Teaching the Common Core Math Standards With Hands-On Activities, Grades 3-5 (33 page)

Activity 2: Mixed Number Game

Working in pairs or groups of three, students will play a Jeopardy-like game with mixed numbers.

Materials

Reproducible, “Mixed Number Game Problems,” for each pair or group of students; a stopwatch or other timepiece for the teacher. Optional: One copy of reproducibles, “Game Problem Clues, I” and “Game Problem Clues, II,” for the teacher.

Procedure

1.
Divide your class into an even number of pairs or groups of three. Arrange them in sets of two so that each pair or group can check another's answers.

2.
Distribute copies of the reproducible to your students. Explain that they will play a game that is similar to Jeopardy, but with some differences. Instead of a board, they have a paper with the answers to problems across the top and boxes under each answer, numbered 1–4, in which students are to write problems for each answer. You might suggest that students use scratch paper to write down clues and work out problems.

3.
Explain the procedure of the game. A student selects an answer and a box and then you will read a clue, for example from “Game Problem Clues, I” for Box 1 under the answer
. The clue will help students to write a problem that will result in the correct answer. Depending on your students, you might find it helpful to write the first problem together as a class. Explain that after you read the clue, students will have 30 seconds to confer with their partners and write the correct problem in the box by the number beneath the answer. (You may adjust the time depending on the needs of your students.) At the end of 30 seconds, each pair or group of students will exchange their paper with the pair or group with whom they are working. When you announce the correct problem, students will mark whether the problem is correct or not. A correct problem for each answer is included after each clue. Answers may vary slightly. For example, for the first answer, first clue, students may provide problems of
or
. Problems such as
or
are also correct. Tell your students that correct problems receive one point. After correcting the problems, students hand the papers back to their owners and you will call on a student to select the next answer. The student will say the answer he chooses and the box number and the game continues.

4.
Tell your students that for each answer two boxes will contain addition problems, and two boxes will contain subtraction problems. Explain that you will say the clue once, pause, and then repeat it. You will then say “Start,” and keep time. When the time limit is up, announce “time's up.” Pairs and groups will exchange their papers and you will announce the correct problem. Because answers may take slightly different forms, ask your students for other possible correct problems.

5.
Have a student select the first answer and box and start the game.

Closure

Tally scores and announce the pairs or groups with the most points. Discuss any answers and clues that students had trouble with.

Activity 3: Problems, Models, and Equations

Working in groups, students will solve word problems with fractions with like denominators, create models of the problems, and write equations to represent the problems.

Materials

Rulers; markers; crayons; colored pencils; drawing paper; reproducible, “Fraction Word Problems,” for each group.

Procedure

1.
Review adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators: Add the numerators and write the sum over the original denominator. Provide examples such as the following.

• 
• 
• (Remind students that they must simplify, if necessary.)
  

2.
Provide an example of a fraction model, such as the one below that models
.