meagher_math

Nicole Meagher EDC 456

ACTIVITY SHEET WILL BE PUT IN YOUR MAILBOX Cuisenaire Rods Grade level: 5 Length of lesson: 1 hour Lesson Plan for Day # GLES || Teacher Introduction: Development: Closure: || You have all learned that smaller pieces make up a whole. You have been learning that different fractions can be equal. Today’s lesson is going to be along those lines. We will be working with Cuisenaire rods. These are Cuisenaire rods. The point of them is to demonstrate all the different ways to put them together to equal a certain rod. Say you have the green rod. What other rods can you put together to equal the length of the green rod? Is there a different sequence you can use to get the same result? Now look at the Activity sheet. In the first column there are letters that represent the different color rods. The g represents the green rod. The r is the red rod and the w is the white rod. So looking at the g row you see at the top are numbers which represent the number of cars in the train. The train is the Cuisenaire rod you are using to represent the whole and the cars are the rods which represent the pieces of the whole or train. So back to the green rod. How many different ways can we get the length of the green rod using only one rod? How many ways can we do it using two rods? What about three? Can we use four rods to get the length of the green rod? Now I want you to work in groups of three or four and use the rods to fill out the activity sheet. I will be walking around to see how you are doing and answer any questions you have. Students will fill in as much as the activity sheet as time allows. Once a chart is completed patterns can be recognized. The teacher will Ask students what they got for answers in the chart and how they got them. Then as a class we will see if others agree. The teacher will then show the correct filled activity sheet. As a class we will discuss patterns kids see in the chart. Now students will see that many different patterns are represented on the activity sheet. Teacher will ask if they expected patterns to show up. What patterns do you see? Does any one know what triangular numbers are? Triangular numbers are numbers such as 1, 3, 6, 10, and 15. Can anyone guess what number would be next? (21) Triangular numbers can be found in Pascal’s triangle. Pascal’s triangle was originally developed by the ancient Chinese, but Blaise Pascal was the first person to discover the importance of all the patterns it contained. Where else in life do you see patterns? BTS 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 || Summative- activity sheet BTS 9 Teachers use a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to support the continuous development of the learner. Teachers… 9.2 use a variety of assessments strategies and instruments that are aligned with instructional content and methodology. 9.5 use information from their assessment of students to reflect on their own teaching and to modify their instruction. || This lesson works well for students with ADD because it is a hands on activity that involves manipulative and they get to play around with different ideas in order to find the correct way. For visually impaired students I can have them sit closer to the front and also make my demonstration on the overhead bigger. I would be able to provide them with a larger activity sheet as well. They should be fine with the Cuisenaire rods and be able to participate at the same level as other students. This lesson accommodates different learning styles because directions are explained both verbally and visually and modeling is used. || I felt the lesson was pretty effective. Kids were able to find a lot of different patterns. They even realized there were patterns before I told them to look for them. I did the lesson two separate times with two different levels of students. The second time I did the lesson was with the higher level students. The lesson was much more effective the second time because I had an idea of what I needed to clarify a little more and they got the concept quicker. The second time I tied in square numbers before introducing triangular numbers where as the first time I didn’t introduce square numbers until I noticed how confused the kids seemed. The first time I did the lesson I went a little too fast. When the kids seemed confused or didn’t answer the questions I posed I tried to teach my way out of the silence instead of just giving them a little more time to think. When I did the lesson the second time I made sure to slow down a bit but I still think I could have gone slower. But, in the first lesson once I realized I was going too fast I made sure to wait until five kids raised their hands before calling on anyone. I even told the students I was doing that so the few kids that were always raising their hands right away didn’t get as antsy. Yes, I know the importance of varying who I called on. Some students did get called on more then others but every one a chance to contribute. I made sure, also, to not always call on the first kid who raised their hand. I did implement a variety of effective classroom management strategies. I used positive reinforcement. I also used modeling and proximity. I had kids come up front and show on the over head what they thought was right. If the student needed a little help I tried not to put them on the spot by saying there are 4 or so other ways to do that, show me all of them. Instead I said do you see any other ways that you could make an equivalent train? I posed this question even if I knew there weren’t any other ways to get the children to think. If they said no and there were other ways I might say could you do it using the green rods? Or does any one else think they know of another way? I told students not to yet out the answer but that it was important for them to raise their hands. I also wanted all eyes up front. When I noticed some students were a little behind I made sure to provide extra wait time. I often rephrased things. Like when I introduced the Cuisenaire rods I explained the object was to use different rods to make one larger rod, or to find equivalent pieces. You can look at it like the rods are cars on the train and you want to have two trains that are the same length. I did this in hopes that one of the explanations would resonate with them. All students were involved. I had a chart I passed out to every one and they were all expected to fill it in. I did the first few rows with the class then they finished it individually. I walked around to answer any questions and check students work. I also made sure to call on each student to make sure they were getting it. I facilitated student involvement through calling on a multitude of students and through walking around the class and looking at each student’s paper individually. I also had students come up and demonstrate on the overhead. I made sure to call on the kids who tended to not understand when they raised their hands to come up and use the overhead. Students seemed to be interested in the lesson. They were eager to find patterns other students didn’t see. Once they figured out the pattern of a row they got excited and were able to quickly fill in the rest of the row. I felt that I had the perfect amount of time to do it. All the students had a chance to finish while other students were kept entertained looking to patterns. Kids who were done first also had the option to add up each row. After I talked about how there are patterns all around us and students were eager to try and come up with patterns they see in everyday life. Some examples were brick buildings, stripped shirts, the ceiling tiles and animal print. It allowed them to make an important connection that math is reliant and you see it outside of math class. Students were intrigued by the Cuisenaire rods I actually had to make last minute accommodations because my teacher had told me he would get Cuisenaire rods for the kids and got the wrong thing. So I changed it to do the first few examples on the board and have the kids fill in the chart by finding patterns. This ended up working better then I anticipated. They also really enjoyed the chart. It may have seemed overwhelming at first but once they got the hang of it they really got into it. I got students to understand the concept I presented. I called on each student and got them all involved. I made connections to the world through my lesson and connected the lesson to a math historical concept. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to try my lesson plan again. In doing so I made sure to slow down the pace of the lesson. I talked about square numbers, which they had already learned about, before introducing the new concept of triangular numbers. I also did less of the activity sheet because I realized I had underestimated them the first time. If I were to do it yet again I would like to the manipulatives for kids to use but I feel it may have distracted them from the activity sheet, I need to work on my annunciation. I also need to be more confident in my ability to teach. I find myself second guessing myself but when it comes down to it I pull through.
 * Objectives || PSSM 4.1 creating, describing, and analyzing patterns to recognize relationships and make predictions
 * Algebra standard understand patterns, relations, and functions; analyze change in various context
 * Problem solving apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems
 * Reasoning and proof select and use various types of reasoning and methods of proof
 * Communication organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking though communication
 * Connections recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas
 * Representation create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
 * M(F&A)-5-1 Identifies and extends to specific cases a variety of patterns represented in models, tables, sequences, or in problem solving situations; and writes a rule in words or symbols for finding specific cases of a linear relationship (state)
 * 1) Students will figure out how many rod patterns can equal a bigger rod.
 * 2) Students will create, describe and analyze patterns they found after filling out their activity sheet.
 * 3) Teacher will write on the board different patterns that were found.
 * Instructional materials and resources || Students:
 * Cuisenaire rods
 * Activity Sheet
 * Pencil
 * Overhead projector
 * Overhead Cuisenaire rods
 * Chalk/white board ||
 * Instructional activities tasks
 * 1) Students will figure out how many rod patterns can equal a bigger rod.
 * 2) Students will create, describe and analyze patterns they found after filling out their activity sheet.
 * 3) Teacher will write on the board different patterns that were found.
 * Assessment || Formative(informal): Performance assessment by means of an observational checklist
 * Learner Factors || This is a good lesson to do with many different types of students. Talented students have a chance to complete more of the chart and find patterns on their own. While lower functioning students have a chance to figure out things for themselves with out being told the answer before they had a chance to.
 * Environmental Factors || * Students will be in groups of three or four
 * Students who are typically slower at picking up concepts will be grouped with at least one student who is gifted in mathematics
 * An aid will be present
 * Plenty of time will be allotted for this activity ||
 * Reflection || * How effective was the lesson plan?
 * Was the pace of the lesson appropriate?
 * Did you call on a number of different students and not just the same ones?
 * Did you implement effective classroom management strategies (e.g. use of proximity, positive reinforcement)?
 * How did you support students who needed it in order to help them to be successful (e.g. providing extra wait time when asking a question, rephrasing or asking a question at their ability level)?
 * Were all students actively involved in the learning process?
 * How well did you facilitate this?
 * How were you able to maintain student interest throughout the lesson?
 * Were the materials of interest to the student?
 * What was effective about your teaching?
 * What would you change the next time you used this plan?
 * What areas of teaching do you feel need work?

Nicole Meagher Students name___ Math Observational Checklist Yes No Paid attention during introduction Works well with group members Attempted to fill in activity sheet Focused on the task at hand Was able to recognize patterns Understood the concept of Cuisenaire rods ||