Lesson 7

The purpose of this activity is for students to revisit a story and consider ways to act it out. In addition to explaining what the story is about, students also think of ways the class could act out the story. When students act out the story, they make sense of the context and develop strategies for making sense of problems and persevering in solving them (MP1). Monitor for suggestions of acting out the story with concrete objects such as cubes, fingers, or students, as well as representing the story with pictures. In the synthesis, the class acts out the story in one of the ways suggested by the students. In a later lesson, students act out the same story in another way in order to see different representations of the same story.

• Groups of 2
• Display and read the story.
• “What is the story about?”
• 30 seconds: quiet think time
• Share responses.
• Read the story again.
• “How can you act out this story?”
• 30 seconds: quiet think time

• “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
• 1 minute: partner discussion
• Monitor for students who suggest using physical objects such as fingers, cubes, or students to represent the ducks, or drawing pictures to represent the story.

• Read the story together.
• Act out the story as a class using a previously identified suggestion of using concrete objects or pictures.

The purpose of this How Many Do You See is for students to recognize quantities without counting and describe how they know how many dots are displayed.

• Groups of 2
• Display the first image.
• “How many do you see? How do you see them?” 
• 30 seconds: quiet think time 

• “Use your fingers to show your partner how many dots you see.”
• 30 seconds: partner work time
• “Tell your partner how many dots you see and how you see them.”
• 1 minute: partner discussion
• Record responses.
• Repeat for the second image.

• “We used our fingers to show how many dots there are. Use your fingers to show how many teachers are in our classroom.”
• “Tell your partner how many teachers are in our classroom.”

The purpose of this activity is for students to recognize small groups of objects in their classroom environment. Students recognize and name groups of objects as well as images of objects they see in the classroom. Small groups of objects, such as 2 pencils or 3 books, may be strategically placed around the classroom before the activity begins. While students may find or count larger groups of objects, monitor for students who identify small groups of objects without counting. When students use number names to describe groups of objects in the classroom, students are relating quantity to physical objects (MP2). 

• Groups of 2
• Display the image of 3 dots from the warm-up.
• “Where do you see a group of three objects in our classroom?”
• 30 seconds: quiet think time
• Share responses.

• “Walk around the room with your partner and find groups of objects. When you find a group, show your partner on your fingers and tell your partner how many objects are in the group and how you know.”
• 5 minutes: partner work time
• Monitor for students who find groups of 2, 3, or 4 objects without counting.

If students find groups of objects that are too large to subitize, consider identifying a group of 1–4 objects and asking:

• “How many _____ are there? How do you know?”

• “What groups of objects did you find in our classroom?”
• “How did you know how many objects were in the group?” (I just saw it. I counted. I saw 2 and 1 more and I know that is 3.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to choose from activities that focus on using math tools and recognizing quantities without counting. 

Students choose from any stage of previously introduced centers.

• Connecting Cubes
• Pattern Blocks
• Geoblocks
• Picture Books

• Gather materials from: 
  • Pattern Blocks, Stages 1 and 2
  • Connecting Cubes, Stages 1 and 2
  • Geoblocks, Stages 1 and 2
  • Picture Books, Stage 1

• “Today you will work in centers with our math tools and picture books.”
• Display the center choices in the student book.
• “Think about what you would like to work with first.”
• 30 seconds: quiet think time

• Invite students to work at the center of their choice. 
• 10 minutes: center work time
• “Choose what you would like to work with next.”
• 10 minutes: center work time
• While students work in centers, consider asking:
  • “What did you do with the connecting cubes, pattern blocks, or geoblocks?”
  • “What groups of things did you see in your book? How many things are there?”
• Monitor for students who create objects, patterns, or buildings the class can describe during the synthesis.

• Invite previously selected students to share their work.
• “How can we describe what _____ made?”