University of South Alabama

Department of Leadership & Teacher Education

Lesson Plan Format

Name: Jacquelyn Poirier                                                                             Date: 11/19/10                                        

School:                                                                                                            Grade Level: Fifth                      

Teaching Strategy: Whole Group                                                               Time Required: 30 minutes         

I.              Subject/Content Area

·             Mathematics/Probability

II.            Alabama Course of Study (ACOS)

5th grade: 15.) Use fractions to represent the probability of events that are neither certain nor impossible.

• Solving word problems involving probability

• Identifying the probability of an event that is certain as 1 or impossible as 0

III.           Concepts

·             Probability: the odds that an event will or will not occur

·             Chance

·             Most likely

·             Less likely

·             Equally likely

·             Impossible

IV.           Behavioral Objectives

·             TSWBAT: solve word problems involving probability

·             TSWBAT: write their own word problems involving probability

V.            Evaluation (Assessment included here)

·             The teacher will assign word problems involving probability and listen/observe as the students solve them

·             The teacher will monitor/observe as students write their own word problems involving probability

VI.           Materials - Include all necessary materials (manipulatives/technology).

·             Skittles

·             Small Paper/Styrofoam cups

·             Large coin (quarter)

·             Paper and pencils for all students

VII.         Teaching/Learning Procedures

                A.            Motivation

·             Have you or your parents ever played the lottery? What takes place during a drawing?

o           Let students respond/discuss

·             The objective for this lesson is that you will be able to determine the probability, or the odds, of a certain event occurring or not occurring. We will also practice some word problems involving probability

                B.            Instructional Procedures (Questions in bold)

·             “So, in my hand, I have a cup with 2 orange, 3 green, 4 purple, and 5 red skittles. If I reach into my cup and draw only one skittle, what am I most likely to draw?”

o           Let students respond: red

·             “Why would I be the most likely to draw a red skittle?”

·             “Would red be my only possibility? Are there any chances that I will get a different color?”

·              Now, I’m holding this quarter. “If I flip the quarter, what are the chances that it will land on heads? What are the chances that it will land on tails?”

o           Let students respond: 50% chance, 50/50 chance, ½

·             “Why is there a 50/50 chance?”

·             Draw a circle, divided into 5 pieces, with 2 parts shaded. “Let’s say that this is a spinner.”

·             “How many pieces are there in this whole? How many pieces are shaded?”

·             “If I spin the needle, what is the probability that I will land on a shaded piece?”

·             “What is the probability that I will not land on a shaded piece?”

·             “Notice how this probability is written as a fraction, or a ratio.”

·             Do some more practice problems on the board like the above problems.

o           Pass out skittles and cups to each table.

·             Now, I am going to let you work together as a group at your table to come up with your own word problem. Use the skittles and cups at your tables that I gave you. When we are finished, you will swap problems with the table next to you, and they will have to figure out your word problem.”

C.                     Closure

·             “What did we learn about today?”

·             Sum everything up about probability.

·             “Now that you know about probability, if you ever enter into any kind of drawing or contest, you can figure out your chances, or odds, of winning!”

VIII.        Supplemental Activities (Early Finishers, Enrichment, Remediation)

o           Students who finish early will be asked/allowed to make up additional word problems.

o           Students who desire enrichment will be directed to make up a word problem involving probability using something other than drawing skittles.

o           Students who need remediation in probability will be provided with additional practice to help with solving word problems involving probability.

IX.                 Professional Reflection

• The instructional objectives for this lesson were met and I know that the students leaned what was intended because they were able to meet the behavioral objectives of solving and writing word problems involving probability.
• I know that the students were productively engaged during this lesson because they were all working cooperatively and individually to write and then solve each others’ word problems. They counted the skittles in their cup, they wrote down the total number of skittles, they sorted the skittles out according to colors, and they wrote questions about the probability of drawing or picking a specific color from their set of skittles.
• I did not alter my instructional plan as I taught the lesson because the students were getting what I was teaching them and understood the concepts.
• Additional assistance, support, and/or resources that could have further enhanced this lesson could have been some Smart Board manipulatives and/or resources, such as spinners, that the students could have worked with during the lesson for practice and additional examples.
• If I had the opportunity to teach the lesson again to the same group of students, I would have definitely set a time limit on writing the word problems. Some students took longer than I expected and math time ran into time that was supposed to have been used on science.