Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Eight lesson plans, one for each lesson of the sixth unit of 4th grade, multi-step problems, equations and patterns, in teaching order, after an overview page that lays the unit out day by day: a pre-check, the eight lessons, a review and the unit test. Each plan fits on one page. It gives the goal, what to get ready, the words to use, the lesson in five steps with the words to say, questions to ask, common mistakes and what to do about them, and the Animal Math worksheets, makers, tools and quiz for the lesson.

In the Classroom

Print the unit, or just the day's page, and teach from it. Each lesson takes about 45 minutes: a 5 minute warm up, 10 minutes of teaching, 10 minutes together, 15 minutes of practice and an exit ticket at the end. Students draw a strip diagram before they write an equation, and say why a pattern does what it does, not only what comes next. Lessons 6.3, 6.4, 6.7 and 6.8 are for the states that teach the equal sign, unknowns in any place, input-output tables and rules by position in 4th grade. The exit tickets, pre-check, review and unit test are separate packs, made for these lessons, and the plans teach with other numbers than they use.

At Home

Teaching at home? Use the warm up and the "Try it together" step as a short lesson, and the "Words to use" as the way to talk about it. Shopping lists make good multi-step stories, and tiles or coins make good growing patterns. The mistakes to watch for are the ones most children make.

Tips for Success

• Read the "Watch for" box before the lesson: it is what to listen for while students work
• Ask "what does the letter stand for?" whenever a student writes an equation
• Ask "why does that happen?" after every feature of a pattern a student finds
• Sort the exit tickets into got it, almost and not yet to plan the next day
• Use the help and challenge ideas for small groups during practice