ED 411 Teaching Children Mathematics

Fall 2010

Lesson Analysis Conference Culminating Performance Assessment – Submission Sheet

NAME: Rachel Cohen

GRADE LEVEL: 5th
TITLE OF LESSON: Angles of Polygons

Textbook Lesson Analysis Paragraph:

The objective of this lesson called Angles of Polygons is for students to see that as a polygon increases
by 1 side length, the sum of the angles increases by 180 degrees. This lesson is from chapter three of
Everyday Mathematics, a chapter focusing on geometry explorations. Prior to teaching this lesson, the
students will have learned about different types of angle measures including acute, obtuse, right, and
reflex angles, congruent triangles, properties of polygons, regular tessellations, and how to use a
protractor and compass. This lesson requires students to draw upon the previous lessons—making
observations about convex and concave polygons, and determining angles of polygons with various
numbers of side lengths (i.e. quadrangles, pentagons and hexagons). The students will therefore need
to be able to measure angles accurately and understand the content covered in the previous lessons. For
certain angle measurements, angle measures might vary by a few degrees but this is expected and will
not affect student understanding or the outcome of the lesson. Some students might confuse certain
terms, such as concave and convex polygons, and quadrangles, pentagons and hexagons. I do not
believe the context will alienate or create barriers for any of the students to engage with the
mathematics. The students will be working in groups for the majority of the lesson so they will be
instructed to help each other, when necessary, and we will also have ample discussion time.

Lesson Plan:

Purpose/Rationale

The mathematical content of this lesson focuses on investigating and comparing the measurement sums
of interior angles of polygons, measuring angles with a protractor, finding medians of data sets, and
drawing conclusions based on collected data. The instructional purpose of the lesson focuses on
conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and adaptive reasoning. Students are using their
comprehension of mathematical concepts previously taught and trying to find angle sums for triangles,
quadrangles, pentagons, and hexagons. In order to accomplish these tasks successfully students need to
demonstrate procedural fluency with measuring angles accurately. In the challenge question in the exit-
slip, students will use adaptive reasoning to reflect on their work and try to explain how to find the angle
sum for any polygon.

Curriculum and connections to Standards/Benchmarks

State Standards:
G.GS.05.02 Measure angles with a protractor and classify them as acute, right, obtuse, or straight.
G.GS.05.04 Find unknown angles in problems involving angles on a straight line, angles surrounding a
point, and vertical angles.
G.GS.05.06 Understand why the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180° and the sum of the
interior angles of a quadrilateral is 360°, and use these properties to solve problems.
G.GS.05.07 Find unknown angles and sides using the properties of: triangles, including right, isosceles,
and equilateral triangles; parallelograms, including rectangles and rhombuses; and trapezoids.

National Standards:
Analyzes characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and develops
mathematical arguments about geometric relationships

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University of Michigan
ED 411 Teaching Children Mathematics
Fall 2010

Makes and tests conjectures about geometric properties and relationships and develops logical arguments
to justify conclusions

How do you anticipate students will engage with the content in this lesson?

I anticipate students will be very engaged with the content in this lesson because they enjoy lessons that
involve discovery and/or investigations. This lesson requires students to apply previous learned concepts
to figure out the sums of angles of polygons. Students will measure the angles using either a protractor
or compass. Students will use the chart we create on the board and their previous investigations to
make observations about patterns they notice. Students will have questions regarding how many sides
each figure has (hexagon, pentagon, etc.), how to measure accurately and if they all have to draw their
own polygon.

What do you know about your students that informs this plan?

I have worked with students during previous lessons on measuring angles accurately. By now they
should feel comfortable measuring any angle and determining their classification (acute, obtuse, right, or
reflex). Many students had difficulty aligning the protractors correctly and some were measuring the
reflex angle when the instructions indicated otherwise. Students also know that a triangle’s interior angle
measure always measures 180 degrees. My cooperating teacher told me this and I have seen students
demonstrate their knowledge about triangles during other math lessons and while completing workbook
pages. Even though students should be able to measure angles accurately, I anticipate some students
might have some difficulty doing so. Since most of the lesson involves group work, I will suggest that
the students measure their angles independently and compare their results with their group members.
We will also review the groups’ results as a class. Also, since I know the students are all aware that a
triangle measures 180 degrees, I won’t have the students measure the interior angles or talk about the
class median of the sum of the angles in a triangle.

Objective(s): The students will be able to…

1. Differentiate between concave and convex polygons
2. Measure angles with a protractor
3. Investigate and compare the measurement sums of interior angles of polygons
4. Find the median for a data set
5. Understand that as a polygon increases by 1 side length, the sum of the angles increases by 180
degrees
6. Draw conclusions based on collected data

Materials needed to have ready:

1. Whiteboard and/or overhead projector
2. Template

Management considerations:

During this lesson, students will have the opportunity to work independently, in small groups and
participate in full class discussion. In the beginning of the lesson, students work in groups of three to
work on their workbook pages. Since there are 24 students in the class, I will divide the class into eight
groups of three. The class is arranged in a “U” shape so the groups will be formed based on seating
assignments to minimize wasted time while students are rearranging in their groups. I will record the
different groups data from finding the median angle sums and the class will work together to find the
class median for quadrangles and pentagons. Students will then complete question 10 individually, which
asks them to find a pattern in the sum of polygon angles table. This will lead into our class discussion.

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ED 411 Teaching Children Mathematics
Fall 2010

The only material students will use in addition to their math workbook is their template to measure the
angles.

Introduction/hook (include time estimates) of the LESSON:

(Every math lesson generally begins with mental math questions to get the students into the math
mindset, so this is how I will begin the lesson.) Who can tell me... (2 minutes—consider omitting and
beginning with pictures of polygons)

70 [6s] 420 50 [9s] 450 80 [4s] 320

70 [60s] 4,200 50 [90s] 4,500 80 [40s] 3,200
70 [600s] 42,000 50 [900s] 45,000 80 [400s] 32,000

Outline of your lesson sequence, including teaching strategies used (include time estimates):

1. Introduction—ask students above mental math questions (2 minutes)

2. (Place a previously drawn overhead transparency of a convex and concave polygon). I am going
to show you a picture of two different polygons. What type of polygon’s are they? I want you to
look at the interior angles of the polygons. (Denote interior angles) What statements can you
make about the interior angles in the two figures? (Concave polygon has one angle that is a reflex
angle—greater than 180 degrees) (4 minutes)
3. Open up your workbook to page 85. In your groups you are going to answer questions 1-7, but
ONLY questions 1-7. You are going to be trying to find the angle measures in quadrangles and
pentagons. How many sides does a quadrangle have? Pentagon? You are going to be working
on only one of the shapes, so either the quadrangle or the pentagon. I am going to count the
groups off and tell you which shape you will be working on (count off every other group). Make
sure you read all of the directions carefully in each question. (15 minutes)
4. (Bring class back together) Collect the groups’ median angle sums for the quadrangle groups and
the pentagon groups on overhead. Have students record this data in the tables for Problem 8 on
journal page 87. (7 minutes)
5. Using the groups’ medians, let’s try and figure out the class medians. What is the class median
for quadrangles? Pentagons? Did any groups finish measuring the angles of the hexagon? What
is the median? We didn’t measure the angles of a triangle today since we already know that the
angles of a triangle always add up to what? So we can say the class median for triangles is 180
degrees. (2 minutes)
6. Look at question 10 in your workbook. What patterns do you see in the Sums of Polygon Angles
table? I want you to think about this question and answer it individually. (3 minutes)

Sides of polygon # Of triangles Sum of angles

3 (triangle) 1 1x180=180
4 (quadrangle) 2 2x180=360
5 (pentagon) 3 3x180=540
6 (hexagon) 4 4x180=720
7 (heptagon) 5 5x180=900
8 (octagon) 6 6x180=1080
*This chart will help students visualize with numbers what is happening as each polygon increase by one
side. It will represent the figures they were working with and allow them to analyze the chart to
formulate conclusions about the relationship between the number of sides in a polygon and the total sum
of the angles in the polygon. It will also allow them to recognize patterns.
7. Discussion (15 minutes)

Detailed Discussion Planning:

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ED 411 Teaching Children Mathematics
Fall 2010

Times
(start/stop Discussion sequence
and mins.)
Task or Problem Being Discussed: What pattern do you notice in the sums of polygon angles
table?

Discussion Objective: Students will be able to look at the chart we created on the board together
and make observations that will allow them to conclude that as a polygon’s side length increases
by 1, the sum of the degrees increase by 180 degrees.

2 min 3. Launching the discussion

(What question or prompt will you use to get the discussion off the ground?)
Let’s look at the table we created. What patterns do you notice?

10 min 4. Orchestrating the discussion

 Do you notice any patterns in the chart?
 What are the differences between a triangle and a quadrangle?
 Do the numbers in the class median column increase or decrease and by how much?
 The quadrangle had one more side than the triangle; the median sum of their angels increases
by 180 degrees
 Why do you think the medians for the sums of polygon angles increase by 180 degrees? (The
sum of the angles of the quadrangle equals 2x180, or 360 degrees…will discuss in next lesson)
3 minute 5. Concluding the discussion

Today we learned the sum of the angles of quadrangles is 360 degrees, pentagon is 540 degrees,
and a hexagon is 720 degrees. So as the polygon’s number of sides increases by 1, the degrees
increase by 180 degrees. (Students might determine that (n-2)180 = sum of a polygon with n sides.)

What accommodations will you make to meet the full range of your students?

In order to accommodate the full range of students in the class, I am providing opportunity for group
work and individual work since there are some students who prefer working alone and some who prefer
working in groups. During group and individual work, I will circulate around the room specifically paying
attention to those who might need more assistance and make sure they are on track. I will also pay
attention to the students who excel at math and if they complete the assignment early, I will challenge
them with another question to work on. There is an ESL student who just started learning English at the
beginning of the year, so I will assist her as well, when necessary. I will also record as much of the
results as possible for students who are visual learners and those who might want to refer back to
something we previously discussed.

Closing/wrap up of the LESSON: (2 min)

You all did a great job of working together and staying focused during this long lesson. I am really
impressed! I have one last question I want you to answer so I can see if you fully understand what we
learned today.

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ED 411 Teaching Children Mathematics
Fall 2010

Draft of End-of-Class Check:

Write the sum of the angles of the following polygons:

Triangle = __________∞

Quadrangle = __________∞

Pentagon = __________∞

Hexagon = __________∞

*Challenge question:
A student wants to figure out the sum of the interior angles of a polygon with 52 sides. What is the
easiest way to find the sum?

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