lesson plans for math
Lesson Plan #1
"How Smart Are YOU With Money?"
Shel Silverstein's poem, Smart, will tickle your student's funnybones and teach lessons about the value of money at the same time! A printable Adobe .pdf file of the poem below is provided for classroom use.
Objectives:
Students will reason and logically come to understand the value of money
Materials Needed:
"How Smart Are YOU With Money?"
Shel Silverstein's poem, Smart, will tickle your student's funnybones and teach lessons about the value of money at the same time! A printable Adobe .pdf file of the poem below is provided for classroom use.
Objectives:
Students will reason and logically come to understand the value of money
Materials Needed:
- A copy of the poem, Smart, by Shel Silverstein
- Play or real coins for students to use as manipulatives
- The poem is read aloud by the teacher.
- Teacher and students reread the poem together.
- Teacher encourages student discussion of the poem. Did the boy get a good deal? What was wrong with his logic?
- Teacher reads poem aloud again, a stanza at a time. Students determine the amount of money the boy in the poem has by acting out the "swap" described in the poem with coin manipulatives and comparing the amounts.
- Ask students to find out how much money the boy in the poem loses after each transaction. (For example: "And just 'cause he can't see...He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,...And four is more than three!" The boy lost 10 cents.)
- Students respond in writing to the prompt: "Did the boy in the poem get a good deal?"
- Students write and explanation as to how the boy in the poem lost money.
Lesson Plan #2
Literature Connection:
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
Mathematical Strand:
Probability
Topic:
Students will figure out the probability that the penny's sixth toss will be heads also. Students will also figure the probability of having six coin tosses in a row all end on the same side.
Grade level:
6-8
Lesson Created by:
Stacy Aschenbrenner Bergman Elementary, Manhattan, KS
Materials
a. Read the story.
1. Developing the lesson
a. Pose the following problem. Alexander's brother Anthony is showing off that he has money and Alexander does not. While they were waiting for the bus to pick them up for school, Anthony flipped a coin to pass the time. He was amazed to see that it turned up heads five times in a row. Alexander was looking over Anthony's shoulder. "I'll bet you a quarter against your penny that the next one has to be tails," said Alexander. "You mean if it comes up heads I win a quarter and if it comes up tails you when one cent?" Anthony asked. "That's right," Alexander replied. "That's how sure I am that it won't be heads again."
a. Discuss the answer. (The probability that Anthony's sixth flip will be heads is 1 in 2. Despite what many people think, the number of times coins have been flipped doesn't matter. Any coin you flip has a 1 in 2 chance of ending up on one side or the other.)
The reason I chose the poem, Smart by Shel Silverstein is because I when I was younger I used to love reading the poems in the book Where the Sidewalk Ends. They are funny, creative poems. This went well with doing an activity to see if students are smart with their money, but to also see if they understand the value of money. I like the idea of letting students have hands on with play money. They have the chance to use their knowledge of the value of money, whether the boy got a good deal or not.
I chose the activity for Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, because it’s a good critical thinking activity. It demonstrates that when you flip a coin there is a 1 in 2 (1/2) chance of it ending up on heads or tails. It gets students involved in working with fractions and this could possibly also be worked with percentage. It’s a good experiment to see how many students get the same answer. With this experiment, all answers will not be the same, making it interesting the answers of others.
Literature Connection:
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
Mathematical Strand:
Probability
Topic:
Students will figure out the probability that the penny's sixth toss will be heads also. Students will also figure the probability of having six coin tosses in a row all end on the same side.
Grade level:
6-8
Lesson Created by:
Stacy Aschenbrenner Bergman Elementary, Manhattan, KS
Materials
- Book-Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
a. Read the story.
1. Developing the lesson
a. Pose the following problem. Alexander's brother Anthony is showing off that he has money and Alexander does not. While they were waiting for the bus to pick them up for school, Anthony flipped a coin to pass the time. He was amazed to see that it turned up heads five times in a row. Alexander was looking over Anthony's shoulder. "I'll bet you a quarter against your penny that the next one has to be tails," said Alexander. "You mean if it comes up heads I win a quarter and if it comes up tails you when one cent?" Anthony asked. "That's right," Alexander replied. "That's how sure I am that it won't be heads again."
- Challenge the students to figure out the probability that Anthony's sixth toss will be heads also.
- Give the kids pennies and let them experiment. Also stress that they could probably figure this out without actually doing it.
- After the kids have experimented and tried to come up with answer let them share their answers.
a. Discuss the answer. (The probability that Anthony's sixth flip will be heads is 1 in 2. Despite what many people think, the number of times coins have been flipped doesn't matter. Any coin you flip has a 1 in 2 chance of ending up on one side or the other.)
- Then challenge the students to figure the probability of having six coin tosses in a row all end up on the same side. (It is unusual for this to happen, however, the probability of having six coin tosses in a row all end up on the same side is 1 in 64 (½ x ½ x ½ x ½ x ½ x ½ =1/64)
The reason I chose the poem, Smart by Shel Silverstein is because I when I was younger I used to love reading the poems in the book Where the Sidewalk Ends. They are funny, creative poems. This went well with doing an activity to see if students are smart with their money, but to also see if they understand the value of money. I like the idea of letting students have hands on with play money. They have the chance to use their knowledge of the value of money, whether the boy got a good deal or not.
I chose the activity for Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, because it’s a good critical thinking activity. It demonstrates that when you flip a coin there is a 1 in 2 (1/2) chance of it ending up on heads or tails. It gets students involved in working with fractions and this could possibly also be worked with percentage. It’s a good experiment to see how many students get the same answer. With this experiment, all answers will not be the same, making it interesting the answers of others.