Using Maps to Teach The Real Number System Part 2

Here are pictures of the following 

1) A medium size picture of a world map
2) A picture of the map of Australia 
3) A picture of the map of the United States
4) A picture of the map of the state of New York
5) A picture of the map of The City of New York
6) A picture of the map of Time Square within New York City

Students will cut out each picture paste them to the worksheet labeling each part real, rational, irrational, integer, whole and natural like so. 

The point of this task is to establish the fact that specific numbers can be both

You can download these in the Math downloads section

The Real Number Universe (The Realverse)

I must confess that i have a love for these Real Number themes. Here our latest variation, The Realverse.

An awesome idea would be for your students to list some crazy properties about each world. For example, in Natural World, everyone grows directly from 2 feet to 3 feet. Or, everyones age on the planet is in natural numbers

The Real Number System Zoo

There are tons of ways for teaching the real number system without relying simply on drill and kill. This is an awesome project. As you can see, nothing is labeled except the numbers themselves. This way your student must explain the project to you--helping him solidify his or her memory of the terms

The Real Number Diorama. Shoebox & Math

The Real Number Sea

This was fun. Notice that each of the foam sea creatures correlates in some way to the real number system. 

Pin The Tail On The Real Number Donkey

Other Ideas For Teaching The Real Number System

Playing Real Number Darts


(many variations)

Give students the number, for example Pi.
Have them either

1. ball the number up and throw it at the right position on the diagram (irrational).

2. Have them make a spitball and shoot it at the right position



Pin The Real Number Tail on The Diagram

Use a poster to draw a number system on the wall. Cut up lots of numbers and place them in a bag/box
Have students come to you and pick a number out of a bag and take a piece of tape
Have students tape the number in the right position on the diagram


Jumping Toward The Real Number

Use a poster or sidewalk chalk to draw a number system on the ground. Cut up lots of numbers and place them in a bag/box
Have students come to you and pick a number out of a bag.
Then have students jump to the right position

Real Number Basketball

Using small basketball hoops (you may use cups, or boxes), label each hoop Irrational, Rational, Natural, Integer or Whole Cut up lots of numbers and place them in a bag/box
Have students come to you and pick a number out of a bag.
Have students shoot a ball to the correct hoop

Real Number Twister
(Get permission from administrator)

Using a poster draw the twister board as shown above. Label each circle , Rational, Natural, Integer or Whole. Ask for three volunteers

                       Call out random numbers to make them stretch and reach the correct category

Creating a Real Number Maze
Create a maze by hand or print one through puzzelmaker.com



Label each street Irrational Rd, Rational Rd, Natural Street, Integer lane or Whole Street

Pick a few random numbers (pi, -3, 0) that need to move through the maze. Students will need to navigate each number through the maze while paying attention to each street so that they don’t disobey the real number system. For example, the number zero may not navigate through any street named Natural because it would violate the number system.

Real Number Hot Potato

Cluster students into groups of five.




Have each student label their self either Irrational, Rational, Natural, Integer or Whole



Giving one of the students a ball



When you yell out a number, students must throw the ball to the right person.



For example, yell Pi, and students must know to throw the ball to the irrational person.

Teaching the Real Number System

Using a diagram like that shown below there are various ways to teach the real number system.

Having Students Create Their Own Diagram




Have students take the concept show in the diagram above and create their own diagram for the real number system. For example, here are some examples of what students have produced for me.

Beware, students have a habit of drawing a shape and randomly labeling parts. Therefore, you must make them aware that their diagram must be mathematically consistent. For example, if they use a face for their diagram, they may label the eyes rational and ears counting, etc. This would be incorrect since counting numbers are within rational numbers.