Subject:  Math                                                                                               Grade:  3

 

Standard:  #6 Problem solving

 

Key Concept:  Students use strategies, skills and concepts in finding and communicating solutions to problems.

 

Generalization:  Mathematical story, (written) problems will be solved using various strategies.

 

Background:  This lesson will come after several weeks of solving daily “Problems of the Day.”  Students will have had experience using various and necessary strategies that will enable them to complete this activity.

 

Tiered in: Process

 

Tiered according to:  Readiness

 

Activity:   All levels of students will travel around the room at their own pace completing story problems written on newsprint. Each piece of newsprint will have a basic problem at the top, and two extension problems below. The students will solve the problems on a folded and numbered piece of manila paper. 

Each story problem will have three parts:  A, B, and C. The teacher will identify which group each student belongs to by a marker stamp on their paper.

 

Tier I: Tier One students will solve basic-level problems, Part A. If a student in this group finishes early, he or she should go back to the problems and try to solve parts B.  

 

Tier II:  Tier Two students will solve the basic-level parts of the problems, part A, as well as part B.  If a student in this group finishes early, he or she should return to the problems and solve parts C.

 

Tier III:  Tier Three students will complete Parts A,  B, and C.

 

Assessment:  Students will turn in their papers for evaluation.  After all papers have been collected, the class can go over the problems together and discuss different ways of solving the problems.

 

EXAMPLE:  

Part A:  Martina is baking two cakes for the church bake sale.  The recipe calls for two cups of flour to make one cake.  How many cups of flour will she need to make two cakes?

 

Part B:  How much flour will Martina need for three cakes?

 

Part C:  How much flour would she need to make one-half of a cake?