Human Cube

Andrew Buck
Cohort 2
Vancouver Island University
Background Information:

We are in a typical grade 1 classroom, in the Comox Valley. There are 22 students in the

class with 11 boys and 11 girls. The school is located in the inner city, with a range of low

income families. We are in an english class, however, this is a dual track school with a French

immersion program. The school itself is supported by a strong PAC group; however, our class

lacks parent support. The students are relatively well behaved, but are a high energy group. The

class is supported by one learning assistant, who works with two boys diagnosed with ADHD.

The class has a range of ethnically diverse students.

One child in the class, Adam, has been diagnosed with Autism, and works closely with

an Educational Assistant. He is an extremely bright child, but struggles to cope in a class

environment. He regularly disrupts the class with loud outburst, and is prone to running out of

the room. The school is struggling to accommodate him. He is currently attending school on a

part time basis, leaving at lunch. He comes from a moderately well off family and is the eldest of

three children, with his younger brother Henry currently attending Kindergarten. His parents are

extremely supportive, and work closely with the school to best accommodate him. He has a stay

at home mom, who picks him up everyday at lunch.

Adam struggles to develop meaningful relationship with the other students in his class.

However, his peers are very supportive of him. One girl, Susan, has been working to engage

him in partnered activities. Adam spends most of his recesses playing with his younger brother

Henry. Henry is very supportive of his older brother, and tries to help calm him down.

Adam enjoys to have the opportunity to be actively engaged in lessons. He has a hard

time sitting quietly, but excels when given the freedom to move around the room. Structure is

very important to him, he is often overwhelmed if he perceives a situation to be chaotic.

Subject:
 This lesson plan is focused on mathematics.

Concept:

The students will be introduced to a new concept. They will work on finding ways to add

to 10, building off of their prior knowledge of the one more than concept.

Grade:

The lesson has been created for students in grade 1(ages 5 and 6).

Objectives:

There are three main learning intentions that this unit focuses on. By the end of the unit,

the students will have developed an understanding of different ways to make 10. They will be

able to both model these changes pictorially and describe them verbally. Next, the students will

begin to continue to practice using patterns. Finally, the students will have a chance to develop

teamwork and communication skills through a range of paired activities.

Summary of Context:

The learning for this unit will be conducted through the use of 6 lessons. Each lesson will

have a similar structure. Starting with a introductory activity to hook the students interest,

moving to an activity or worksheet, and ending with a post-learning assessment. Special care

will be paid to insure that each lessons offers the students a change to be actively engaged.

The first lesson will introduce the concept to the students through the use of a short song. This

will provide an engaging tool that can be reused later in the unit. The unit will then run through a

series of lessons designed to build off for the knowledge learned in the first lesson. This will

include a mix off in class time, gym time, as well as time out in the forest. Ideally, by conducting
activities in different environments, the material will remain engaging. The unit will culminate

with a variant of bingo, reviewing the material we covered.

Learning context:

This unit has been designed for a grade 1 class. Each lesson has been created to

include an active element, to give the students an opportunity to engage with the material that

they are learning. As these students are between 5 and 6 years old, the lessons will be limited

to between 15 and 30 minutes to ensure that they are able to stay focused.

The class itself has a lot of natural lighting, with the back wall made up of windows

overlooking the nearby forest. The room is organized into 4 table groups. Students have

assigned seats, with a mix of girls and boys at each table.

The class has a calming atmosphere, with student work posted around the room. We

have practiced self regulation strategies in class, and have a corner of the room dedicated as a

quiet space. At any point, the students can move over to the corner and sit on the couch. This

area is set up with a pair of noise canceling headphones, to give the students a chance to calm

down.

The daily schedule is posted on the whiteboard at the front of the room, visible to the

students as they enter. The class has a standard routine, to help Adam prepare for the day.

Therefore, math is taught at the same time everyday. First thing in the morning right after silent

reading.

Once per week, the nearby forest is utilized as an outdoor classroom. Ideally, this space

would be utilized more regularly, however, parent support is only available on Mondays. To

make the best use of this extra support, a good chunk of the morning is spent learning outside.

Given our unpredictable weather, the students are all asked to supply a set of waterproof

clothing to keep at school. However, given the school’s demographic, this is not always
possible. Therefore, we have several class sets of rain pants and coats, picked up from the local

second hand store.

Lessons - The six sides of the cube:

The unit will start out with a lesson revolved around learning a song. This utilizes the

concept that numbers to 10 can be modelled symbolically. As a pre-learning assessment, we

will review the concept of one more than with the help of a number line. With all the students

sitting together, everyone will be given a number between 2 and 20. When I call out a number

the students with the number one larger will be asked to jump up and call out their number. If

the students need help remembering what number comes next, they will be encouraged to look

at our classroom number line(posted at the front of the room). No formal assessment will be

done, however, this will provide me with an opportunity to check students understanding. With

special attention being paid to the students who seek a cue from the number line.

Having reviewed the previous topic, the new lesson will begin. With the help of a

video(The Friends of 10), we will learn the six pair of numbers that add together to make ten.

With the goal of the lesson being to have the students develop a mathematical vocabulary and

language. The video itself is only a couple of minutes, and consist of two characters throwing a

party. All the guests arrive in pairs, each a number between 0 and 10. As the first number enters

the song will prompt the students to yell out its pair that adds together to make 10. For example,

“when I say 9 you say 1, 9, 1!.” This will carry on through on 12 ways of making 10. As the video

concludes, the students will be asked to remember the six pairs of numbers. As a class, we will

write them on the board.

To end the lesson, we will have the students return to their decks. Once there, they will

be asked to look under their seats, where a number card will have been taped. As an aside, this

lesson will require the teacher to create a set of cards ranging from 0 to 10. Making sure to

create the 6 pairs with enough cards for every student(a set of playing cards may be
appropriate, using a substitute for 0). When the students find their number, they will be

instructed to find a student with their pair. When done the pairs will be asked to sit down

together on the carpet (at the front of the class). When all the students have found their pairs,

the teacher will review them. As each pair is called out, the students holding those cards will be

asked to stand up and add their cards together telling the class what it makes. Again,

observations will take place over the course of the activity checking to see if the students are

able to communicate mathematical thinking.

This lesson has been built around Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. As 5 and 6

year olds, these students fall under the preoperational stage. At this stage, language is quickly

developing; therefore, this lesson has made an effort to tie in mathematical concept into song.

Through this medium, the concepts will have a symbolic link which will help trigger the

imagination of the students.

The next lesson will be called “Making 10” and utilizes the concept that numbers to 10

can be modelled pictorially. The activity is aimed at helping students to visualize and explore

mathematical concepts. The introduction to this activity will involve the students watching and

singing along with the “friends of 10” video. As the 6 pairs are remembered the student will be

asked to return to their decks to complete the “ways to 10” worksheet.

The worksheet will be broken up into two parts, aiming to help students develop mental

math strategies and abilities to make sense of quantities. To begin, the students will be given a

piece of paper with 6 arches, forming a rainbow. They will be asked to pick 6 pencil crayons,

and colour each arch a different colour. At the bottom of each arch, there will be a small

bubble(currently a line, to be formed into a cloud). The students will be asked to start with one

bubble, and write a number from 0 - 10. They will then follow the arch, finding another bubble

where they will write the pair needed to form 10. This process will continue until all 12 bubbles

have been filled out with a different number(with the exception of 5, having been repeated).
 To finish off the lesson, the students will flip over there worksheet and collect a six sided

dice(ten sided dice would be even better if available). They will find a table with two columns

needing to be filled in: “dice roll” and “missing pair”. The columns will form an equation all

adding to 10. The objective being to roll the dice, record it, and find the number needed to form

10.

As a teacher, I would have the opportunity to assist students throughout this lesson, as

they can work independently once given the instructions. Furthermore, I would have the chance

to conduct assessments at several stages of the lesson. As a pre-assessment, I would observe

if every student is singing along with the video. This would be purely observational,

complementing the post-assessment, as some students may choose not to sing along purely

out of a lack of interest rather than a lack of knowledge. The post assessment would involve

checking the completed worksheets, looking to see if the correct pairs were matched up. This

may also show whether or not students are having any trouble with reversals. The goal of this

activity is to have student begin to develop different mental strategies to engage in problem

solving.

The third activity is a game to be played in the gym, and uses the concept that number

to 10 can be modelled concretely. The game will involve a set of two circles, one inside the

other. The inner circle will be made up of 11 targets(bins, or pieces of paper), each with a

number from 0-10 written on it. The outer circle, will be composed of 11 hula hoops, filled up

with bean bags. Much like the inner circle, each hula hoop will have a number from 0 - 10. The

aim of this activity is to have the students demonstrate and apply mathematical understanding

through play.

The activity will start with the playing of a song. When the music's playing the students

will be running around the outer circle. When the song stops, they will step into the closest hula

hoop, pick up a bean bag and throw it at the appropriate target. Afterwards, they will yell out the

two numbers they used to form 10. The music will start up again and the process will continue.
 The assessment for this activity will be to observe the students throwing the bean bags,

checking to see if they are able to express mathematical ideas in a concrete way. There is no

designated end to this activity, but the lesson could be altered to encourage students to enter

each hula hoop. This could be achieved by having them collect something from the hula hoop

once they have successfully made 10, with the goal of collecting all 11 unique items.

The fourth activity will take place in our outdoor classroom. In pairs, the students will be

asked to create an equation, using materials found in the forest, which adds to make 10. The

goal of this exercise will be to give the students a chance to represent mathematics in a pictorial

form. This will help them to visualize and explore our making 10 concept.

In preparation for this activity, the teacher should insure that there are enough materials

in the forest for the students to use(sticks, leaves, etc). Otherwise, materials should be brought

to supplement what can be found naturally. The last thing to do before this activity can occur is

to walk through the woods to make sure that there are no hazards around.

Before entering the forest, the students will be divided into pairs, which can be structured

to have the students both stay focused and work happily together. Then each pair will be asked

to create an equation, using one of our six pairs, which add together to make 10. This students

will be encouraged to create their equations utilizing a repeating pattern. When the equations

are completed, the students will have a chance to observe the other equations, picking up on

what patterns there peers utilized.

As a post assessment tool, the teacher will take note of the equations that the students

created. The idea was to allow the students the opportunity to develop their understand and

solving skills. This was achieved by allowing the students to demonstrate and apply their

understanding of mathematics through play and problem solving.

This activity can be related to Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development(ZPD). ZPD

focuses on allowing children to talk to each other about the subject matter, which creates an

environment where they can learn from one another. By having each pair of students describe
their equations to the class, they get a chance to describe their thought process and the pattern

they chose.

The fifth activity will be more unstructured involving the use of lego blocks. The students

will be asked to use their creativity to create an object or landscape utilizing a series of blocks

ranging from 1-10 pieces of the same colour. The goal of this exercise is to allow the students

the opportunity to connect mathematical concepts to areas of personal interest.

The students will be given a chunk of time to create something alone, or in small groups.

When finished they will be asked to write a few sentences describing what they have created.

Afterwards, we will have a gallery walk, giving the students a chance to see what their peers

have created. This could also be done by having the student briefly describe to the class what

they have created.

The post assessment of this activity will focus on the students ability to communicate

and represent their thinking. They had a chance to represent their thinking in a concrete way

with an opportunity to explain and justify their decisions. Finally, they were able to model

mathematics in a contextualized experience.

This activity can be related to Thelen’s theory of self organization. He claims that unique

patterns and order will emerge when children are given the opportunity to work without explicit

instructions. Through the process of self regulation, children will change through their own

activity. Through the self regulated discovery in this activity, the students will have the

opportunity to learn from their experiences.

The sixth and final activity will be a game of bingo. Each student will be given a five by

five grid complete with numbers ranging from 0 - 20. The activity will act as a form of review for

the “making 10” and “one more than” concepts. This will give the students the opportunity to

reflect on the mathematical thinking that they have learned.

The game will function similar to regular bingo; however, instead of calling out a number,

the I will write an incomplete equation on the board. These equations will have one missing
element, draw from either the making 10 pairs, or a simple one more than equation. For

example, 1 may write the following: ______ + 8 = 10. The students will look on their boards

for the number 2. The teacher will give the students a chance to visualize the equation as well

as hear the equation as it is being read. The game will end when someone gets a bingo.

This review will give the students the chance to display their understanding in a fun way.

The student will be able to further develop their mental math strategies and abilities to solve the

equations. They will also be given the chance to visualize to explore the concepts, as they will

have a blank piece of paper to work with, as well as our number line at the front of the class.

Timing:

While this remains the area that I am struggling to define accurately, each lesson has

been designed to take between 15 and 30 minutes. This is solely due to the fact that at such a

young age, students benefit from a range of short activities conducted throughout the day. The

unit itself, should take place over a 2 - 3 week period. This is of course just a guideline and

should be altered to fit the demands of an individual class.

Resources:

This unit was designed with the help of both our class notes and the text “Theories of

Development Concepts and Applications” by William Crain. The video has been drawn from an

online source, and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=QS5w8LRnnp0&list=PLYx-awa4RRZuGE0ityc7PSCgLPOhRBlI_&index=1.

With full credit going to the creator, Rocking Dan Teaching Man. The making 10

worksheet for the second lesson, has been adapted from a copy found online at the teachers

pay teachers website, under the name of “Ten Partners Rainbow”. All the other activities have

been developed solely for this unit.

0 10

1 9

2 8
3 7

4 6

5 5
Appendix 2: Making 10 (Lesson 2)

Name: _________________________

Making 10

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

0 + ____ = 10 5 + ____ = 10

1 + ____ = 10 6 + ____ = 10

2 + ____ = 10 7 + ____ = 10

3 + ____ = 10 8 + ____ = 10

4 + ____ = 10 9 + ____ = 10
Appendix 3: Lesson 2

Ways to 10

Dice Rolls Missing Pair

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10

+ = 10
Appendix 4: Bingo (to be altered to have different boards)

2 0 19 17 6

14 5 16 4 18

3 11 Free Space 1 7

20 10 12 9 3

5 15 8 13 1