Number Sentence Widget
Let young learners fill in expressions and equations like 3 + □ = 5 or 7 = □ + □ by tapping numbers on a big number pad.
A number sentence shows an expression or an equation with empty boxes in it, such as □ + □, 5 + 3 = □ or 7 = □ + □. Learners fill each box by tapping a number on a big on-screen number pad, so they never need a keyboard, and the device keyboard never pops up. It's the kindergarten and first-grade task of "fill in what's missing": kindergartners fill expressions in rather than write them from scratch.
Pictures sit beside the sentence as their own widgets: a ten frame in Show mode, a counting collection, or an image.
Select the number sentence on the canvas and click the floating ⚙ Configure button to set it up. The sentence, answers, grading and number pad all live there, with a live preview.
What you can build
| Use | The sentence | What's right |
|---|---|---|
| Fill in the expression | □ − □ beside 6 circles, 3 crossed out | 6 and 3 |
| Find the value | 3 + 1 = □ | 4 |
| Fill in, then find the value | □ + □ = □ | the two rolls, then their total |
| Any true sentence | 7 = □ + □ | any two numbers that make 7: 3 + 4, 5 + 2, 7 + 0 … |
| Teen numbers | 10 + □ = 16 with a 0–20 pad | 6 |
| Match (read-only) | 6 − 3, with no box | nothing to answer: it only shows the expression |
A sentence with no box is only shown, never answered or graded. Use it beside pictures in a matching or choice scene.
How learners use it
- Pick a box: tap it. The selected box has a thick outline and a pointer under it. The first empty box is picked when the scene starts.
- Fill it: tap a number on the pad. It lands in the selected box, and the next empty box is picked. With Say numbers on, the device says the number.
- Change an answer: tap the box, then tap another number. ⌫ empties the selected box.
- Drag (optional): drag a number from the pad onto a box. Tapping is always enough.
- Keyboard: Tab moves into the sentence as one stop, then the pad. Arrow keys move between boxes, a number key fills the selected box (type 1 then 0 quickly for 10), Backspace empties it, and Enter checks when the sentence is checked on Done.
When the sentence is checked, every right box gets a ✓. A wrong box gets an × and a dashed outline, so color is never the only cue, and the right boxes keep their numbers.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sentence | Type it with □ (or _) for each box, like □ + □ = □ or 7 = □ + □, or add parts with the + Box, + Number, +, − and = buttons. One = at most, and up to 10 boxes. |
| Grading | Each box has its answer checks every box against its own number. Any true sentence accepts any numbers that make the sentence true. |
| Box answers | The number each box must hold. With Any true sentence, leave a box on Any, or give it a number learners must use (7 = 2 + □ with the first box fixed). |
| Allow added numbers in either order | For □ + □ keyed 6 + 3, also accept 3 + 6. Never applies to subtraction. |
| Points | Whole sentence earns the points only when every box is right. Per box gives each right box its own points, so 6 − 2 keyed 6 − 3 earns the first box's points. (Any true sentence is always whole.) |
| Allow 0 in a box | Any true sentence only. Turn it off when every part must be at least 1, so 7 = 7 + 0 isn't accepted. |
| Number pad | 0–10, 1–10, 0–20 (teen numbers), 10–20, or any range up to 20, with at most 21 keys. |
| Check | When every box is filled checks as soon as the last box fills, and again after any change. When Done is tapped adds a ✓ Done key and checks only then. Use Done for Any true sentence, where a half-filled sentence can already be true. |
| Say numbers | Says each number in the device's voice as it lands in a box. |
| Read the sentence aloud | Adds a 🔊 key that reads the filled sentence: "seven is three plus four". Leave it off when the scene tests reading + and −, so the voice doesn't give the sign away. |
| Read = as | "is" (kindergarten's "5 is 3 plus 2") or "equals", for screen readers and the 🔊 key. |
The pad keys are big by default. The Configure dialog warns when keys or boxes would be smaller than 44 pixels, which is too small for young fingers: make the widget bigger, or the pad or sentence shorter.
Worked example: fill in the expression for a drawing
- Add an image of 6 circles with 3 crossed out, and a text to speech widget that says "Fill in the expression for the picture."
- Add a Number Sentence from the toolbox. It starts as
□ + □. - Click ⚙ Configure. In Sentence, type
□ - □. Set Box 1 to 6 and Box 2 to 3. - Leave Check on When every box is filled, and set the scene to move on when correct.
- Add a hint: a behavior on On Check with the condition Box 1 = 3, that says "Is 3 how many there were at the start?".
Worked example: any true sentence, 7 = □ + □
- Type
7 = □ + □in Sentence and set Grading to Any true sentence. Check switches to When Done is tapped. - Leave both boxes on Any. 3 + 4, 4 + 3, 5 + 2 and 7 + 0 are all right; 3 + 3 isn't.
- Turn off Allow 0 in a box if both parts must be at least 1.
If no numbers on the pad can make the sentence true (like □ + □ = 25 on a 0–10 pad), the dialog says so.
Grading
The numbers a learner put in the boxes are sent to Berdee, and the grade is worked out there from the lesson, so it can't be faked from the learner's device. For Any true sentence, Berdee checks the learner's sentence itself: both sides of = must be equal, and no subtraction may go below 0.
The Attempts column counts checks: a sentence that's right at its first check is 1 attempt, and each later change to a full sentence (or each Done tap) adds 1. Filling the boxes one by one before the last one isn't an attempt.
On the student's attempt page you see the sentence as they filled it, with its marks: "6 − 3 ✓", "6 − 2 · first box right", "7 = 3 + 4 ✓ · true", "7 = 3 + 3 · not true (7 and 6)", or "first 6 + 3 = 8, then 6 + 3 = 9 ✓" when an earlier check didn't stand.
Publishing is blocked until the sentence can be answered: every box has an answer (Each box has its answer), every answer is on the pad, the answers make a true sentence (6 − 3 = 4 isn't), an Any true sentence has an = and can be made true, and there's only one =.
Behaviors and logic
- On Box Change fires each time a learner fills, changes or empties a box.
- On Check fires each time the sentence is checked.
- On Correct fires when the sentence is right.
The number sentence exposes Box 1, Box 2 … (each box's number, or −1 while it's empty), Boxes filled and Is true, alongside Is correct and Is answered. Its methods are Reset and Clear (both empty every box) and Fill a box, which puts a number in box 1, 2, 3 … — handy on a "Show me" button for a worked example. See Widget Properties and Methods.
Related widgets
- Number input for one number typed or picked on a slider, for older learners.
- Fill blank for words typed into a sentence.
- Ten frame and counting collection for the pictures beside a sentence.