Boston College Lesson Plan Template

First/Last Name: Melanie McManus Date: 2/26/24

School: James F. Condon Elementary Grade: 4

Time/Period: …

OVERVIEW OF THE LESSON

MA Curriculum Frameworks incorporating the Common Core State Standards: With regard to how this lesson
fits into the “big picture” of the students’ long-term learning, which MA framework does the lesson most clearly
address?

3. Understand a fraction a ∕b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1 ∕b.

a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.
(The whole can be a set of objects.)
b. Decompose a fraction into a sum of fractions with the same denominator in more than one way, recording
each decomposition by an equation. Justify decompositions, e.g., by using drawings or visual fraction models.
Examples: 3 ∕8 = 1 ∕8 + 1 ∕8 + 1 ∕8 ; 3 ∕8 = 1 ∕8 + 2 ∕8 ; 2 1 ∕8 = 1 + 1 + 1 ∕8 = 8 ∕8 + 8 ∕8 + 1 ∕8.
c. Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by replacing each mixed number with an
equivalent fraction, and/or by using properties of operations and the relationship between addition and
subtraction.
d. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having
like denominators, e.g., by using drawings or visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

Instructional Objective: By the end of the lesson, (1) what concept, information, skill, or strategy will the
student(s) learn and (2) how will they demonstrate that knowledge?

Students will be able to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers in word problems and be able to
relate the answer they got to an issue of equity.

Secondary Objective:
Comprehension of what the question is asking- Students will be able to identify components of the question.

Assessment: What specific, tangible evidence will show that each student has met this objective?

Students will explain how they got their answer using sentence frames and visuals, and agree/disagree with
their math small group to correct their work and reason about the equity of their answer.

Students will be able to answer teachers' questions about what the problem is asking and fill out sentence
frames which synthesize what the problem is asking. Students will be able to identify whether they need to use
adding or subtracting mixed numbers and fractions to solve the word problem.
Academic Language Objective: By the end of the lesson, (1) what language, relating to the lesson and lesson
content, will the student(s) know or learn, and (2) how will they demonstrate that knowledge? Refer to WIDA
and Three Tiers of Vocabulary Beck, Kucan, and McKeown (2002) as cited by Thaashida L. Hutton in Three Tiers
of Vocabulary and Education.

Discourse: Students will use sentence frames to agree or disagree with their groups about the answer they got
or about if the answer to the problem is fair or unfair.

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Vocabulary: Students will review their knowledge of fractions by being able to define fraction, numerator,
denominator, mixed number, and unit fraction using sentence frames and the word wall. Students will learn the
meaning of the word “fair” and use this word when discussing the equity of a problem.
Justifying their answer: Students will use sentence frames to explain their problem-solving process using the
grammatically correct sentence structure.

Assessment: What specific, tangible evidence will show that each student has met this objective?

Students will show they have met this objective by being able to identify mathematics vocabulary using the
word wall.
Students will demonstrate they have met the objective by being able to share with the whole class in the
lesson closing how they solved their fraction word problem and justify its equity using sentence frames.

Content: What are the specific details of the lesson’s content knowledge?

Students will be solving equity-centered word problems that require them to add and subtract mixed
numbers and fractions with common denominators, because only parts of the same size can be added,
subtracted, and decomposed.

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PROCEDURES FOR THE LESSON

In this section, provide specific directions, explanations, rationales, questions, potential vignettes/scenarios,
strategies/methods, as well as step-by-step details that could allow someone else to effectively teach the lesson
and meet the lesson objectives.

Opening (_10_ minutes): How will you introduce the instructional objective to the students, “activate” learners,
pre-teach/ preview vocabulary, and prepare them to engage with the lesson content?

Pass out handouts with vocabulary, questions, and sentence frames. Pass them out before the lesson starts.

Today we are going to start with our mathematics language objectives.

Can someone read our objective for today?

I will be able to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers in word problems and talk about why the
problem is fair or unfair.

- Fractions are really important for us to learn because they help us tell whether a problem is fair or not.
- Today we are going to be solving word problems where we must add and subtract fractions and mixed
numbers. Then we will be talking about how we solved the problem and whether the problem is fair or
not. Then we will share with the whole group at the end.

Before we solve problems today and talk about if they are fair, we need to know what the word fair means.
- Fair means that everyone gets what they need, and fair means good for people, not bad.
- translate the word “fair” into your native language.

Go through all the vocabulary words with students during the opening.
- display the corresponding visual/word wall for the vocabulary words somewhere where students can
see.
- remind students that they can use those visuals to help them understand the vocabulary when
working in their math groups and explaining their answers to each other and the whole class.

Fraction- part of a whole.

Numerator- the top number in a fraction that tells us how many parts.
Denominator- the bottom number in a fraction that tells us how many equal parts make a whole.
Mixed Number- A number that includes a whole number and a fraction.
- When we say mixed numbers, we always say “and” because a mixed number is a whole number and a
fraction.
- So for the mixed number 5 5/8 , we say “five and five eighths.”
- Let's say that again together.
- How would we say 6 ⅔?
- as a class: “six and two thirds”

Unit fraction- A fraction that has 1 as the numerator.

Have the whole class read over the unit fractions up to tenths.

Unit Fractions:

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

½- One Half
⅓- One Third
¼- One Fourth
⅕- One Fifth
⅙- One Sixth
⅐- One Seventh
⅛- One Eighth
⅑- One Ninth
⅒- One Tenth

Review with students:

Only parts of the same size can be added, subtracted, and decomposed.
- So when we add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers the denominators stay the same.

Let’s review the steps for subtracting fractions.

***use the example 3/7 - 1/7
When subtracting fractions, first we subtract the numerators.
We subtract the numerators 1 from 3 and keep 2 as the new numerator. We keep the denominator the same
because only parts of the same size can be added, subtracted, and decomposed.
We get 2/7 as our final answer and we say the answer as two sevenths.

Let’s review the steps for adding mixed numbers.

***use the example of 3 3/9 + 6 2/9
First, we add the whole numbers together.
We keep the sum of the whole numbers and get 9.
Second, we add the fractions together and get 5/9.
We added the numerators and the denominator stays the same because only parts of the same size can be
added, subtracted, and decomposed.
The answer is 9 and 5/9 because a mixed number is a whole number and a fraction.

During Lesson (_43_ minutes): How will you direct, guide, and/or facilitate the learning process to support the
students in working toward meeting the instructional objectives?

Okay now that we have done that, let’s look at the first word problem on our worksheet.
- We will first talk about what we know about the problem, then solve the problem, then talk about if
the answer is fair or not.

There are four boys and four girls in a class. The boys in the class get 5 of the 8 new pencils in the class every
month. What fraction of new pencils do the girls get every month?

- Whenever we see a word problem we first highlight what we know about the problem and what we
need to find out.
- Take a second to highlight the important information on your worksheet.
- What do we know about the problem?
- We know that the boys in the class get 5 pencils of the 8 new pencils every month, so the fraction of
pencils the boys get is ⅝.

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

- What do we need to find out?

- We need to find out what fraction of new pencils the girls get every month.

So how can we solve this problem?

- A fraction is part of a whole.
- We know that the boys in the class get ⅝ of the new pencils every month.
- To find out how many pencils girls get, we must find the remaining part of the whole.
- We will subtract ⅝ from the whole 8/8.
- ***remind students that we always subtract the smaller number from the bigger number, that is why
we say “We will subtract ⅝ from the whole 8/8.” Remind students that 8/8 represents the whole.

Have students solve the problem, and show their work on the worksheet.
Have students use the sentence frames on the worksheet to explain what they did.
Okay, now that you solved the problem, we will keep using the sentence frames to explain what you did.

How did you solve the problem?

- I found the remaining part of the whole and subtracted ⅝ from the whole 8/8.
- First, I subtracted the numerators and got 3. I kept the denominator the same because only parts of
the same size can be subtracted.
- I got ⅜ as my final answer.
- The fraction of new pencils the girls get every month is ⅜.
- Point out to students that when solving word problems we always write the answer in a complete
sentence that starts with a capital and ends with a period. A good way of doing this is by restating the
question like we just did in the sentence frame.

When we solve word problems, they are types of problems that can happen to us in real life.
- In this problem the boys in the class get more pencils than the girls.
- Remember fair means everyone gets what they need.

Is the answer to this problem fair or not fair?

- This problem is not fair because the boys get a bigger fraction of the pencils. The boys get ⅝ of the
pencils. The girls get a smaller fraction of the pencils. The girls only get ⅜ of the pencils and that is not
fair.
***tell students if they think the problem is fair they can leave the space blank

How many more pencils do the boys get than the girls?
- The boys get 5 pencils and the girls get 3 pencils. This means the boys get 2 more pencils than the girls
and this is not fair.
***tell students if they think the problem is fair they can leave the space blank

How can we make this problem fair? What would you do?
- I would give each girl in the class _____ pencils and give each boy in the class ___ pencils because
there are ___ pencils in total. If I did this each student would have the same/an equal amount of
pencils.
- Do you agree?
- I agree because ____.
- I disagree because_____.
- Would you do something different?

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

****remind students they can use the sentence frames on the whiteboard for further discussion

Now we will solve the second problem.

Jasmine just moved to the United States. Jasmine lives 2 3/8 miles away from the closest school. But, Jasmine
does not go to the closest school to her house. Jasmine goes to school 5 4⁄ 8 miles further from the closest
school. She can’t go to the closest school because that school does not have a class where Jasmine can learn
English, and Jasmine is still learning English. How many miles from her real school does Jasmine live now?
- Highlight the important information in the problem.
- First, we will fill out the sentence frames on our worksheet to show what we know about the problem.

What do we know about the problem?

- We know that Jasmine lives 2 and 3/8 miles away from the closest school.
- But, Jasmine does not go to the closest school to her house, because it does not have a class where
Jasmine can learn English.
- Jasmine goes to school 5 and 4⁄ 8 miles further from the closest school.
- Model for students on the smartboard a drawing which represents the problem and what we know so
far.
- Tell them to draw on their smartboards Jasmine's house, the closest school, and the school she goes to
now. Together, label the number of miles between each point. Call on students to help you.

What do we need to find out?

- We need to find out how many miles from her real school does Jasmine live now.

How can we solve this problem?

- Should we use adding or subtracting mixed numbers to solve this problem?
- We should use adding mixed numbers to solve this problem.

Review Adding Mixed Numbers with the students. ***put this up on the board

First, we add the whole numbers together.

We keep the sum of the whole numbers and get __.
Second, we add the fractions together and get __.
We added the numerators and the denominator stays the same because only parts of the same size can be
added, subtracted, and decomposed.
The answer is __ and __ because a mixed number is a whole number and a fraction.

Tell students to solve the problem and show their work.

How did you solve the problem?

Sentence Frame:

First, I added the ___ numbers together.

I kept the ___ of the whole numbers and got ___.
Second, I _____ the ____ together and got _____.
The denominator stays the same because only parts of the ____ size can be added.

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

The final answer is 7 and ⅞ because a mixed number is a whole number and a fraction.
***remind students to restate the question in a complete sentence when writing their answer.
Jasmine lives 7 and ⅞ miles from her school now.

***Have each student share their problem solving process using the sentence frames. After they all share, ask if
anybody in the group agrees or disagrees with someone’s solution if it is different from theirs, and to use the
sentence frames on whiteboard when discussing

Closing (_10_ minutes): How will you bring closure to the lesson and, by doing so, review and determine what
students have learned?

Now we will talk about the problem and the fairness of the situation.

Do you think it is fair that Jasmine lives 7 ⅞ miles from school?

I think it is ___ fair that Jasmine lives 7 and ⅞ miles from her school because Jasmine lives 2 and 3/8 miles away
from the closest school now and could go there instead. It is not fair that Jasmine can’t go to the closest school
because that school does not have a class where Jasmine can learn English, and Jasmine is still learning English.
***tell students that if they think it is fair they can leave it blank.

What can be done? How do we solve this?

- We can solve this by…

***Let students talk about their own ideas here without sentence frames.
***Have them agree or disagree with other students' responses using the sentence frames in the speech
bubbles on the whiteboard.

SUPPORTING ALL LEARNERS

As you think about supporting all learners, think about the Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL),
and utilize resources at the following links:

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

● UDL At-a-Glance:
http://www.udlcenter.org/resource_library/videos/udlcenter/udl#video0
● UDL Overview:
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_procedures.cfm?tk_id=21
● Lesson Plan Exemplars
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_lessons.cfm?tk_id=21

Learner Factors: What will you do to ensure success from all students? Specifically, students on individual
education plans, English language learners (at a variety of English language levels), and students who may need
an extended challenge. Highlight all that apply.

Grouping ● Adjust grouping format

Factors ● Seat students strategically near one another
● Pair students

Content ● Give additional examples

● Provide alternate reading
● Provide on-level reading
● Give verbal cues to emphasize main ideas
● Increase number of review activities

Materials ● Write homework list

● Graphic organizers
● Use Braille or large print
● Use manipulatives
● Technology
● Give students copy of directions
● Hand out copies of notes
● Re-read directions
● Use page markers

Student ● Alternate response format (verbal/written)

Response ● Give daily progress report
● Extend time
● Use assistive devices
● Use interpreter
● Give more breaks
● Allow use of computer

Specific Examples: Choose 3 examples of support from the list above and explain in detail the differentiation.
● Support #1: Sentence Frames

● Support #2: Word Wall

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 Boston College Lesson Plan Template

● Support #3: Grouping Format

FINAL DETAILS OF THE LESSON

Classroom Management: If teaching a small group or whole class, how will you use classroom routines,
reinforce appropriate behavior, and/or handle behavioral issues? Give one example.

I will reinforce appropriate behavior by using the classroom routine of marbles on a plate to reinforce hand
raising. If a student does not raise their hand, they lose a marble on the plate on their desk. If they have kept
all their marbles at the end of the lesson and have not lost any, they will get a “point” on their tracker.

Materials: What are the materials that you will need to organize, prepare, and/or try-out before teaching the
lesson?

handouts for students with questions and sentence frames

word wall
smartboard

Follow-up: How will you and/or your Supervising Practitioner reinforce the learning at a later time so that the
students continue to work toward the lesson’s overarching goal (i.e., the MA Curriculum Framework
incorporating the Common Core State Standards)?

My SP and I will continue incorporating sentence frames to help students decode word problems and talk about
their work. In my second inquiry lesson and in math lessons I teach during my takeover, I will use sentence
frames as a linguistic tool for students to talk about equity-based problems that I will create for them.

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