Have you ever tried to visualize one million of something in your classroom? I have tried paper dots and objects in a jar but it doesn't quite get the feeling across of how much (or little for that matter) that a million of something really is. Besides, it takes a long time for third graders to count out a million of anything!

Then one weekend we took a day trip to the Science Museum in Richmond, Virginia and there it was ... hanging on a wall, One Million Dots!. The design was so simple and it was exactly what I was looking for. You could get up close and count each and every dot one-by-one or you could stand back and put into perspective just what one-in-a-million really looks like.

Since the museum didn't want to part with their exhibit, I decided to use the idea to make one for my own classroom and here it is to share with you...

What you see above is similiar to what your final poster will look like with a couple of minor exceptions.

• First, each dot that you see above is really ONE HUNDRED dots.
• Second, instead of a single square five and a half inches wide, depending on how you print the pattern above, can be between a four or five foot square poster!
• And lastly, you will need to design your own banner to put over your poster!

Steps for creating your own How Much is a Million poster.

Print the correct number of grid panels required to produce 1,000,000 dots. This can be done using one of the following methods.

1. You may either click here to display the 10,000 dot base grid and print 100 copies (10,000 dots multiplied by 100 pages totals 1,000,000 dots). Each page is cut to a size of six by six inches and results in a finished poster that is five by five feet square. Or,

2. Click here to display and print 50 copies of a page that contains a panel of two grids (20,000) dots. I recommend that you use the File->Print Preview option on your browser and Scale the size to 80% so that both grids print on a single page. Each page is then cut to a size of five by nine inches resulting in a finished poster that is approximately four by four foot square.

3. Or you could place your mouse pointer on the 10,000 dot grid displayed above and, using the right mouse button, click on the image and Save Image As (10000dots.gif) on your computer. You may then use your own favorite graphics program to resize the image to your own liking and print the necessary number of pages to assemble 1,000,000 dots. With this method you could create a page with 40,000 dots (4 x 10,000 grids) and only have to print 25 pages.

Cut the grid patterns leaving at least a 1/2 to 1 inch border around the right and bottom sides of the pattern that will used to glue or tape the panels together.

Assemble the panels into rows. The following is an example using ten of the double grid templates to create a single row containing 200,000 dots. Join the panels together using white glue or rubber cement. Use glue sparingly to prevent the paper from warping. You may also use clear or masking tape to join panels together. If using tape, then tape from behind.

Join assembled row panels.

You will need to assemble five rows of the double panels shown in the previous step to create the 1,000,000 dot poster. If using the larger single grids , then you will need to assemble ten rows.

Join the assembled panels together in the same manner as you did in the previous step to create the finished grid as shown below.

Note:

If you are planning to laminate your poster to insure durability, you may want to do that now. I discovered after assembling my poster that I had to cut the poster to fit the laminator!

And lastly, Create a colorful title banner to place over your one million dots.

That wasn't so hard now was it! The following photographs show the completed poster as it was displayed in my third grade classroom.