Glaciologist in Action (Lab)
Students participate in a hands-on lab in which glacier (ice) effects on the Earth’s surface is demonstrated.
Word problems, models and more!
The students will engage in group activities to solve word problems with and without models as well as writing equations.
Cooking Up Word Problems
Students rotate through four stations, collaboratively utilizing different strategies and manipulatives to analyze, explore, solve, and generate real-world culinary problem situations.
Are You in Your Place?
Students will be able to use concrete and pictorial models to compose and decompose numbers with place value.
Place Value Party
In learning stations, students prepare for a birthday party by using their knowledge of place value to compose, decompose, and represent numbers using standard, word, and expanded forms.
Solving Word Problems with Friends
Students will work in groups and solve one-step word problems using a protocol to guide their thinking.
Planting the Seeds of Perimeter
Students will create planters that meet specific perimeter dimensions. The students will need to determine the number of sides and the perimeter for their planter.
Utilize Strip Diagrams to Solve Multi-step Multiplication and Division Word Problems
Students will utilize manipulatives to create concrete and pictorial strip diagram representations in order to solve multi-step multiplication and division word problems.
From Dogs/Not Dogs to Prisms/Not Prisms
Students will work in pairs, groups, and independently to sort and classify 2D and 3D shapes using formal geometric language. Students will have opportunities to explore the work of other groups to expand their thinking and find new ways that shapes can be sorted and classified. Students will engage in multiple conversations using accurate geometrical language to ask questions, explore a variety of reasonings, and share generalizations about shapes.
Step Into the Problem: A Strategy for Visualizing a Math Problem
Teachers will show students a tool to help them understand a problem situation. The tool called Step into the Problem, will walk students through the steps of comprehending a problem: Read the problem, Turn and Talk, Act it Out, Notice and Wonder, and Reflect. Students will be given a problem situation and will go through the steps to show that they understand the problem situation.
Organizing Olympic Outcomes
Students will explore frequency tables, dot plots, and stem and leaf plots by creating different representations from a given set of data points.
Teacher introducing lesson
Puzzling Place Value
Students work collaboratively with a variety of different manipulatives to compose and decompose numbers in more than one way.
Consumers and Producers
Students will investigate various ecosystems to determine what producers and consumers are, as well as their needs within an ecosystem.
Save the Factory!
Students will design an experiment to test the outcome of friction in force and motion. The students will create an inclined plane demonstrating their knowledge of mechanical energy and the effects of gravity on an object. Students will use previous knowledge of friction to complete their task of stopping their object. Critical thinking skills will be the focus of the lesson as students will have to utilize their scientific problem-solving skills to make decisions regarding their experiment.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
Comparing Fractional Parts
Students will participate in whole-group and small-group instruction as they collaborate and use manipulatives, visuals, and hands-on activities to explore fractional parts. Ultimately, students will understand that when dividing a whole into fractions, the smaller the fractional part, the greater the number of parts, and the larger the part, the fewer the number of parts.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
Make a Hit with Decimals
Students will compare and order decimals using baseball batting statistics. Through discovery, students will determine the top six out of eleven players to be recruited for the school’s baseball team, present their findings, and explain reasons for their orderings. From students’ explanation, strategies for ordering decimals will be determined and used to adjust subsequent lessons.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
Models of Multiplication
Students will solve one-step multiplication problems using various multiplication strategies such as objects, pictorial models, arrays, equal groups, repeated addition, and number lines.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
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Distributive Property
Students break an array apart to represent the sum of two multiplication facts, showing the distributive property.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Related to the Unit
As we looked at the vertical alignment document available to teachers through the Texas Education Agency and regional TEKS resource pages, it became evident why students struggle with this standard. The skills and knowledge within this standard are not addressed in the second-grade TEKS. Students are also required to use multiple skills to correctly calculate the answer using the distributive property. The chosen standard is identified as a third-grade readiness standard, which means that the intent is to help students develop a deep understanding of how to effectively use these skills in mathematics. This deep understanding is desired to help students at the fourth-grade level since the standard is identified as a supporting standard.
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Let's Talk Turkey
Students will work collaboratively to apply different strategies such as pictorial representations, part-part-whole, number sentences, and open number lines to solve Thanksgiving-themed one-step and multi-step word problems.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
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Time Using the Z Method
In small groups, students will calculate elapsed time using the Z method. This method helps students better understand the importance of start time and end time when performing elapsed-time calculations.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.