Math Lesson Plan

James Lindberg
What:
Students will be learning about the commutative property of addition, and therefore how the
order that one adds numbers does not matter. 2 + 3 = 3 + 2 Students are used to seeing problems
placed in the standard U.S. algorithm way but will have to move past that to being solving more
complex problems, such as those that include variables. You need to add a few sentences here in
which you explain what the commutative property is and why it is important to understand. What
is the foundation that understanding this property lays? Why does it apply to addition and not
subtraction? Understanding this involves understanding that addition means combining or
putting together. Its also related to part-whole understanding, that a whole is made of parts. In
class, we have learned about the commutative and associative properties but the lesson was quick
and students did not seem to completely understand the ideas. Chapin and Johnson discuss how
some students struggle with the commutative property of addition because students, focus on
the operation and on obtaining an answer that ideally makes sense. They dont reflect on the
outcome of the operation in relation to the order of the number. (Chapin and Johnson, 2006,
23). This means that students may be struggling to understand the property because their focus
is on figuring out the correct answer, and not on understanding how they got their answer.
How:
Students learn more when they can relate to the problems, so this lesson will help students
become more invested by giving each student a different number of Lea bucks. I want students
to be a little upset with me for what has transpired and how they did not get the same number as
the other students. I also understand the importance of working in pairs, but that there is the
danger of one student relying on the other student. That is why each student has to write down
all of the answers and will have to explain and defend one answer to the group. Literacy is such
an important ??? of fourth grade, so practicing reading word problems and writing in complete
sentences is an added bonus.
Why:
Many of the students in my class like math a lot but struggle with reading and writing. Including
a literacy aspect that is on the students reading levels can help them practice without the student
even realizing that they are working on those skills. The commutative property is such an
important idea in both addition and multiplication that students will use it the rest of their lives,
often without even realizing it. When we learned the property in class, my classroom mentor
was going fairly quickly as it was just one of three properties the students were learning in one
lesson. It appears that the math curriculum being used does not put a priority on understanding
this concept even though many students can benefit from the ideas is helps make clear. I also
want my students to be able discuss their ideas confidently and be able to say to me, the teacher,
that what they are stating is correct because they have reasons. The students now back down
immediately whenever my classroom mentor questions their thinking even if what the student is
saying is correct.
Task: Use and apply the commutative property to real life situations and word problems.

Remillard, Janine 11/29/16 10:47 PM

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Remillard, Janine 11/29/16 10:48 PM
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Tools: Graphic organizer, pencil, and a partner.

Norms: Students will follow the same expectations that are set up in their normal classroom.
One voice at a time, raise your hand and wait to be called on before speaking, and students will
be expected to be able to explain one of their answers. [these are rules, really. What sort of
norms for interaction do you want to establish?]
Discourse: Students will be expected to discuss the commutative property as a whole group at
the beginning, where I will act as a facilitator to guide the conversation. Students will then work
in partners where each student will know the expectation that they will have to explain one of
their answers. We will then return to each individual speaking to the entire group and end with
another whole group discussion.
Equity/Diversity: Students will be expected to share a different amount of information about
their problem, some will have to share more information and for more time than others. Students
may write down what they want to say before hand, if a students needs call for me to write
down what they say for them I will also do that. [good]
Goals I Objectives
Students will be able to solve problems using the commutative property.
Students will be able to write their own word problems that are equal to a given word problem
but written differently.
Standards (and Assessment Anchors, if applicable)
CCSS - Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit
arithmetic.
Mathematical Practices
Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
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.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Materials and preparation
White board
Markers
Graphic organizer
Scratch paper

Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 6:13 AM

Comment [1]: ??

Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 6:13 AM

Comment [2]: When you put all of the
mathematical practices down, it becomes
unconvincing that you are really addressing
any of them. It seems to me that understanding
properties of operations fit with reasoning
abstractly, making use of structure, and
regularity.

Pencil
Lea Bucks

Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 6:16 AM

Comment [3]: Great.

Classroom arrangement and management issues

Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 8:23 AM

Comment [4]: I would start with something
less abstractthis is your end goal, really.
Maybe start with the Lea bucks situation, e.g.,
Student1 got 2 Lea bucks on Monday and 3
more on Tuesday
Student2 got 3 Lea bucks on Monday and 2
more on Tuesday. Which student has more?

Lesson is going to be taught in the library. Students will be arranged a table with three on each
side, they will be facing each other and facing the whiteboard where I will be standing. I will
remind students of our classroom expectations, which carry over to other locations: one voice at
a time, raise your hand and wait to be called on, keep your hands and feet to yourself, and any
confusion is voiced and respected. The last expectation is a norm that I would like to help
facilitate and relates to my central question of helping students be more confident.
James-my concern about the plan as is is that you are not focusing on the meaning of the
property. It seems more like practice with addition than focusing on what a property is and how
it applies to ALL addition situations. See my suggestions in the comments.
Plan
Launch (10 minutes): I am going to start by handing three of the students two Lea bucks and
three of the students three Lea Bucks (a piece of paper that looks like a dollar bill that students
can use to get rewards). I am going to then ask the students if they remember anything about the
commutative property that we are working on in class. We are going to have a brief discussion
about what we know, come up with a definition on our own that I will write on the board, and
then I will give the students who had two Lea Bucks, three more, and the students three Lea
Bucks, two more. I will then ask if all the students have the same amount, they should all have
five, and make it clear that some started with two and then got three more, while the other started
with three and got two more.
Students will then be given the graphic organizer (see attached JLindberg_Graphic
Organizer) with five fill-in-the-blank questions to start that they will complete on their own and
then they will need to partner up to continue work.

Have the students discuss and explain their

reasoning. Ask, What if student1 got 7 bucks
on M and 6 on T and student 2 got 6 on M and
7 on T, Who would have more? You want
them to tell you that the order doesnt matter.
Does anyone remember a rule or property
that tells us this?
Someone should say comm property.
You could ask: who knows what a property is.
(this word might be confusing b/c we think of
things we own as properties, but you could
also explain that properties are characteristics a
group has. All triangles have 3 sides and 3
corners. It doesnt matter how big or small or
how long the sides are; that is a property that
belongs to triangles. It is ALWAYS true. See if
they can come up with other properties of
groups of things.
You might also tell them that we call additions,
subtraction, multiplication, and division
operations, because they are procedures we
do to numbers to change them. And different
operation have properties too. Ask: Which
operation are we using in the Lea bucks
situation? Ask them to tell you how to write
each as anumber sentence2 + 3 =5 and 3 + 2
=5.
Ask: Is this true: 2 + 3 = 3 + 2. Have them
discuss why.

During (20 minutes): Students with their pre-assigned partner will follow along with the graphic
organizer answering the word problems, and using the number cutouts to rearrange the
equations. Once the students solve the answer and I check whether the group has the correct
response, both with their answer and their cutout number equation, I will ask them to rewrite the
question, applying the commutative property. For example, if Mr. L bakes 5 cookies and then
bakes 11 more cookies, how many cookies does he have?, this would be rewritten as if Mr. L
bakes 11 cookies and then bakes 5 more cookies, how many does he have? Once students have
completed the front side of the graphic organizer, the 5 fill in the blanks and the 3 word
problems, then they will work individually again and will be asked to write one word problem
themself and give it to their partner to rewrite. Students will be told the directions for sharing.
Discus/Debrief and Wrap-up (10 minutes):
We will then come back together as a full group and students one at a time will come up and
share original question from their partner and then their rewritten form of their partners
question. The students will state how the commutative property was seen in their rewritten

Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 8:40 AM

Comment [5]: What is the difference between
a graphic organizer and a worksheet?
Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 6:23 AM
Comment [6]: Not sure what these are? Given
my suggestion for the word problems below, I
recommend skipping this part.
Remillard, Janine 11/30/16 9:01 AM
Comment [7]: I like this. It is worth thinking
hard about whether the tasks you are giving
them are pushing them to experience situations
that will stretch and deepen their understanding
of commutativity and addition. I encourage
you to include part-part-whole problems and
some change and start unknown problems. Use
the same numbers and situation in each, but
when a different part is missing, that will force
them to think about what is going on in the
operation.
Also have them write a number sense to
... [1]
represent each word problem. This will have

problems. We will review why the commutative property is so important and how word
problems are not as difficult as we thought, as well as discuss what students found helpful.
You might also ask them whether all operations follow the commutative property. Why or why
not? How would find out? You want to communicate the they can figure this out based on what
they know about the operation, not because someone tells them the properties.
Assessment of the goals/objectives listed above
Students will hand in their completed graphic organizer and will have to give the oral defense of
their problem with an explanation of the commutative property. I expect some students to at first
try and solve the problems on the graphic organizer even after we go over that I just want them
to rewrite the problems. I will allow students to solve the problems on scratch paper if they
finish all of the other problems first.
Assessment Checklist
See JLindberg_ Assessment Checklist
The items on your checklist could do a better job of getting at the underlying ideas of addition
and commutativity. Here are some examplesunderstand what the comm property is;
understands meaning of addition (both joining and ppw); interprets addition situations correctly;
can write addition situations; can change addition situations to show commutative property of
addition.
Anticipating students' responses and your possible responses
I think students will be upset and telling me that I am being unfair when I first am handing out
the Lea Bucks. They will be a lot happier after I make sure that all the students have the same
amount. As I said in assessment of goals, I believe some students will be trying to solve the
problems are first and I will have to remind them that they are using the commutative property. I
can also see a couple students just rewriting the numbers exactly like they were and not flipping
them around, I will direct these students to look at our definition on the board and the example
given of 2 + 3 = 3 + 2. For the word problems, I expect most of the students to copy it word for
word but I can see a couple changing names and other information, which I am actually okay
with as long as they flip the numbers used and write in complete sentences. Finally, for the
discussion, I want every student to at least write a little bit down because otherwise I think they
all might just copy the first student to state how they were using the commutative property.
Accommodations
Students will be partnered strategically so that those who may struggle a little bit more will be
with a student who understands the property a little bit more and can help explain it. I would
also create a similar but a simpler graphic organizer in two ways. One way would be that a
student would only have to do a 3 of the first set of problems and only one word problem, the
other way could be to make the actual numbers and words used more simple.