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Celeste Tarbox
EDU 531
Professor Remillard
November 11, 2014
Term III Lesson Design Draft
Core Decisions of Lesson Design
What
This lesson mainly addresses students understanding of cardinality and part-whole
number relationships. Students being to connect counting and cardinality when
they understand that the last number counted indicates how many are in a set
(Chapin, 2006, p. 16). Chapin and Johnson also write, A major milestone occurs in
the early grades when students interpret number in terms of part and whole
relationships. A part-whole understanding of number means that quantities are
interpreted as being composed of other numbers (Chapin, 2006, p. 17). To
continue, this lesson increases students ability to compute. We are building on this
foundation by working with the commutative and associative properties. Students
will gain experience counting and adding. By using coin manipulatives, students will
have practice subitizing and quickly recognizing amounts of different coins.
How
Tasks. Students are asked to think about the value of different coins and to use that
knowledge to find different combinations to make twenty-five cents. They will focus
on the part-whole relationship of numbers while using coin manipulatives. Money
is a real-world application of the foundational work that they have completed
counting and developing number sense. They are able to use their well-developed
skills and apply them to a real-world problem. Specifically, I want students to be
able to identify the different coins and their values, but I also want students to
develop a level of comfort sharing their ideas and strategies with their peers. I want
to build their confidence in the classroom and give them more opportunities to
draw on their personal experiences.
Tools. This lesson is primarily based on the use of coin manipulatives. Students are
familiar with them and they are a close representation of their real counterparts.
They will help support the students in their exploration of coins and their ability to
recognize the design and color of each coin. I will also bring in actual coins to use on
the chart paper as we review the values of the different coins. The story about
saving money in my piggy bank to buy an ice cream cone is accessible to students. I
hope that the idea of a piggy bank is familiar to students.
Discourse. The lesson begins with discourse between the teacher and student, but
mainly lead by the teacher. The read-aloud is teacher to student, while the

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exploration of the lesson is student to student. We wrap up with the students talking
primarily to each other and the teacher sharing strategies. The students shape and
contribute to the discourse throughout the lesson. At the beginning, their knowledge
and comments decide where the mini-lesson goes. If they only remember what a
penny is, but not a nickel, dime or quarter, the teacher will have to review that
background information before continuing, but if the students knowledge of coins
and their values is solid, the discourse will take a different turn. The students are
required and expected to offer their own ideas and insights. In the general
classroom, these students are used to sharing their ideas and how they got to an
answer. The role of the teacher is imperative for this lesson to be successful. Its the
response to the students comments that makes or breaks the lesson. If a student
offers up a different strategy, the key is not to accept the answer and move on, but to
dig deeper and find out how the student came to the answer demanding that they
verbalize their thinking.
Norms.
Prior to starting any lesson, I will go over the expectations of students. In our
classroom we repeat, Hands up, thumbs up so students know that if they wish to
make a comment of ask a question, they must not call out. It acts as a gentle
reminder. I will remind students that participation is not only raising your hand,
but that we can demonstrate participation other ways. I always ask students how
else they can participate if they dont have an answer. Active listening is visible and
students understand that body language can be a form of participation. By having
eyes and ears on the speaker, students show respect for the classmates and the
teacher.
If students have a similar answer to their classmate, using sign language to indicate,
Me too! has worked well. Although it is not a signal in the general classroom, I
have used it during a Number Talk and plan to use it during my small group lesson.
From informal observations of the classroom, students light up when they realize
that another student has a similar interest or has completed a problem a similar
way. This simple gesture helps create a positive and respectful environment.
By having the students verbalize their thinking, I am helping to build a community
where sharing thoughts and ideas is an acceptable and expected activity. Students
feel comfortable sharing their thinking because the teacher has created a space
where they feel safe to do so.
Why
My Classroom Mentor suggested I plan a lesson on money or time since these two
topics are not covered as much as she would like in the schools Investigations
curriculum. I chose money because I had previously observed a mini-lesson on the
penny and I wanted to work from a topic with which students had a previous
experience working. They seemed to be engaged and interested in the topic.

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When planning this lesson, I thought about Gardners theory of multiple


intelligences. Gardner emphasized that students are not all the same. They have
different backgrounds and they also learn in different ways and at different speeds.
Over the course of this one lesson, I have touched on visual-spatial (drawing coins,
picture book, charts), bodily-kinesthetic (manipulatives), musical (poem),
interpersonal (understanding, interacting with others, sharing strategies), linguistic
(auditory, read-aloud), and logical-mathematical (reasoning, calculating, solving
problem) in order to attend to students differences. By using differentiated
instruction techniques, I am acknowledging that not all students are alike.
Piaget argued that students need to actively participate in their learning and as a
teacher, the implication is that I need to use constructivist approach to facilitate
learning. At the beginning of my lesson, I am not simply stating the facts but pulling
the information from the students and allowing them to construct their learning.
Finally, I wanted to tie the lesson back to their personal lives somehow. This is why I
made the decision to bring in a piggy bank. By introducing the lesson this way, I
hope to help students make and express personal connections to the content.
Saving money to buy something pleasurable may be relatable to a six-year old. The
class has lost quite a fair amount of teeth lately and the Tooth Fairy has been very
generous, so perhaps encouraging them to save their tooth money to buy an ice
cream cone!
Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to identify the name and value of different coins (penny, nickel,
dime, and quarter). Students will be able to count the total value of a group of coins
and find equivalent coin combinations.
Standards
CCSS 1.OA.
- Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and
subtraction within 10.
CCSS 1.NBT
- Understand place value: 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones called
a ten.
Materials and preparation
The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
6 set of plastic coins (30 pennies, 20 nickels, 20 dimes, 20 quarters)
6 Pencils
3 paper bags
6 worksheets

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Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues


I will remove the six students from the general education classroom. We will move
together to the conference room on the 1st floor. This room does not contain a
printer/copier so it is not often occupied during the day. The six students will sit at
a round table. There are only four wooden chairs; two office chairs with wheels will
need to be used. I anticipate this potentially being an issue with my students, but I
will address at the beginning of the lesson by setting expectations.
Plan
1. Launch.
a. Guided Discovery. I will lead students through a guided discovery of
money (more specifically coins). Students may already know about
coins, but I wish to use this teaching strategy to (re)introduce the
materials (coins) at the beginning of the lesson. My hope is that this
guided discovery generates interest and excitement as well as an
opportunity to introduce vocabulary and access students prior
knowledge.
i. Questions:
1. I brought my piggy bank with me today. Now I know
some of you may have one just like it, but what do you
use it for?
2. Today were going to explore money! I have some
wonderful coins in this piggy bank. They come in many
different sizes and values. What could they be?
ii. Review value of coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) with
poem (attached).
b. Read-Aloud. I will read aloud The Coin Counting Book. Prior to
beginning the read-aloud, I will hand out a set of coins to each pair of
students so that they can manipulate them throughout the read-aloud
and lesson. As I read the book, I will pause periodically and challenge
students to demonstrate their understanding of money concepts from
the book by using their coins.
c. Modeling Activity. Once I have finished the read-aloud, I will introduce
the activity by restating an example from the book (asking students
what are different ways to make a dime) to model what they will be
doing on their own. I will document this on chart paper for students to
refer to later in the lesson.
2. Work and explore. Students will work in pairs. Each pair of students is given
a work mat, two pencils, a paper bag filled with pretend coins, and two
worksheets to document their work.
a. Problem. I have saved up a lot of coins in my piggy bank! I need 25
cents to buy an ice cream cone. When I tried to get some coins out of
my piggy bank, it fell off my desk and broke into pieces! There are

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pennies, nickels, and dimes everywhere on the floor! What coins could
I use to pay the 25 cents? Show your answer using pictures, numbers
and words.
b. Find different combinations of coins that could be in my piggy bank.
3. Debrief and wrap up. We will come back together as a group and share out
combinations and strategies. I will record the combinations on a whiteboard
to keep track of students thinking.
a. Questions:
i. How many combinations did you come up with?
ii. Can someone share a combination with the least number of
coins?
iii. Can someone share a combination with the most number of
coins?
iv. How did you come up with that answer?
Anticipating Students Responses and Your Possible Responses
Students are likely to find the topic engaging. I observed a lesson on the penny a
few weeks ago and the students were eager to share their knowledge of the penny
and other coins. Students have experience making different combinations to make a
number. I observed a math lesson that involved finding different combinations of
ten, so I am concerned that making combinations of twenty-five might be too
challenging. The students that I have picked have demonstrated a strong
understanding of mathematical concepts and are fast workers. By using coin
manipulatives, I expect that it will be manageable. Having students play with
manipulatives during the read-aloud may present a managerial challenge, but I want
to explore this decision and see how it plays out. If I present it as a task and not play,
I have full confidence that my students will succeed and meet my high expectations.
Assessment of Goals/Objectives
See attached Assessment chart.
Accommodations
1. For Students Who May Find the Material Too Challenging
a. I will decrease the price of an ice cream cone.
2. For Students Who May Need Greater Challenge and/or Finish Early
a. I will increase the price of an ice cream cone and add a quarter into
their repertoire.

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