The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Chicken Math Part 2

Chicken Math

A 3rd grade STEM lesson

Author: Dezirea Contreras

Date: June 1st 2023

Notes for teachers

Notes

This will be a lesson in breaking down the space needed for a chicken habitat. Students will utilize a piece of paper to fractionate a designed space for chickens to live in harmony.

How much space does a chicken need to be happy?

Given a space A, what can fit into that coop?

List of Materials

• blank printer paper
• Pencil

Standards

3.NF.A.1

Understand a fraction (1/b) as the quantity formed by one part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

3.NF.A�Understand fractions as numbers.

Objective(s):

Today we will use fractions to design a space for a flock of chickens to live in. I will give each of you a piece of paper and we will be folding that paper into 16 equal parts OR fractions.

Using this template we can design and add in what a chicken might need in their space.

The paper is equivalent to 4ft x 4 ft

Agenda (lesson time)

This lesson should take about 30 minutes.

Hand out supplies

Fold paper into 16 equal rectangles.

Discuss how the paper is now a fraction.

Can be looked at in different ways

1/16 , 4- ¼, ½, ⅓ etc…

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Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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Today we are going to design a habitat! Not just any habitat… but a space for dinosaur relatives. The chicken!

We all are going to be given an equal amount of space.

Breaking that space into a measurement we call a “fraction”. As a class we will fold our design spaces but YOU as the individual will design what will realistically fit into that space.

Hands-on Activity Instructions

• Together: fold the paper in half horizontally like making a card.
• Continuing horizontally, fold in half again
• You should now have a rectangle (Pictured) Then you will fold the rectangle in half. (picture 2)
• When you open the fold it will have a centerline. I took one end and folded it into the center. (I chose to do it this way because the paper gets too thick to fold and the lines will become significantly uneven.)
• Then repeat with the opposite end.
• Now, when you unfold the paper it should have 16 boxes.

YOU DID IT!

Now design your chicken coop space and keep track of how much of the design is used for each part.

Assessment

By the end if this activity students should show an understanding on fractions and being able to apply it to a real world space.

You could ask questions like. “How much space does the water take up?” 1/16

or “if I have 4 water tanks in this space it takes up ¼ of the entire space”… etc.

Differentiation

Have students fold the paper into less squares to reduce the complexity of the fractions.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

To extend add more complicated or simple fractions and challenges.

Measure approximate space for items that are needed in the habitat. i.e how big is a coup? How big is a feeder? Can we save space by hanging items?