Number Sprint Teacher Guide Tier 3 Intervention 30-Minute Outdoor Math Grades 2–5
Pavement Number Sprint: Facilitator Guide
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Kinesthetic Place Value
Intervention Focus: Concrete-to-representational bridge for students struggling to differentiate digit face value from positional value , and students unable to flexibly decompose numbers (e.g., seeing that 320 is not just 3 hundreds and 2 tens, but also 32 tens).
Sidewalk Chalk Court Setup (Blacktop/Pavement)
15 × 25 ft space
STARTING LINE / RUNNER LAUNCH PAD (Beanbags & Cards)
10,000s Ten-Thous (Gr 4-5)
1,000s Thousands (Gr 3-5)
100s Hundreds (All)
10s Tens (All)
1s Ones (All)
Target Buckets / Toss Hoops at back of each lane 10 ft sprint distance
Indoor Backup: Use painter's tape on gym or classroom floor with foam beanbags or sticky notes.
Outdoor Gear Box
Sidewalk Chalk: 2-3 bold colors for drawing lane boundaries & large digits.15–20 Beanbags or Cones: Used as physical unit counters in target rings.Task Dashcards: Printed deck sorted by grade band.Student Clipboards: Field Sheets + pencils for dual recording.
Group Size: Ideal for 2–6 Tier 3 students (partners or relay pairs).
30-Minute Lesson Pacing Guide
5 Mins Warm-Up
The Kinesthetic Calibration: Teacher calls a digit value (e.g., "Sprint to the column where 4 has a value of 40!" or "Hop to Hundreds!" ). Students sprint to the correct lane. Practice verbalizing: "The digit is 4, but the value is 40 because it is in the tens lane."
10 Mins Round 1
Build & Sprint Dash (Standard Place Value): Teacher/Student flips a Dashcard (e.g., 348 or 4,206 ). Runner sprints down each lane dropping the exact beanbag count for each place value. Partner on sideline records on clipboard. Runner performs a "Chalk Stamp" jump on the largest place value.
10 Mins Round 2
The Decompose Relay (Flexible Number Strategies): Draw a "Decompose Twist" card (e.g., "Represent 240 with ZERO hundreds!" or "Rename 3,200 using 32 tens? Prove it!" ). Students move beanbags from one lane to another (e.g., trading 1 hundred beanbag for 10 ten beanbags). Discuss trade ratios out loud.
5 Mins Cool-Down
The Grand Showdown & Synthesis: Two runners build rival numbers side-by-side in adjacent courts. Team compares digit-by-digit from left to right (highest place value first). Students write comparison sentence using >, <, = with chalk, then state reasoning before walking back inside.
Outdoor Math Intervention Toolkit • Pavement Number Sprint Turn page for Tier 3 Scaffolding & Grade Differentiation
Intervention Framework
Tier 3 Scaffolding & Grade Variations
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Diagnostic Guidance
Grade-Level Game Adaptations (2nd through 5th Grade)
Grade Number Range Place Value Goal Flexible Decomposing Challenge 2nd 0 to 999 Master 3-digit structure; connect 10 tens = 1 hundred. Distinguish 34 from 340. "Show 125 with only 12 tens and 5 ones." Trade 1 hundred block for 10 tens.3rd 0 to 9,999 Add Thousands lane; understand zeros as place holders (e.g., 4,082 has 0 hundreds). "Decompose 1,400 into 14 hundreds, or 1 thousand + 40 tens." 4th 0 to 99,999 Recognize the 10× relationship between adjacent places. Add Ten-Thousands lane. "How many times greater is 50,000 than 5,000?" Trade 1 ten-thousand for 10 thousands.5th Decimals & 100k+ Can modify lanes to: 10s, 1s, Decimal Point, Tenths (0.1), Hundredths (0.01). "Show 2.4 as 24 tenths." Emphasize shifting places when multiplying/dividing by 10.
Tier 3 CRA Scaffolding Sequence (During Game Play)
1 Concrete (Kinesthetic)
Student physically drops beanbags or jumps inside the chalk lane. If confused by "3 tens", have them count aloud by 10s while jumping 3 times: "10, 20, 30!"
2 Representational (Sketch)
Partner immediately draws the base-ten quick sketch on the Field Sheet (squares for 100s, lines for 10s, dots for 1s). Connects the chalk footprint to paper.
3 Abstract (Symbolic)
Write standard form & expanded notation: 300 + 40 + 8 = 348 . Student reads the full equation out loud to verify value congruence.
Teacher Verbal Prompts & Misconception Fixes
Trap: Digit Value vs. Face Value
Student sees 7 in 742 and says "It's worth 7."
Teacher Prompt: "Look down at your feet! Which lane are you standing in? Hundreds! If you have 7 one-hundred dollar bills, do you have $7 or $700?"
Trap: Rigid Standard Partitioning
Student believes 52 can ONLY be 5 tens and 2 ones.
Teacher Prompt: "Pick up 1 beanbag from the Tens lane. When you bring it to the Ones lane, it explodes into 10 ones! How many tens now? (4). How many ones now? (12). Does 40 + 12 still equal 52?"
Outdoor Math Intervention Toolkit • Pavement Number Sprint Use with Printable Dashcards and Sprint Tracker Field Sheet
Place Value Dashcards Card Deck 1 Cut-Out Ready
Place Value Dashcards: Grades 2 & 3
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8 Printable Task Cards
Directions: Cut along dashed lines. Draw a card at the launch pad, sprint to drop beanbags, and call out the value. Green = Grade 2 • Blue = Grade 3
Grade 2 • Build #G2-01
TARGET: 347
Runner Mission: Sprint and drop beanbags into the chalk lanes:
3 Hundreds 4 Tens 7 Ones
🗣️ Shout: "300 + 40 + 7 = 347!" ⭐ 1 Pt
Grade 2 • Zero Trap #G2-02
TARGET: 508
Runner Mission: Build 508 on the track.
Watch out! How many beanbags go into the Tens lane?
💡 Zero is a placeholder! Put ZERO in Tens, 8 in Ones!
🗣️ Shout: "5 Hundreds, 0 Tens, 8 Ones!" ⭐ 1 Pt
Grade 2 • Decompose #G2-03
TWIST: Trade for Tens!
Mission: Start with 130 (1 hundred, 3 tens).
🏃 Sprint to Hundreds, grab the 1 beanbag, trade it for 10 tens in the Tens lane!
🗣️ Shout: "130 is 13 tens and 0 ones!" ⭐ 2 Pts
Grade 2 • Compare #G2-04
BATTLE: 642 vs. 624
Mission: Two runners race to chalk courts.
Hundreds are equal (6 = 6).
Sprint to Tens lane: 4 tens vs. 2 tens!
🗣️ Shout: "642 > 624 because 4 tens > 2 tens!" ⭐ 2 Pts
Grade 3 • Build #G3-01
TARGET: 2,458
Runner Mission: Sprint to all 4 lanes:
2 Thous 4 Hund 5 Tens 8 Ones
🗣️ Shout: "2,000 + 400 + 50 + 8!" ⭐ 1 Pt
Grade 3 • Mystery #G3-02
TARGET: 3,074
Runner Mission: Drop beanbags into correct lanes.
Which lane remains totally EMPTY? Leap over that lane!
💡 Leap over Hundreds lane! 0 hundreds!
🗣️ Shout: "3 Thousands, 0 Hund, 7 Tens, 4 Ones" ⭐ 1 Pt
Grade 3 • Decompose #G3-03
TWIST: Break 1,500
Mission: Start with 1,500 .
Trade the 1 Thousand beanbag for 10 Hundreds . How many hundreds are in the lane now?
🗣️ Shout: "1,500 is 15 hundreds!" ⭐ 2 Pts
Sprint Tracker Field Sheet Field Recording Sheet Grades 2 & 3
Pavement Number Sprint: Runner Tracker
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Outdoor Math Ops
Runner Name:
Sideline Partner:
Date:
1
Round 1: Build & Sprint Dash (Standard Form)
Card Target:
Place Value Grid
Expanded Form Equation:
Base-Ten Quick Sketch □ = 100 | | = 10 | • = 1
2
Round 2: The Decompose Relay (Flexible Trade)
Trade Challenge
Way A: Standard Breakdown
My number has: Hundreds
and: Tens Ones
Way B: The Big Trade (Twist!)
I traded 1 hundred for: Tens
Now I have: Tens total and Ones!
Prove both ways equal the same total value:
3
Round 3: Compare Showdown (Battle on the Track)
> , < , or =
Runner A Number
> < =
Runner B Number
Explain your math reasoning (Which place value lane decided the winner?):
Runner Sprint Stars Earned:
Outdoor Math Intervention • Grades 2 & 3
Field Recording Sheet Grades 4 & 5
Pavement Number Sprint: Pro Tracker
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Upper Elementary Ops
Runner Name:
Sideline Partner:
Date:
1
Round 1: Multi-Digit / Decimal Build Dash
Card Target:
Court Grid (Whole Numbers or Decimals)
Ten-Thous / Tens Thousands / Ones Hundreds / [ • ] Tens / Tenths (0.1) Ones / Hundredths (0.01)
Expanded Notation Equation:
10× / (1/10) Place Value Relationship:
2
Round 2: Flexible Decompose Vault (Non-Standard Forms)
Renaming Challenge
Standard Decomposition:
Non-Standard Renaming (e.g. all in tens / tenths):
Mathematical Proof (Show trades using numbers or quick sketches):
3
Round 3: Pro Compare Showdown & Proof
