Classifying Numbers--Nesting Containers

6th grade is the first time students in Texas have to classify numbers. It has been a difficult concept for my students to understand--especially that numbers can "fit" into several different classifications.

I found some "nesting" tupperware to help my students visualize it. I have kept this handy in my classroom so every time we talk about classifying numbers, I pull these out.

So if we classify a number as a natural number, it is also a whole number, integer, and rational numbers since it "fits" into the bother containers. 

I have 7 different classifying rational numbers stations available in my store.