Terrific Tenths (Lesson 1 of 3)

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  General Lesson Plan

• Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?

  
  
  • Students will work with math manipulatives to understand that it takes 10 tenths of something to make one whole.
  • They will use manipulatives with money (dimes and dollars), fractions (one tenth pieces and one whole pieces), and base ten blocks (rods and one wholes) to show different values.
  • They will express values with combinations of the given manipulatives and draw their solutions.

  If students achieve the objective, then they should be able to complete the DRAWING TENTHS worksheet with 75% accuracy (3 out of 4 questions correct).

• Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?

  
  

  Students need to know the value of money. The teacher will gather this information at the beginning of the lesson during the formative assessment by asking students to show given monetary amounts with math manipulative money. Students will sit with a partner and the teacher will say, "Show me fifty cents. Now show fifty cents two different ways." Students should use a combination of coins. Then the teacher will say, "Show me one dollar and thirty-five cents. Now show me another way." If students are not fluent in showing monetary values in at least two ways, then remediation in standards from before 4^th grade are needed and this lesson is not appropriate. Money is studied in depth in 2^nd grade so remediation from 2^nd grade materials could be appropriate. Students can be remediated by reviewing value of coins and dollars. Students also need to have experience working with fraction- and base-ten manipulatives.

• Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?

  
  

  How can one whole be expressed in different ways?

  What are similarities between monetary, fraction, and decimal systems?

• Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?

  
  

  Begin by reviewing monetary values with dollars and dimes. Do not use pennies and nickels for the first lesson because the emphasis is on one whole and one tenth (dollars and dimes). Pennies will be used in lesson two to represent one-hundredths and nickels can be used in extensions to represent one twentieth. For the entire lesson students will be sitting with a partner. Partners will share a manipulative kit and work together to show values.

  1. Ask students how many dimes it takes to make one whole dollar. Students should understand that it takes 10 dimes to equal a dollar. Next ask students show .50 with dimes. They should put 5 dimes on their desk.
  2. Ask students to look in their fraction manipulative kit and find a fraction value that they think is equal to 5 dimes.
     Scaffolding Tip: Students may need scaffolding to understand that 5 dimes are equal to 5 tenths when working with the fractional pieces. For example, students who need targeted instruction may need to be pulled into a small group for direct instruction with the teacher. Instead of working with 5 dimes and 5 tenths, begin by helping students make a one-to-one value correspondence between one dime and one tenth. Begin by reviewing that 10 dimes are equivalent to one whole dollar. Then review that ten tenths with the fraction pieces are worth one whole from the fraction kit. Take students step by step through the connection between the manipulatives by showing them that one dime is equivalent to one tenth, two dimes are equivalent to two tenths, three dimes are equivalent to three tenths, etc. It will help students to physically move the manipulatives into groups of tenths as they are working with each value. Constantly monitor the mainpulatives that students are choosing for each value and catch their mistakes immediately as they work. After this small group remediation they should be able to rejoin the whole group and continue with the lesson.
  3. Once students understand that dimes are equal to one tenth of a dollar, and therefore also equivalent to the one tenth fraction pieces, have students practice showing the following values with their partners: 20, .40, 1.00, and 3.70. Tell students to show these values with a combination of one tenth fraction pieces and dimes so that they can understand the values are interchangeable. For example, .40 may be shown with 4 dimes, 4 one tenth pieces, 2 dimes and 2 one tenth pieces, 1 dime and 3 one tenth pieces, etc. Another example is that 3.70 can be shown with one dollar, one whole fraction, one whole base ten block, 3 dimes, and 4 rods.
  4. Once students understand the relationship between dimes and one tenth fraction pieces, ask them to show how many rods (long base ten blocks with a value of 10 or .10 in decimal systems) it takes to make one whole.Let students show the values with their partners to discover that it takes 10 rods to make one whole.
  5. Ask students to revisit the idea of dimes and fractions. Review by posting the following three questions on the board:
     • "How many dimes did it take to make one dollar?"
     • "How many one tenth pieces did it take to make one whole fraction?"
     • "How many rods did it take to make one whole?"
  6. After posting the questions, ask them to find a pattern or similarities between dimes, one tenths, and rods. Give students time to think, pair, share. Students should come to the conclusion that it takes 10 dimes to make one whole dollar, 10 one tenths to make one whole fraction, and 10 rods to make one whole unit of base ten blocks.

• Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?

  
  
  • Ask students to show the value of .30 with dimes. Circulate and check student responses with manipulatives. Ask them to show the value of .30 again with one tenth fraction pieces. Circulate and check responses with manipulatives. Ask them to show the value of .30 again with rods. Circulate and check responses. Finally, ask students to show the value of .30 with a combination of dimes, one tenth fractions, and decimal rods in their combinations. Student pairs in the room should have different methods of modeling .30.
  • If you have the technology in your classroom to display virtual manipulatives on a Smartboard, have students share different methods for showing each value. Make sure they understand that dimes, one tenth fractions, and rods are all worth the same value. If students comfortably show the value one way (for example with fractions and dimes), ask them to show it another way (for example with fractions and rods). Repeat this activity with .60, .80, 1.10, and 2.40.
  • Circulate and check the manipulative values students are showing for each number. For examples of how students' desks should look with their manipulative models on them, see the DRAWING TENTHS worksheet completed by a student. The drawing tenths worksheet example is attached below in the CLOSURE section of the lesson plan. At this point in time students are not completing the worksheet but it may be helpful for the teacher to preview it to understand where the students need to be by the end of the lesson.

• Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the lesson?

  
  

  *The independent practice worksheet must be completed before the closure activity.

  Give students the attached worksheet DRAWINGTENTHS.docx Have them complete the worksheet independently. If scaffolding is needed, students can use manipulatives to complete the worksheet. Some students may be comfortable completing the worksheet without manipulatives. The objective of the worksheet is to have students become fluent in understanding the relationship between dimes, one tenth fraction pieces, and rods.

• Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?

  
  

  *Independent practice must be done before the closure activity. Here is an example of what the completed worksheet could look like: StudentsolvedexampleofDRAWINGTENTHSworksheet.docx

  After students finish the worksheet, to close the lesson have half of the class stand up and the other half remain seated. The teacher can randomly count off "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, etc." to form the standing and sitting groups. The standing group will walk around the room and look at how their peers solved the worksheet. The sitting group will stay in their desks and talk to the students coming to view their work and explain their drawings (I call this a "walk and talk" - one group walks, the other group talks.). The purpose of splitting the group in half is twofold; the objective for the walkers is for them to be exposed to different ways to solve and draw the given problems. The objective for the talkers is for them to be able to explain why and how they chose to create their drawings for the values on their worksheet. For example a student in the role of a talker may say, "I chose to draw .9 first with 9 dimes and then with 1 fraction tenth and 8 tenths from the base ten blocks. Both values are equivalent to 9 tenths." Set a timer for three minutes. When the timer goes off, have students switch walking and talking roles. The point of this is for students to see multiple ways to solve the same problems.

   

  Finally, in order to organize the new information, the teacher should ask the students to share different methods they saw. For example, a student may say, "He drew .30 with 2 dimes and one tenth but I drew it with three rods." Students should keep their worksheets in a folder or math notebook to review prior to the next lesson in this unit (HAPPY HUNDREDTHS).

• Summative Assessment

  
  

  The teacher will determine if the students have reached the learning targets for this lesson if students are able to complete the DRAWING TENTHS worksheet with money, fraction, and base ten block manipulatives. This means they will be able to model tenths in a variety of formats and combine values from money, fractions, and decimals. The teacher will measure the impact of this lesson on student learning by seeing that after this lesson students will be able to represent and connect values of money, fractions, and decimals to concrete experience with manipulatives.

• Formative Assessment

  
  

  Before the lesson students need to recognize the value of coins and dollars in the American money system. For example, students need to know that one dime equals ten pennies. The teacher will gather this information at the beginning of the lesson by asking students to show given monetary amounts with math manipulative money. Students will sit with a partner and the teacher will say, "Show me fifty cents. Now show fifty cents two different ways." Students should use a combination of coins. Then the teacher will say, "Show me one dollar and thirty-five cents. Now show me another way."

  If students are not fluent in showing monetary values in at least two ways, then remediation in standards from before 4^th grade are needed and this lesson is not appropriate. If students are comfortable with money, then the teacher can use this prior knowledge to help them understand the relationship between money, fractions, and decimals. Students should also have experience with reading and writing decimals in word, standard, and expanded form.

• Feedback to Students

  
  

  Students will receive constant feedback during the lesson because they will be working with money, fraction, and base ten block manipulatives. If students do not show the correct value, then their partner or the teacher needs to catch the error and assist the student immediately. For example if the student is working with base ten blocks to show the value 1.50 , then the student should show one whole base ten block and 5 tenths or 50 hundredths with base ten blocks. A common error may be for students to show one whole base ten block and perhaps 5 hundredths instead of 50 hundredths. As students are working with manipulatives, be sure that they are constantly talking with their partners about their shown values and that the teacher is constantly observing student work. Catching errors in this phase of the lesson will improve all student performance when they show the next value and help them prepare for the summative assessment.