Virtual MAB Blocks Whiteboard Tool: MAB Builder (Years 1 to 4)
This virtual MAB blocks tool for Year 1 to Year 4 is MAB Builder, an interactive PowerPoint tool by Teach This aligned to the Australian Curriculum. Students partition and rename two- and three-digit numbers as hundreds, tens and ones, including numbers with a zero digit. Tapping a coloured column button adds one block, and the number at the top changes with every tap. Each column holds up to 9 blocks, so any number from 0 to 999 can be built. There are three modes: Build a number, Guess my number and Make my number. Guess my number hides the total under a yellow cover until the teacher taps it. Make my number gives ten target numbers to build.
It opens in Microsoft PowerPoint on any interactive whiteboard, panel or projector, with no macros, no student logins and no student data collected. Use it in place of a tub of physical MAB, so every student can see the blocks from their seat.
Learning goals
- We are learning to show that one- and two-digit numbers can be partitioned in different ways, such as partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones.
- We are learning to show that two- and three-digit numbers can be partitioned and re-named in different ways, such as partitioning three-digit numbers into hundreds, tens and ones.
- We are learning to count collections to 100 using place value groupings.
- We are learning to count collections to 1000 using place value groupings.
Curriculum alignment
Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.
Differentiation
Modifications
Start with tens and ones only and leave the hundreds column empty for younger students. Let students build the number with physical MAB at their desk before tapping the board.
Extensions
Ask students to show the same number in a different way with physical MAB, such as 3 hundreds and 14 ones. Challenge them to say the number that is 10 more or 100 more than the one on the board.