Classroom Profile

New Miami Elementary School

2nd Grade
18 Students

Age range: 7-9

9 Male, 9 Female

18 English Language Proficient

1 student with a learning disability

1 student with ADHD

1 African American/Black student

16 White, non-Hispanic students
1 2 or more races student

We are doing our lesson with the middle level math students. They are very
interested in learning because there is a lot that they do not know, but they
do not struggle with it either. They are very enthusiastic towards mathematics
and are excited to learn new things.
In the afternoon, the students switch classes, so for some students, they are
not in their homeroom class. There is also a Smart Board in the room, but all
of them are very familiar with it, as it has been used throughout the year with
all of the homeroom teachers.
Normally, the students are split into two groups. Group 1 receives direct
instruction, while Group 2 works on independent practice with some guidance
from an aid. When the students walk in the classroom, they should know
which groups they are in and will automatically sit where they are supposed to
sit. To get the class attention, the teacher says, Class class and the
students respond with Yes yes and immediately become quiet and pay
attention to the teacher.

Names: Madison Zurawski and Danielle Linowes

School: New Miami
Grade Level: 2nd grade
Subject: Math
Date: October 29th, 2014
1. Title/ Source of Lesson: Halloween Addition created by Madison and
Danielle
2. Common Core State Standards addressed in lesson:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.O.A.B.2 Fluently add and subtract within
20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from
memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.A.1 Use addition and subtraction
within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving
situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking
apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by
using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown
number to represent the problem
3. Standards for Mathematical Practice intended in lesson:
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
4. Student Performance Objective: Students will be able to add two
numbers within 20 by solving word problems. Students will also be able
to add two numbers under 10 using mental strategies and
memorization.
5. Differentiations:
Students' prior content knowledge: In prior grades, students
have developed a good understanding of addition and simple
addition facts. Our tasks have multiple entry points, so students
can use whatever strategy they feel comfortable with.
Special Needs: One student has a reading disability. This
student will be put in a group with good readers so that her
difficulty reading the word problems does not get in the way of
completing the math. Another student has ADHD. Our lesson
involves a lot of moving around and we will not stay on one topic
for too long. This will help to keep his attention.
6. Key academic language addressed in lesson:
Addition
Equation
7. Connections to previous and future learning: Students have been
learning about addition since kindergarten. This lesson allows them to
refresh on their addition facts and continue using mental strategies and

memorization to figure out the answers. This will help them in the future
when doing more complex addition and multiplication.
8. Pre-assessment: We will observe the class the week before we
complete the lesson in order to see how advanced they are with their
addition facts and how they are progressing. We will also examine a preassessment from the textbook administered by the teacher.
9. Materials/ Resources:
Worksheets
Basic addition cards
Candy cutouts
Pencils
10. Procedure:
a.) Beginning:
Opening - Halloween is in two days! Can you guys believe it? We
are so excited and decided to create a fun activity about
Halloween for you all to do today.
b.) Middle:
1. Teacher modeling of learning - The teachers will present the
problem: Ms. Madison has 8 pieces of candy. She goes to
the store and buys 6 more pieces of candy. Ms. Danielle has
4 pieces of candy. She goes to the store and buys 9 more
pieces of candy. Who has more candy? Teachers solve the
problem and explain the process.
2. Guided practice - The students will be given the worksheet
that has two tasks listed. They will work in groups in order to
solve them and the teachers will be walking around and
scaffolding each group by asking questions and giving
guidance.
3. Class discussion/ group activity - The class will then come
back together. The teacher will ask the questions listed
below in order to facilitate discussion.
4. Questions - What is the first step to solve the problem? What
operation are we using in order to solve the problem? How
did you get your answer? Why do you think your answer is
right? What would you tell me if I said the answer was ___?
5. Independent practice - For the independent practice, we are
going to create notecards that have basic addition problems
on them and some notecards with the answers to those
problems. For example, one card will have 2+7 written on it
and one card will have on it =9. The student who receives
the 2+7 card will have to match up with the student with the
=9 card. This will help the students to have to think without
using manipulatives or writing out the problem but will help
them learn how to memorize basic addition facts.
This activity helps the students practice and deepen their
understanding of this concept.

Differentiation occurs throughout the lesson. We are going to do this

by the different steps listed above in the special needs section under
differentiation. We will also give students who are struggling a paper
with labels that will help them organize their manipulatives. We will
also be walking around to help those specific students that will need
more help.
To check for understanding, we will be walking around the classroom to
see who understands the problem given and who is completely
confused. The independent practice of the notecard game is also a
way that we can check the students understanding if they find the
correct person to pair up with.
c.) Closing:

The independent practice will test student knowledge of basic

addition. Then, we will come back together as a whole class and ask how
students feel about basic addition. They will give us a thumbs up if they
feel they understand the concept well, thumbs in the middle if they feel
ok about the concept, and thumbs down if they still do not understand the
concept. This will help the teacher to be able to know where to go from
this lesson.
11. Assessment:
To assess student knowledge, we will collect their task worksheets.
We will also make informal observations about their answers to
our discussion and assess their comprehension of addition.

Link to the Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=_6HafxXKb9g&list=UUJGc65boA7tS60hYnvEg4ag
Examples of student work:

Name:

Halloween Addition
1. Ms. Danielle collected 9 pieces
of candy while trick-or-treating
from her neighbors. When she
went to school the next day, Ms.
Burress gave her 7 pieces of
candy. Ms. Madison collected 7
pieces of candy while trick-ortreating from her neighbors. At
school the next day, Ms. Hamel
gave her 9 pieces of candy.
a.) Who has more pieces of
candy?

b.)

Explain how you got your answer by showing your work.

2. There are 5 students in Ms. Beasons class who are going to

dress up as ghosts for Halloween and 5 students who are going to
dress up as witches. In Ms. Hamels class, 5 students are going to
dress up as ghosts and 6 students are going to dress up as
witches.
a.)

Which class has more witches and ghosts?

b.)

Explain how you got this answer by showing your work.

Danielle Linowes
Reflection
1. One goal of the lesson was to ensure that students were able to add
numbers within 20. Another goal was to ensure that students were able
to recognize that the order of the addends does not affect the solution.
The final goal was to ensure that students were able to quickly find the
solution to doubles problems. From what we observed and collected, it
seems as though those goals were met. The students were able to
successfully solve the tasks given and recognized, after some time that
9+7 and 7+9 come up with the same answer. They were also able to
easily do the card matching activity at the end. However, we do not
really know if those goals were truly met unless we do many follow-up
activities and observe the students for a longer period of time.
2. I believe that the activities, teaching methods, and materials were very
appropriate. The activities seemed to engage the students and
successfully convey the basic addition concepts. The teaching methods
were also appropriate. By modeling a problem first, the students were

able to see one way to find the answer to a similar problem to what
they were assigned. Then, by putting them in small groups and
working with those small groups, the students were able to talk to one
another and develop teamwork in order to solve the problems.
However, working in teams was sometimes a problem, especially when
one or two students would contribute most of the ideas, while the
others listened. I was hoping to get all of the students involved. Finally,
the materials were also appropriate. By giving the students pictures
that they could manipulate, they were able to better visualize the
problem.
3. Our task did have multiple entry points. Students could choose the
strategy they used to solve the problems in the way that worked best
for them. Most students did choose to use the manipulatives and write
the equations on their paper. Some students used their knowledge of
basic addition facts as well. Our differentiation did seem to be
effective. Our student with ADHD stayed engaged in the activity for the
whole time because we did not focus on one topic for too long and
switched between large group and small group. The student with a
reading disability was able to solve the problem with some help
reading the task from her peers and me. In addition, the papers that
helped students organize the manipulatives were eventually given to
every group because they seemed effective. The students were able to
see the two different groups they were supposed to compare.
4. The most effective part of our lesson was the content of the task. The
way we set up our first problem really revealed the commutative
property. It was evident that almost every student had an aha
moment in which he or she saw how the two equations were equal. In
addition, the second task really helped students see that they only
needed to add one more to the first equation in order to get the
answer for the second equation. Our use of manipulatives was also
very effective. They were especially helpful for the students who were
initially struggling with the addition.
5. The mathematical misconception that the students held before the
lesson and at some parts during the lesson is that the order of the
addends affects the solution. When we gave them the first task, the
students did not recognize that the two numbers (9 and 7) were the
same in both scenarios and solved each equation separately. However,
during the lesson, they realized that both equations were the same. In
addition, during the notecard activity, the students also realized that
the order of the addends did not matter.

6. Our assessment was effective, but I do not think that it could act as a
stand-alone of a complete measure of student understanding. It
showed that they could identify the answer to basic addition facts and
doubles facts, but I would not say that because they could do that,
they completely understand the commutative property and basic
addition. It measured what we intended for them to learn, but further
assessment would be needed for a true measurement.
7. I was very surprised when the students showed that they understood
the concept. When the first student made the connection that 9+7 and
7+9 were the same, it was pleasantly surprising. I thought that it
would take much longer for them to figure that out than just one
lesson. I was also surprised when one of the students used a base ten
strategy to figure out the problem that we modeled. She said that she
added to make ten and then added what was left over. I did not know
that they had already been taught or had already used some addition
strategies.
8. One of the unexpected outcomes was when towards the end, one of
the students added up the solutions instead of comparing them. She
told us the answer was 21 when we asked her which class had more
costumes. I was unsure of why she added the two totals together
instead of comparing them. She did show us that she was able to add
two digit numbers together, but was not following directions. Other
than that instance, we did not experience any other unexpected
outcomes.
9. I would make a few improvements to this lesson next time. In order to
get the students to solve the tasks using different strategies, I may
have introduced some strategies first. This would allow students to be
more creative in finding the answers and use strategies that best
worked for them. In addition, I may have made the groups smaller. The
larger group size left some students contributing a lot to the answer,
while others only contributed a small amount. Finally, I would make an
assessment that was more aligned with the tasks we completed. I
would give students a similar task and have them complete the task
independently.
10.
If I had the opportunity to continue teaching the students about
the concepts from this lesson, I would first give further assessment. As
described above, I would give them a similar task to complete
independently to see if they really understood the commutative
property and doubles facts. Based on the findings of that assessment, I
would then elaborate on the concepts and make them more complex.
For instance, I would use two digit numbers instead of one. I would also
have the students solve the tasks using a few different strategies and

not just one. I may have to introduce and explain the various strategies
first.
11.
The key academic language that we introduced to the students
was addition and equation. Most of them already knew the concept of
addition, but we made sure to not tell them right away that the
problems involved addition. Instead, we scaffolded them into figuring
out that they should add the numbers. For our other key term, I asked
them what an equation was after telling them to write an equation. I
wanted to see what their responses were before telling them the
answer. Both of these terms were introduced through oral language,
but I discovered that the students knew other mathematics terms
through their writing. The term equal was used in almost all of the
students explanations. By discussing the terms and the concepts, the
students were able to express the processes they used without being
burdened by their difficulties in spelling. However, through written
language, the students were able to articulate their thoughts in an
alternative way.
12.
Madison and I had both never taught a math lesson like that
before and we were surprised at how well it went! The students really
enjoyed working together and doing something other than working out
of their workbook.