In the To Market, To Market Teacher’s Guide there are instructions and tips on using To Market, To Market in a classroom setting. Below are the instructions for Ms. Butterfly’s Stand.

Instructional Guidance and User Tips

As students first begin learning and playing with To Market, To Market, you will probably give “over the shoulder” instruction. (At any time during play, you can press the space bar to pause the game. Press it again to resume play.) As you observe and help students along, keep the following points in mind:

Repeating instructions: If students cannot remember what Ms. Butterfly needed, remind them to click on Ms. Butterfly or the signer in order to have the instructions repeated. They can also look at the visual clue—the thought bubble above Ms. Butterfly.

Counting out loud: After students get a Level 2 and Level 3 problem right, ask them to count out loud or sign as the whimsical characters count.

Counting groups: If students have some understanding of the number system, and can use the grouping tools in solving the problems, have them try to count or sign the groups in each crate.

Encourage use of grouping tools: Encourage students in Levels 2 and 3 to use the grouping tools. Have them group by different quantities—5s, 10s, 20s, or 50s—to see how the objects line up on the screen. Talk to them about what they observe.

Ask students about difficulty: Ask students which level they found to be most difficult and why. Do students understand that the closer the quantities are, the harder it is to distinguish them?

How many problems?: Ask students how many problems they need to solve before they earn a coupon.

Estimating bushels: Have two students play side-by-side. Have each student choose one crate as their own. At Ms. Butterfly’s prompt, ask students to guess how many bushels of 50 they will have on their side. Then have them check their estimates by clicking the appropriate bushel symbol. Repeat for bushels of 20, 10, and 5. When students agree on who has more, have them check their answers.

More than and less than symbol practice: Make a transparency with the symbols > , < , and = written down the center of the page. Tape the transparency to the computer monitor so that the symbols run down the middle of the screen. Help students point to appropriate symbols to match each question before they check their answer.

Classroom Activities

Which Group is Bigger?

Any time during the course of a day that you divide students or objects—e.g., to play a game during recess—ask students which group is bigger or whether they are equal. Encourage students to share their strategies for deciding their answer.

Station Stack

If you have stations in the classroom, have a station supplied with numerous small objects—pennies, buttons, etc. Have students work in pairs. Ask one student to create two piles, with one pile containing more objects than the other. Ask the other student which pile has more. If they disagree, help them determine which has more. To do this, you could arrange the objects into sets of five or ten and let students look at the remaining number.

Snack Piles

When you hand out snacks in the classroom, put them in two unequal piles. Have each student come up and select from the pile that has more or less. Give each student instructions such as, “select your snack from the pile that has more.”