School District 67
Numeracy Resources
Clothesline Math
What is it?
Getting Started:
Watch the video below for an introduction to Clothesline Math
In a classroom setting, clothesline math is a hands-on, interactive, and visual approach to teaching mathematical concepts using a clothesline or string stretched across a wall or whiteboard and movable number cards. Students strengthen concepts of ordinal numbers, comparison and magnitude of numbers and benchmarks. The teacher can add in creative representations of number as well extending into comparing/converting fractions and decimals in older grades.
Janice Novakowski discusses the high yield routine of Counting Collections and what it may look like in your classroom.
Why should I do it?
Some potential learning intentions for curricular competencies include:​
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Reasoning and Analyzing - use reasoning to determine where a number should go or what number is missing based on other provided benchmark numbers
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Understanding and Solving - engaging in problem solving
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Communicating and Representing - explain and justify placement of numbers and represent understanding concretely with the number cards
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Connecting and Reflecting - connecting different representations of a number to each other (e.g., ten frames, dots cards, tally marks, numerals, written words, images)
