First Grade Math Lesson Three
September 26, 2001
1. Context
A. This lesson will be presented to the entire class in four groups of five student whom I will work with during centers.
B. Students need to learn ways of counting quickly by grouping without counting every item individually. Teaching ways of grouping can give students a concrete understanding of counting by 2,5, & 10, which most first graders in our class can recite in order but have not grasped with tangible objects. Learning to count by grouping will help student in understanding other mathematical concepts later on and in such activities as budgeting, pricing and comparisions, and many simple to complex calculations that are encountered in life situations.
C.) 6.A.1a - Identify whole numbers and compare them using the words "more than", "less than", "greater than", "fewer than", or "equal to" applying counting and place value.
6.D.1 - Compare the number of objects in groups.
2.Objective
A. Students will be able to count and order groups from 1 through 12.
3. Method
A. Materials needed
1) I will give students one paper per student with a couple of ten frames unfilled and a couple filled, sharpened pencils and their math worksheet for pages 23.
2) Students will not need any materials.
B. I will work with students during centers in four groups of five. Centers are set up relatively at a distacnce from one another around the room to minimize distractions.
C. Give each student an enlarged empty ten frame and several counters. Mrs. Robertson has these already made up in her room with counters to use with them. Discuss with students how many spaces are in the frame? why is it called a ten frame? how many counters do we have if the ten frame is full? Review these questions until student indicate understanding. Allow them to experiement with the blank ten frame and counters. Allow a couple of minutes freeplay then ask students to demonstrate a ten frame with five counters, a frame with ten counters, and a frame with 11 and 12 counters.
4. Evaluation
A.Using visual assessment and their worksheets, I will use the following rubric to assess student's understanding:
4 = He/she counts groups 1 to 12 and can use the ten frame to identify 10, 11 and 12 without counting all the counters.
3 = Child counts groups to 12, but must count all of the counters in the ten frame to identify 10, 11 and 12.
2 = Child counts groups to 12 some of the time and needs prompting to use the ten frame.
1 = Child is unable to count groups to 10 or 12 without prompting.
0 = Student cannot use the ten frame to identify numbers.
B. Students worksheets will be checked for assessment and remain in their workbooks for futur reference and referral. Visual and verbal assessment will also be taken into account.
C.I would like to see 90% comprehension before moving on. But will work more on sequencing and grouping in the next lesson with 80% success and revisit afterwards.
5. Feedback:
The ten frame lesson went very well. The ones who were paying attention seemed to begin to understand the concept. Trying to get the students to understand that when the top of the frame is full they can say 5 without counting and when 10 frames are filled they say 10 without counting has always been a struggle for me. I also liked the fact that you again had to change from small group instruction to whole group because of the climate in the room. Your flexibility to change is a major advantage. Thanks for jumping in.
6. Reflection:
Today the class was so noisy and disruptive that my mentor decided not to use centers. Therefore, the math lesson was again presented to the class as a whole at one time. Since the ten frame was breifly introduced in the last math lesson with minimal to significant success depending on the student, I will continue working on this topic in our next math lesson. Yesterday, we only looked at the page in the workbook dealing with ten frames and the concept was not even concidered by the students, they saw the dotted numbers on the examples and simply continued down the page counting the number of items in each frame individually because they knew they were expected to figure out how many items there were. There was no thought given to following the instructions given. By looking at the examples, students just counted.
Therefore, today as a whole group, I passed out individual enlarged ten frames to each student and gave them each twelve counters in hopes of moving on to counting eleven and twelve with the ten frame. I explained the concept of using the ten frame to count rather than counting each counter. Students seemes to just stared at me with blank looks and wanted to know what they could do with their counters. Even Mrs. Robertson tried to help by stating that we do not count each one. After several explainations using different approaches, several students seemed to start catching on. I then asked students to put one counter at the bottom of ther ten frame and asked how many counters they had. Most were able to quickly state that they had eleven, generally because eleven comes after ten. As our time ran out, some students really began to develop the concept in their heads, therefore, tommorrow I plan on working with ten frames in centers for more individualized assistance. I believe a seed has been planted today. Mrs. Robertson agreed that there was not a lot of comprhension, but that some were pondering the concept and trying to understand. Students need more practice, today was a good introduction. I also realize repetition and practice help to solidify concepts, especially for youn children.
Return to the Lesson Plans page
Return to the Instructional Processes Page | Return to the Home Page