Math Lesson, 11.19.12

Grade Level and Unit: Grade 4, Math Unit 4 (Geometry) Investigation 2

Session Description of Lesson Tasks:  “Guess My Rule” Classifying characteristics of polygons

Materials Needed: -shape cards -paper plates with center cut out (large circles) -“Rule” cards -Recording worksheet

Grouping Decisions: Whole group review (under 5 min.) > Pairs (block time) > Whole group

Learning Goal(s) & Essential Question(s) How can we group polygons? All students will be able to describe and classify two-dimensional figures. Objectives 1.      All students will be able to define polygons as closed figures with line segments (sides) and vertices. 2.     All students will be able to classify polygons by attributes including: number of sides, length of sides, and size of angle. 3.     All students will develop vocabulary to describe attributes and properties of polygons.

Language Objectives All students will be come familiar with the meaning of the following mathematical terms, through direct, explicit instruction. All students will use these terms appropriately and in context. ¨  Side ¨  Angle ¨  Acute angle ¨  Obtuse angle ¨  Right angle (90°) ¨  Parallel ¨  Perpendicular ¨  Concave All students should already have familiarity with the following terms: ¨  Polygon

MA Frameworks: MATHEMATICS   Geometry 4.G Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles. 2. Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presences or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size.

Connect and Anticipate: Today we are going to play another round of Guess My Rule, this time with new shapes and new rules. Before we start can someone remind the class what a polygon is? One of the rules you are going to see includes a word you might have not seen before. “Concave” is written on the white board. When a shape is concave, it has at least one side that bends inward. Here are two shapes.   Two shapes, a rectangle and a concave pentagon, are drawn on the white board. Is this first shape concave?  What about this second shape? Every time you or your partner figure out what a rule is you can both record the rule and the polygons on pg 22.

Implementation Focus Questions/Hook/Launch: Each pair will get one set of shape cards and one set of rule cards and one circle.  Start by having one partner pick and rule and choose two polygons that fit that rule.   Place those two polygons inside the circle.  Pick at least one polygon that does not fit the rule and place it outside the circle. Explore: Every time you or your partner figure out what a rule is you can both record the rule and the polygons on pg 22. Various teachers circled the room to assist students who were stuck, help introduce vocabulary, etc. Summary: Let’s talk about what we learned during this round of Guess My Rule.  I heard a lot of new vocabulary used when folks were grouping together polygons to match a rule.  Would anyone like to share what he or she found? Students introduced new vocabulary used in the lesson.  The following words were written on the white board. -acute angle -right angle/90° angle -obtuse angle -parallel -concave  **written earlier in lesson Parallel lines… I heard there’s a song to help remember what parallel lines and what another special pair of lines are. Students stand at their desks and sing (repeat-after-me). “Mr. Perpendicular…” One arm goes above your head, the other arm perpendicular “…is very particular, and always making things right, Not like Mrs. Parallel…” Both arms go straight up above head, creating two parallel lines “…falling down the endless well…” Both arms fall in front of your body, staying parallel “…whose lines will never meet.”

Evidence:  The following checklist was in my notebook as I went around, working one-on-one and checking in on pairs. I also have artifacts (worksheets) where there work is recorded to further fill in or cross-reference the short hand data collected below during the lesson.

Pseudonyms	Can accurately classify polygons by:			Using vocab previously known or introduced to them?
	# of sides?	length of sides?	angle size?
John		w/ prompting
George
Eddie				Ö
Leila	Needs improvement
Hector		Ö	X/Ö - groups angles
Reese				Ö
Uri		Recognized quadrilaterals with all sides different
Benji
Lawrence			X -> Ö	Ö - worked closely with teacher
Tyler	Ö		X
Simon	Ö		X
Carl	Ö
Nora	Knew it.
Kyle			X -> Ö	Ö - worked closely with teacher

Differentiated Instruction ELL Preview vocabulary such as “side” and “angle”. IEP/modification/accommodation Extension

Notes and Reflections I was pretty excited to actually have a checklist prepared to gather evidence, but was surprised at how little I was actually able to collect.  I feel confident in my assessment in that it contains evidence for each learning target.  In the future,  I think I could take this a step further by making clear exactly what I am looking for to check off that a student has met each of those targets.  I can see that this checklist/rubric might not exactly be clear to someone at first glance, although at the time of the lesson I had it pretty clear in my head as to what I was doing and what I was assessing. I felt like most if not all students benefited from the vocabulary instruction, in the explicit instruction at the beginning of the lesson, the one-on-one implicit instruction during partner work, and the follow-up summary song.  Although their progress is not necessarily documented in the checklist, it can be seen in student work and the vocabulary was present during the summary and in lessons since. I felt pretty strong in my preparation of this lesson.  I had all the materials ready to go, and partnerships already decided.  Fortunately, this class is largely made of kinesthetic learners who benefited from the song and dance as well as being able to manipulate and touch the objects.  As far as differentiated instruction goes, I definitely feel as though this is an area I need improvement on.  With a special education teacher in the classroom it’s almost unnecessary to plan ahead for the IEP students knowing she will be there to jump in and differentiate.  Furthermore, since I haven’t had a chance to really thoroughly review all IEPs, I’m not even a thousand percent sure what is mandated or recommended to go for their specific disabilities.  I think this is an area I need more strength and practice in.

Artifact: