Rationale

NCDPI Standards:

Standard 2, Indicator 1

Standard 7, Indicator 2

Standard 9, Indicator 3

Context

            During my Block II internship, I was able to complete this Planning, Teaching, and Reflecting Math Lessons project.  I interned in a third grade classroom at Blue Ridge Elementary School, in Ashe County, NC.  Before I started this project, I spoke with my teacher about topics she would like to cover.  She thought that I should come up with three lessons on money.  Money is not currently on the NC Standard Course of Study, but it’s an important topic to know.  Money is used daily in today’s world. 

After talking with my teacher, I came up with three lessons that covered recognizing money and adding money.  The first lesson used the book Pigs Will be Pigs.  After reading the book, the students had to recognize and count up the money that was found in the book.  For the second lesson, students learned what they knew about money and relate it to prices found in shopping ads.  Students had $5 to spend at the grocery store and they had to look through the ads and pick out what they would buy.  This required students to know what money was worth and how to add it up.  For the last lesson, I had the students practice adding amounts of money up.  They learned the importance of lining up the decimals and then adding the amounts. 

            Once I had taught each of my lessons, I interviewed three different students.  Each student was on a different level, low, medium, or high.  By interviewing the students, I was able to learn what the class thought of the lessons.  This helped me see how effective each lesson was and what the students gained from each lesson.  After doing all of this, I was able to reflect on the teaching process. 

Impact

            By completing this assignment, I feel confident in teaching continuous lessons to a classroom.  After teaching each lesson, I am able to reflect on each one and learn what is needed for the next lesson.  Sometimes students might not understand everything that was taught one day, so the next will be needed to be used as a review/ re-teaching day. 

Alignment

            I met Standard 2, Indicator 1 by having knowledge of number sense, numeration, and numerical operation and applying addition problems to every one of the lessons.  All three lessons had students adding amounts of money up.  Standard 7, Indicator 2 was met by use an interdisciplinary approach to teaching by connecting and integrating language arts with mathematics.  This was done by using the book Pigs Will be Pigs.  The lesson was based the book and the students had to use the knowledge learned in the book to complete the activities.  Standard 9, Indicator 3 having students organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication and communicating it to their teachers and their peers.  Once the students finished shopping for groceries, they were asked to share what they found and how they got their answer with the class.