Full Practicum – Lesson Template

Name: Desiree Harvey

School: Brooke Charter Schools Grade: 4

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?

4.MD.4 – Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4,
1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information
presented in line plots. For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in length
between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection.

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 make line plots with fractional values by creating a line plot using data
with fractional values.

Assessment: What specific, tangible evidence will show that each student has met this
objective?
Students will complete the exit ticket to measure their mastery of creating line plots with
fractional values.

Content:
What we want students to get from this problem (including consideration of how it
connects to prior day and builds to next day): This is the start of the final string of this unit.
Scholars learned about line plots in third grade, but they are still often confused by them. Today
should be both a review of line plots as well as an introduction to how to use fractional values on
a line plot. Scholars should discover that you treat fractions the same way as whole numbers on a
line plot. The purpose of acting out the line plot is to allow scholars to better visualize all of the
parts of the line plot in order to understand their purpose. You will do the problem solving task
as a class, having scholars direct you and each other on what to do. Then you will use the line
plot you created to create a drawn line plot. Tomorrow, we will move on to interpreting line plots
with fractional values.
 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 (__ 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?

Introduction (5 minutes):
 We are at the very end of our unit on fractions! Today and tomorrow, we will be using what
we know about fractions and applying that to our understanding of line plots! Today will be
a very special day because we will be doing our problem solving task all together!
 Big Question: How can we use our knowledge of fractions to create a line plot?
 PST:
o Create a line plot to represent the shoe sizes of all of the scholars in your class.
 (As a class, you will act out this line plot. You should decide on your procedure for this. See
below for suggested work time and discussion flow.)

During Lesson (20 minutes): How will you direct, guide, and/or facilitate the learning process to
support the students in working toward meeting the instructional objectives?

Work time (20 minutes):

**NOTE: You can decide if you would like scholars to do some planning, either independently
or as a class, before starting to create their line plot. Here are some guiding questions to lead
the class through creating their line plot. Feel free to do these parts in whichever order your
class comes up with. Stop to discuss confusions as they come up.
 What do we need to create our number line? (a title)
o What should our title be? (Scholars’ Shoe Sizes)
o Where should it go? (either at the top or bottom of line plot)
o (Have a scholar write this on blank paper and put it either at the top or bottom of
your line plot space)
 What else do we need? (a number line)
o What should it look like? (a number line with arrows on the end)
o Why should there be arrows on the end? (we are not going to show every shoe size
ever; we are going to zoom in on some numbers, but there are higher and lower
numbers along this line)
 o Why are we organizing our numbers on a number line? (so we can order our data
from smallest to largest)
o Where should the number line go? (on the bottom of our line plot space, with space
below it for numbers and the title)
 What do we need next? (numbers on the number line)
o **NOTE: If scholars do not immediately know their shoe size, you should create the
data before putting the numbers on the number line.
o What information do we need to put numbers on the number line? (we need to
know the smallest number, largest number, and what we are counting by)
o How should we decide where to start? (have the class determine the smallest shoe
size; if they want, the number line can start at 0 but it does not have to)
o How should we decide where to end? (have the class determine the largest shoe
size; if they want, the number line can end there or go up to the next whole number
or benchmark number)
o What should we count by? (have class discuss that we should count by halves
because shoe sizes are whole numbers and half numbers – if the class tries to use
only whole numbers, tell them that you have a 7 ½ shoe size and guide them to see
that they need to include halves)
 Note that you do not need to know all of the data to put the numbers on the
line plot because you will spread out the numbers correctly on the number
line even if there are scholars who don’t have particular shoe sizes – you
won’t skip numbers.
o (Have scholars write these numbers and order them correctly under the number
line.)
 What else do we need? (data!)
o What is our data in this problem? (Our shoe sizes – you may want to have scholars
write their shoe size down on a piece of paper so you can make sure they all know it.
For scholars who don’t, check their shoes or help them make up a reasonable shoe
size.)
o What will we use to represent our data? (Xs – have each scholar draw an X on the
other side of their shoe size paper. Even though we will be acting out this line plot, it
will be helpful to have Xs drawn so that when everyone gets up, we can still see the
data.)
o How should we fill in our line plot? (have scholars decide how to fill in the line plot
by having scholars sit in a row above their shoe size on the number line)

Work time/Discussion (15 minutes):

 Answer any remaining questions about final line plot. When you are done, have scholars
leave their X in their place and go back to their seats.
 You may want to ask the following guiding questions to eliminate any further confusions:
o Why do you think we use a number line to make line plots?
 (to show data ordered from smallest to largest)
o Why do you think the title can be at the top or the bottom?
  (the title is usually at the top of most data, so you could put it there, but the
title is also the label for what the numbers represent, so it can go under the
number line)
o Why can’t we skip numbers on the number line?
 (number lines should always be evenly spread out to accurately represent
the numbers in the correct order, regardless of the data)
o Why don’t we have to start at 0?
 (just like when we make open number lines for rounding or fractions, we
can start and end wherever we want)
o How did using fractional values affect our line plot?
 (it didn’t change anything – we just counted by halves on the number line
instead of wholes)
o Why do we use Xs to represent each person?
 (you could probably use any symbol but Xs are most commonly used – they
help you easily compare the numbers to each other and see the spread)
o Why do you think people use line plots?
 (they help you see the range of data from the smallest data point to the
largest and they allow you to see how the data is spread out across the
range)

Closing (8 minutes): How will you bring closure to the lesson and, by doing so, review and
determine what students have learned?

Takeaways (3 min):
Some points to make clear and/or jot down in notebook:
 You can create a line plot from a set of data.
 You can count by wholes or fractions the same way, as long as you are consistent.
 Line plots can help you see how data is spread out across a range.

Exit Ticket: 5 minutes

Scholars should use what they learned today to create a line plot from the given data. If scholars
are confused by the fractions, remind them that ½=2/4 so they should count bye fourths on their
number line.
Create a line plot about the following data.
The students in Ms. Courtney’s class took a poll and were asked to name
how many hours they read over the holiday break. Here were their
responses:

Ariana – 4 hours
Abigail – 2 hours
Ben – 3 ¼ hours
Chris – 2 ¾ hours
Cayden – 6 ¾ hours
Elinor – 2 ¼ hours
Eric – 5 hours
Ginny – 5 ½ hours
Hannah – 3 hours
Igor – 2 ½ hours
Kristin – 4 ¼ hours
Lisa – 5 hours
Mia – 1 ½ hours
Noah – 4 ¾ hours
Rosa – 2 ½ hours
 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.

The teacher will continue to use the classroom impression scale. Students can either be moved up
or down based on the impression that they are making on their team during the lesson. For
example, a student who is participating and tracking the speaker would be moved up to excellent
impression. Students are given reminders and re-directions and moved down on the impression
scale. If a student is disrupting the class and taking away from the learning of their peers they are
removed to the teachers table or the “cool down corner.” Specific students have specific behavior
systems in place that are unique to them and their needs. For example, one girl who struggles with
regulating her emotions will receive more verbal check-ins than the typical student. If a situation
escalates she receives a consequence but also writes about the situation in her journal and comes
up with a plan for the next time this takes place.

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

Teacher will need to get students shoe sizes ahead of time

Teacher will need to have mapped out the line plot on the carpet using tape
Teacher will need copies of problem solving task and exit tickets for each student

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)?

The next day’s learning will build upon this. Tomorrow, we will move on to interpreting line
plots with fractional values. In addition, student will continue to practice working with line plots
during our math review block. If a student is having trouble mastering the goal then the teacher
will conference with them during independent work time. Last, the student will receive more
practice on homework.