • DOMAIN(S)
    Cognitive Development and General Knowledge (CD)
  • INDICATOR(S)
    CD-MA7.4b
  • AGE GROUP(S)
    48-60 months

As a foundation for solving addition and subtraction problems, introduce the children to part-part-whole activities. These are designed to help the children understand that any whole number greater than one can be represented in parts. For example, five is four and one, two and three or zero and five. To help the children focus on this idea, give them a paper plate divided into thirds, and a small quantity of counters. Place the target number in the large space on the plate and ask them to place the counters in the two remaining spaces in any way they choose. Comment on what they have done. “Suzy put three bears here and three bears here; that makes how many in all?” and “Keisha put five bears in this space and one bear in this space. How many does she have in all?” Encourage the children to move the bears on their plates to create different combinations. Say, “What happens if you move one of your bears to another space? Does the total change?” To extend this activity, add additional plates and review various concepts such as shape attributes and the vocabulary of “more,” “less,” “more than,” “less than” and “equal to.” This can be done in small group.  

Quick Links