Thursday, May 17, 2012

Roman Numerals (This is Math?)

This is the year of the XXX Olympiad.
And it was the year of the XLVI Super Bowl.

It's not the Extra Extra Extra Large Olympics...
So, what do all these letters mean?

Just trying to build a case for the need to understand Roman Numerals!  Your students can make index cards with one Roman Numeral on each and arrange the cards in correct order to indicate numbers - from one to a thousand - or more!!!
Roman Numerals use uppercase letters to indicate numbers. 

I means one
V means 5
X means 10
L means 50
C means 100
D means 500
M means 1000

You can Google “Roman Numerals” and find all kinds of things.  Clear directions are posted at this web address:



Copy this Tic-Tac-Toe board and paste it to a word processing document so you can print it out. Each student should pick THREE squares and then complete each task in each of those squares.  They might want to try make a tic-tac-toe.

Learn how to write Roman Numerals one to five. Make index cards for each child. 1
Learn how to write Roman Numerals six to ten.  Make index cards for each child. 2

Learn how to write Roman Numerals eleven to twenty.  Make index cards for each child 3
Listen to and learn “There are 18 Wheels on a Big Rig” 4

Learn how to write Roman Numerals twenty one to fifty.  Make index cards for each child. 5

Learn how to write Roman Numerals fifty one to one hundred. Make index cards for each child. 6

Find Roman numerals in books, on DVDs or videos.  What number do they indicate?


Learn how to write Roman numerals for numbers above one hundred and into the thousands. 7
Find out what is the difference between a NUMBER and a NUMERAL.


1 Each child will need 4 cards: I  I  I and V
2 Each child will need 5 cards: I  I  I  V and X
3 Each child will need 6 cards: I  I  I  V  X and another X
4 This is a silly little song!  Here are two child-appropriate versions on the internet:
Cartoon:
Trout Fishing in America

5 Each child will need 6 cards: I  I  I  V  X X and another X and a L
6 Each child will need  cards: I  I  I  V X  X  X  X  L and C
7 Each child will need cards: I  I  I  V X  X  X  X  L  C C  C  C  and M

Go forth and COUNT!!
CathyH

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