PACT Lesson 2

Student: Marisa Louie Cooperating Teacher: Melanie SperosLesson Title: Four Triangle Problem Lesson Area: MathDate Submitted: 2/8/13 School Site: Fay ElementaryDate for Implementation: 2/27/13 Grade Level: 3rd

Description of Group: 19 English Language Learners, 3 IEPsGroup Size: 23 students

Goal: Students will describe polygons (including pentagons and hexagons) (CA

State Content Standards, grade 3, 2.1). Students will understand that shapes in

different categories (e.g. rectangles and others) may share attributes (e.g. having

four sides) (Common Core State Standard for Mathematics, grade 3, 3.G.A.1).

Content Objective: Given four triangles, students will work with their table

groups to create polygons, as well as describe their features using academic

language.

Formative Assessment: While students are creating polygons, I will orally

assess their understanding of how to describe polygons by asking about the

figures they are creating.

Language Objective: Given sentence frames and a graphic organizer, students

will orally and through writing, describe the features of polygons using present

and past tense verbs, vocabulary about polygons, and connecting words.

Summative Assessment: The students’ written work on their individual

recording sheet will be evidence of students meeting the objective of describing

polygons.

Materials/Preparation:

1. 23 graphic organizers

2. 300 rectangle squares of construction paper

3. 1 roll of masking tape

4. geometry words class chart

5. 7 folders

The LessonIntroduction (20 minutes):

Before beginning the math activity, I will present our geometry words chart

from the previous lesson and review the academic language. Students will make

statements about terms from the geometry chart, as well as model geometry

terms that they have learned about.

Then, I will introduce the two triangle activity. I will explain to students that

they will make shapes from two construction paper triangles. I will model how to

fold and cut a square in half on the diagonal. Does anyone know what this line is

called (point to diagonal)? What shapes do I have after I’ve cut along the

diagonal?

I will explain to students that their task is to fold and cut a square on a

diagonal and put the two triangles back together to make a square. After putting

them back together, they will tape the two triangles with masking tape. Then, I

will explain that their second task is to make a different shape with the two

triangles. The shape must follow the rule that sides that touch much be the same

length and match exactly. I will model the rule by showing several ways to put

triangles together that do and do not follow the rule. I will explain to students that

after they construct a shape with two triangles, they will compare their shape with

others in their table group. As a group, students will decide when they’ve found

all possible arrangements.

After giving students work time, I will gather the class for a group

discussion on the carpet. I will ask students which shapes they were able to

construct and we will name the shapes, using the labels triangle, parallelogram,

and square. When discussing the term parallelogram, I will model and gesture

parallel lines for students.

Procedure (30 minutes):

1) After discussing the term parallelogram, I will pose the problem of

finding all the different ways to form polygons using four triangles. I will

explain that like the problem we just worked on, the sides of the

triangles must touch and the sides that touch must be the same length.

2) I will model how to construct a four-triangle polygon by creating a

rectangle. I will fill out my recording sheet by drawing the polygon and

noting the line segments, angles, and vertices.

3) Then, I will instruct students to return to their table groups and create

polygons using four triangles at a time.

4) After constructing a polygon, students will record the figure on their

recording sheet. Students will draw the figure and describe the

features of the polygon.

Closure (5 minutes):

After students explore the creation of polygons with four triangles,

students will share the polygons their tables created on the carpet using the

sentence frame below.

I made a ________. I know this because it has _______ sides, ________

angles, and _______ vertices.

Then, students will return to their desks to place their polygons in a folder.

I will explain that we will be using their polygons for an activity the next day.

Modifications:In order to meet the diverse needs of students, I will provide scaffolding

and support with the use of sentence frames, specifically for my ELLs. The

sentence frames include a visual beneath each blank space of the frame to

support my beginning and intermediate English learners. Before using the frame,

students can use the visual cues to support them as they practice the academic

language with the sentence frame. For my students with speech IEPs and my

ELLs, I will model how to use the sentence frames and lead an echo talk so that

students understand how to appropriately use the sentence frames. In addition to

students knowing how to appropriately use the sentence frame, I want students

to feel confident before sharing their ideas in a whole group discussion.

While students are creating polygons at their table, I will meet with my

beginning English learners to review the academic language, using the polygons

that they create as an example. My beginning English learners will point to the

features of the polygons they created and I will lead an echo talk of the academic

language to describe the feature. In addition to my beginning English learners, I

will meet with my English learners and students with speech IEPs at their table

groups to assess their content understanding, as well as provide more

opportunities for them to practice the academic language. Students will practice

the academic language through responding to my inquiry-based questions, in

addition to an echo talk of the geometry terms.

In order to meet the needs of my GATE students, I will provide challenges

for students in the form of questions. I will ask GATE students about the angles

and sides of each polygon and if they can use the features to draw conclusions

about the features.

Instructional Material: PACT Lesson 2Four Triangles Recording Sheet

Draw the polygon that your group created Number of line

segments

Number of angles

Number of vertices

Instructional Materials: PACT Lesson 2sentence frames geometry words chart