Teacher Candidate: Stacy LaBounty

Date: January 25, 2015

THE UCI LESSON PLANNER

Part 1: Classroom Information
Grade: 5

Content Area: Math

Group Size: 29 Lesson Length: 50 minutes

Student Context:
Identified Needs

Accommodations

Students with Special Needs

(IEP and/or 504)

1 IEP

May work around room where

comfortable; may take breaks if
overwhelmed; work with
teacher individually or in small
group after whole class lesson

Students with Specific

Language Needs (ELL)

2 ELLs

Write any vocabulary with

definitions in math spiral
notebook to use as resource;
sentence frames for academic
language

Students with Other Learning

Needs (Behavior, Struggling
Reader, Struggling Math)

2 Struggling Math

Work with teacher in small

group after whole class lesson

Part 1: Planning for the Lesson

A: Standards
i. Key Content Standard:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.A.1
Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given
fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of
fractions with like denominators. For example, 2/3 + 5/4 = 8/12 + 15/12 = 23/12. (In general, a/b +
c/d = (ad + bc)/bd.)

B. Objectives

i. Learning Objective/Goal: The students will (DO __) to (LEARN ___).

The students will work in groups to create a step by step guide to use one of three strategies for
adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Students will later use any of the three
strategies to subtract fractions with unlike denominators.

ii. Language Objective (transfer this from "Incorporating Academic Language):

The students will describe how to use a strategy for adding and subtracting fractions by writing a step
by step guide.

C. Assessments:
i.

Informal assessment strategies you will use during class (What evidence will you see and/or
hear and how will you note it?)
As informal assessment, I will monitor student work in groups, and I will have their completed
step by step guide.
Written assessment you will use to determine, for each individual student, to what extent
they have met your learning objectives. (What evidence will you collect?)
For each individual student, I will collect student work of eight solved subtraction problems.

ii.

D. Lesson Resources/Materials (e.g., handouts, manipulatives, text pages, special supplies):

Student text- Student Practice Unit 5 Lesson 7 #1-6 and Challenge problems

Part 2: Instructional Sequence - Engaging Students in the Learning Process

Introduction ( 15 min.): Describe how you will 1) make connections to prior knowledge, tap into
their experiences and interests or use a hook, AND 2) let students know what the objective of the
lesson is.
Tell students we just finished a unit on adding fractions. Ask what strategies we learned. Let them
know we are going to start subtracting fractions.
Ask how addition and subtraction are related. (Looking for students to say inverse)
Ask students if they think we can use the same strategies for addition and subtractions (Yes!) Let
students know that adding and subtracting fractions use the same strategies.
Tell students they will be working in their table groups to create a step by step guide for using one of
the three strategies.
Tell students before they get started, they will give the teacher step by step instructions for creating a
new Google Doc. Teacher does exactly as students say and nothing else. (If students do not say
open Chromebook, the Chromebook stays closed.)

Body of the Lesson ( 32 minutes): Describe step-by-step what the teacher and the students will be
doing during the lesson.
Ask students what some key features of good step by step instructions are.

Emphasize that good step by step instructions

Are written in order
Are written in small increments
Are written in active voice (action verbs)
Are clear and specific
Assumes the user has no prior knowledge
Assign strategies to table groups

Table 1: Number Line

Table 2: Area
Table 3: Algorithm
Table 4: Area
Table 5: Algorithm
Table 6: Algorithm
Table 7: Number Line
Table 8: Area

Remind students to work in a whisper voice because there are 29 students in the room
Give students poster paper and time to work as a group. Walk around room and monitor group work.
Suggest additions to steps if students are not clear and specific.
Tell students they will be doing a gallery walk of the posters. Each group will put two post it notes
on or next to their poster; one for glows and one for grows. Students will leave posters on their
desk tops. Tables will rotate to the next numbered table (1>2, 2>3, 3>4, etc.). Each table
group will write at least one glow and one grow for each poster. Students will rotate three times.
Students will have 1.5-2 minutes per poster.
After students finish rotating, they will do student practice problems 1-6 and challenge problems
from their Swun spirals. Posters will be placed on the counter and may be referred to as resources.
Students may work with a partner on #1 and #2 if they would like. After that, students work
independently. If students need help after first two problems, may go to horseshoe table or back
table. Students may work on Jiji or Front Row when they are finished.
Student work will be collected as a formative assessment.

Closure ( 3 minutes): Describe how you will prompt the students to summarize the lesson and restate
the learning objective.

 Ask students how addition and subtraction are related.

Ask if the same strategies can be used to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.
Ask students what strategies they learned.

Part 3: Incorporating Academic Language

(to be completed after you have planned the content part of your lesson plan)
1. Describe the rich learning task(s) related to the content learning objective.
Students create a step by step guide for using one of three strategies for adding and subtracting
fractions with unlike denominators.
2. Language Function: How will students be communicating in relation to the content in the learning
task(s)? Identify the specific function (purpose or genre) you want to systematically address in
your lesson plan that will scaffold students to stronger disciplinary discourse. The language
function will always be a verb. Some examples are: describe, identify, explain, justify, analyze,
construct, compare, or argue.
Students will describe step by step how to use a strategy.
3. Language Demands: Looking at the specific function (purpose or genre) your students will be
using, what are the language demands that you will systematically address in this lesson?
Vocabulary:
Key to this lesson: numerator, denominator, multiple, common denominator
Syntax1: Start each instruction with a verb.
Discourse2: Step by step instructions
4. Language Objective: What is/are the language objective(s) for your lesson? (The students will
(FUNCTION) (LANGUAGE RELATED TO CONTENT) (SYNTAX AND/OR DISCOURSE)
For example: The students will compare different types of parallelograms using transition words
such as similarly, different from or by contrast. Note: be sure to copy and paste this into the top of
the lesson planner.
The students will describe how to use a strategy for adding and subtracting fractions by writing a step
by step guide.
5. What does your language objective sound like/look like for different levels of language learners?
Ask yourself, What would the students say/write when using the language function. Remember
to consider the language demands while creating sample language that the students might use.

1 Use of a variety of sentence types to clarify a message, condense information, and combine ideas, phrases, and clauses.
2

Discourse includes the structures of written and oral language, as well as how member of the discipline talk, write, and
participate in knowledge construction.

Emerging

Expanding

Bridging

1. Put the fractions straight up and

down and not slanted.

1. Write the fractions so that

they don't use a slash.

1. Rewrite the equation in

standard form.

6. Language Support: What instructional strategies will you use during your lesson to teach the
specific language skill and provide support and opportunities for guided and independent practice?
Instruction
Give examples of clear,
specific instructions.

Guided Practice

Independent Practice

Think, pair, share an

example of a clear, specific
instruction.

Create step by step guide.

Part 4: Lesson Analysis

In addition to answering the questions below, annotate (make notes on) the actual lesson plan to
indicate what worked, what didnt, missed opportunities you had, where you collected evidence of
student learning, how you monitored students, and other anecdotes.

LEARNING GOAL
1. What was your content learning objective/goal?
The students will work in groups to create a step by step guide to use one of three strategies for
adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.

EVIDENCE
2. a) What specific examples of student learning do you have that showed students met or made
progress toward the content learning objective? Please complete the chart below adding rows as
necessary.
Teacher Actions &/or Strategies

Evidence of Student Learning

Group 2 Area Model Poster

Get the common denominator

Group 4 Area Model Poster

Count how many spaces are in the boxes

and get your new denominator

Group 7 Number Line Strategy

Now 13/12 is your answer but you have to

simplify and you get 1 1/12 for your answer
because 12 can only go into 13 one time so
you have a whole and you have 1/12 left
over

Group 3 Standard Algorithm

Change the denominators to be the same

4/6 x 2/2 =8/12 3/4 x 3/3 =9/12

Group 5 Standard Algorithm

Multiply the denominators together

Multiply the numerator by the same number
that you used to multiply for the
denominator

Group 6 Standard Algorithm

Multiply both numerator and denominator

b) Write a narrative that explains the decisions and strategies you used that led to successful
student learning of your content learning objective.
Students worked with their table groups and were encouraged to use their notes to help them in
writing their step by step guides. By working in a group, students were able to work out their
thoughts with peers in order to write down steps in the way that was most clear to them. Students
also have a math notebook with notes and examples of all of the strategies, so when they got stuck,
they had a resource to reference. Students realized how difficult it can be to put something they
know into words that someone else could understand, so having the students write the steps
themselves really made them think about the steps to the strategies.
c) What evidence is missing? What would you do to capture this evidence in the future?
Because the students wrote steps in their own words, some of their steps were not clear and
specific. They were not always able to articulate how to complete a particular step, so evidence of
their explicit knowledge of the step is missing. In the future, I could be sure to ask students to
explain their steps as I am monitoring group work. In addition, because the students were working
in groups, knowledge of individual students is missing. In the future, I could add an individual
assessment piece. (I did have one planned but did not have enough time to get to it.)

3.

a) What specific examples of student learning do you have that showed students struggled to meet
or make progress toward this goal? Please complete the chart below adding rows as necessary.
Teacher Actions &/or Strategies

Evidence of Student Learning

Group 2 Area Model Poster

Divide the box into what the denominator

1 8/24 + 21/24 = 1 1/4

Group 8 Area Model Poster

Draw your models according to your

fractions

Group 4 Area Model Poster

Draw your fractions in the boxes

Group 1 Number Line Strategy

Overlap the fractions

Group 6 Standard Algorithm

Multiply the similar factors or multiples to

the fractions

b) Write a narrative that explains the decisions and strategies that may have interfered or created
missed opportunities in terms of student learning.
Because students worked in groups to created step by step guides, they had very little scaffolding.
This left them with peers to consult, and in some cases none of the students in the group had a clear
and explicit way to write articulate how to complete a step. Students really had to think about what
they wanted to write, but in some cases they wrote incorrect information that they thought was
correct. In other cases, their examples did not match their written steps.
c) What evidence is missing? What would you do to capture this evidence in the future?
I am missing evidence of the students who struggle to use any of the strategies and why they
struggle. I see group misunderstandings and group struggles to articulate, but I do not see
individual struggles in using the steps. In the future, I can have students use the steps they have
written to solve independent problems.

ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES and NEXT STEPS

4. Considering student learning, if you were to teach this lesson again, what decisions and strategies
would you change (in planning, instruction, and/or assessment) to teach an upcoming lesson? How
do you expect these strategies to impact students achievement of the lesson learning goal(s)?
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would include an individual assessment component. I did have
one planned, but I did not get to it. In the future, I will try to manage time better so that I include
assessment. An individual component will ensure that all students are aware and accountable for
participating fully in the lesson and taking in as much information as they can. This would
eliminate some students being able to sit back while others in the group do most of the work.
5. Using the evidence of student learning described and observed, what will be your next steps in
future instruction with the class, small groups, and/or individual students?
Future instruction in the class will include academic language. Students know how to use the
strategies they learned, but had a much harder time articulating the steps of these strategies. Similar
tasks will give them the opportunity to practice using language of the discipline. Small group
instruction may involve components where every student needs to contribute in order for the whole
group to be successful. This way, students will bring that mentality to group work in a whole class
setting. Individual instruction will focus on students ability to use the strategies they learn in class
and help students become more confident in math.