David Knapp

Lesson Plan Enrichment 4th grade

Daily Lesson Plan for: J & A
Lesson # 4

Date:

Standards(s):
4.OA.C. Generate and analyze patterns.
4.OA.A Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
4.OA.B Gain familiarity with factors and multiples. <Locker Problem>
SMP #1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
SMP #2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
*** Math ideas
Problem solving; Recognizing Patterns; Specializing (solution for a specific term);
Generalizing solution (finding an algebraic equation)
Goal(s)/Objective(s):
Develop students mathematical thinking skills in recognizing patterns, specializing and then
generalizing math ideas.

Materials

Student
individual
math journals

Activities

Review:
Quick review of concepts we discovered in last
weeks lesson re: the locker problem.
Check for understanding; remind students to
make sure they have included key information in
their journals.
Possible Review questions include:
What happened to all the lockers after person # 1
touches them?

Teacher
Notes:

Review
Strategy of:
Using
Smaller
numbers in
problem
as a way
students
could attempt
to solve
difficult

Who changes the states of the lockers?

What determines who touches the locker?
When does the locker stop changing state?
How many people -and what determined the
number of people - touch each locker?
What were/are ways we could go about solving
this problem?

Teacher Instruction:
Part 1
Return to the locker problem
The ORIGINAL Locker Problem
Imagine you are at a school that has student
lockers. There are 100 lockers (all shut and
unlocked) and 100 students.
** Adjustment of reducing the number of
lockers & students from 100 to 25.

Two color
counters (red
on one side
and yellow on
the other) that
can be turned
over to
represent
open/closed.

So the new problem begins with 25 students and

25 lockers but then follows the original stages:
1. Suppose the first student goes along the
row and opens every locker.
2. The second student then goes along and
shuts every other locker beginning with
number 2.
3. The third student changes the state of

problems in
the future

every third locker beginning with number

3.
* (If the locker is open, the student shuts
it, and if the locker is closed the student
opens it.)
4. The fourth student changes the state of
every fourth locker beginning with
number 4.
Imagine that this continues until ALL
hundred twenty-five students have
followed the pattern with ALL
hundred twenty-five lockers.
5. At the end, which lockers will be open
and which will be closed? Why?
Student
individual
math journals

** Record your thoughts in your journals.

Prompts

Now we are going to expand our pattern (where

we recognized that the people who changed the
state of each locker were factors of that locker
number).
We are going to investigate (a) how to find
factors of numbers and (b) will the number of
factors affect the whether or not the locker is
open.
So using the information we discovered last week
(and reviewed above) about how when we looked
at the first 12 lockers and discovered that the
locker reaches the goal state with persons:
1,2,3,4,6 and 12 or the factors of 12 - consider
the following:

How can we find factors?

Why is knowing a locker numbers factors
important?
Does the number of factors a locker has matter?
What two factors does every number have?
What are prime numbers and their
characteristics?
Does the number of factors determine if a locker
is open or not?
How can we go about solving this problem?

Student
individual
math journals

** Check for understanding; give students time

to record their thoughts in their journals.

Part 2
Chip Game or Chocolate Bar Problem.

Brief description of chip game:

Seven circular
chips

There are seven chips; each person gets a turn

and may remove one or two chips.
The winner is the person who is able to take
the last chip in their turn.

* This is
likely the
final week of
the locker
problem: be
sure to check
for
understanding
and allow
students time
to summarize
math
concepts,
express
opinions, ask
questions for
closure
before
moving to
either the
Chip Game or
the Chocolate
Problem.

After playing the game a few times to trial

varied strategies, students will be asked to
propose a rule (strategy) to use in order to always
win.

Use Linking
Cubes, then
chips
Note: Cubes
are easy to
break apart,
but Chips are
easy to move
into varied
shapes

Chocolate Bar Problem

Paper model
of the
chocolate bar
(including
pieces)

Prompts

There are two players who take turns

Every turn a player picks up a section of the
candy bar and breaks it along one of the lines
Every break must go all the way across the
section
This continues until all the pieces are separate
Whoever makes the last break is the winner

How could we discover a strategy where we

can know/predict if we will win or lose?
What aspects should we look at/consider when
finding a strategy?
Would the strategy be the same for smaller bars
and larger bars?

Student
individual
math journals

** Record your thoughts in your journals.

Assessment/Evaluation:

The assessment will be students explaining their

thinking at the end of each problem.
Student
individual
math journals

Concluding activities: students will write (math

journals) and verbalize (to peer and teacher/tutor)
their thinking related to today's problem(s).

After working 2 problems, we have

the option of introducing next weeks
problem (either the Chip Game or the
chocolate bar problem), playing a
round of Mathological Liar and/or
drawing completions to given
patterns.

Lesson Closure:
* We will discuss the math ideas/concepts
entered in the student journals and then provide
some time for students to individualize/decorate
their journals.
Student
individual
math journals

**Students hand in their journals and discuss

what we will be doing together next time.