Lesson plan
Pass The Snake!
Learning Objectives
Students will learn to work as a team to count and write the numbers up to 120.
Introduction
(10 minutes)
- Ask students to join you in a circle and tell them that today you would like to try counting with them a little differently than usual.
- Write the words “Pass The Marker!” on the board and keep the marker in your hand.
- Explain to the students that you want to practice counting up to 120 as a team by playing Pass The Marker. Go over the following rules with them:
- The person that starts the game has to grab the marker and say “One!” and immediately pass the marker clockwise.
- The next person to hold the marker has to say “two” out loud and pass the marker clockwise.
- The pattern continues until they have reached 120.
- They only have 60 seconds to reach 120.
- Do a brief demonstration by counting from 1-10 with some volunteers and then continue to the actual game.
- If the students cannot count up to 120 within 60 seconds, ask them what the class can do to get there faster.
- Repeat the game by counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(5 minutes)- Tell the students that you would like to repeat the game but this time you would like to play Pass the Paper.
- Tell students that the same rules apply as Pass the Marker, but instead of saying the number the students must now write the number and then pass the paper.
- Remind the students that they can look for patterns in the numbers to help them write the number that comes next.
- Give the clipboard, marker, and graph paper to the first student and set 60 seconds on the timer.
Guided Practice
(15 minutes)- Divide the students into groups of 5.
- Issue a copy of the Sally the Silly Snake worksheet to each group and tell them that their job is to work as a team to fill in the numbers 1-120 inside of the snake by playing “Pass The Snake!”
- Review the following rules with students:
- They cannot fill the paper in for anyone else except themselves.
- They can help each other by encouraging their team members to look for patterns.
- Every square must be filled in, if it isn’t it means that they miscounted somewhere along the way.
- The first team to fill in all the squares correctly wins.
- Allow students to start the game and let them color, cut, and glue the snake once they have finished the game.
- Walk around and monitor the students' progress as the game goes on, stopping every now and then to help them.
Independent working time
(10 minutes)- Issue a copy of the Count Down worksheet to each student once the activity is done.
Differentiation
- Enrichment: Challenge students by asking them to create a Sally the Silly Snake worksheet that counts backwards starting from 120.
- Support: Allow students below level to be coached and guided by a more proficient student as they participate in the activity.
Assessment
(5 minutes)- Allow the students to exchange their Count Down worksheets and grade them as a whole group for a grade.
Review and closing
(5 minutes)- Remind students that an easy way to write a number sequence is by looking for patterns.
- Show a picture of a 120 counting chart and allow students to look for patterns and share their findings with a classmate.
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