developed by Samantha Sullivan

CONTENT STANDARD 10: Discrete Mathematics
Students will use the concepts and processes of discrete mathematics to analyze and model a variety of real-world situations
that
involve recurring relationships, sequences, networks, combinations and permutations.

Educational experiences in Grades 2-3 will assure that students:
10.2-3.1 Develop logical reasoning through games and activities.
10.2-3.2 Create and follow practical sets of instructions.
10.2-3.4 Organize data with tables, charts, arrays, and diagrams.
10.2-3.6 Identify and investigate sequences.

Grade Level: 3

Objectives: Have the students place their shells in order from smallest to largest.
   Have the students place their shells in order from lightest to heaviest.
   Have the students classify their shells by the following characteristics:
   Texture
   Design
   Color
   Size
   Shape
   Weight
   Thickness
 
Materials:  Different size and weights of shells
  3 to 4 dozen shells

Duration:  I would have the shell sorting activity available to the students for about                one week due to all of the
extensions there are for this activity.
 

Prior Knowledge:  The knowledge of which is smaller, larger, lighter, and   concept of something is heavy.  The students would
have to know that there are different types of shells.  Maybe some of the students would be able to inform the other students on
what animal once lived in the shell.
 

Procedure:  The first thing I would like the students to do would be to look at all of the different shells.  Next I would let the
students explore the shells before they are given their first instruction into the activity.  I think once we are into the activity I
would have the students arrange the shells from smallest to largest and then lightest to heaviest.  I would then have the students
sort the shells into the texture, design, color, size, shape, weight, and thickness categories.  After the students have finished
classifying all of the shells into groups the students will be able to take the smaller shells and glue them together to make a
colorful sea shell mosaics.
 

Closure: I will bring the students back together and we will as a class go through each category.  I will choose different students
to come up and show how they put their categories together.  If the students worked together in groups I would have the group
come up and show us how they collaborated their categories together.
 

Assessment: Teacher observation
      Cooperative learning groups (how well the students worked together)
      Students participation in group discussion
 

Modifications: If there were students in the class that would need the activity to be modified I would just have the students
categorize the shells by color, size, and weight.  If the students would like to categorize the other categories I would have the
students work together in their groups again and finish the list.
 
  

developed by Samantha

Grade Level: 3

Objectives: Have the students create a seafood menu that includes illustrations and prices for each food item.  Have the student’s role play different people involved in having a successful seafood restaurant.
 
Materials:  Paper       Markers     Colored pencils
        Magazines   Play money      Serving trays
        Calculator  Aprons          Bill pads
        Seafood Plates
 
Duration:   I would also have this activity available to the students for about one week.

Prior Knowledge:  what type of food would be classified as seafood, of the students enjoy eating seafood, what does it taste like, smell like, where you would go to catch the seafood and of they have ever gone out in a boat to catch one or more things that will be on our menu.  Also I would ask the students if they know what a menu is and what is on a menu.

Procedure:  The first thing we would do is to decide what seafood items we would like on our menu.  We will then decide how much each entrée would cost our customers.  Designing the menu I think we would be able to complete this in 2 ways: make one in groups and one as a whole class.  Once the menu is all set we will establish roles for the classmates to play.  We would need restaurant owners, servers, and customers.  We could also invite the students’ parents to participate by cooking a real seafood entrée and we could use that to “sell” to our classmate customers. I would like to have the students log onto the internet and see of we could get pictures of the seafood we chose to put on our menu, and also print off some menus so we would be able to compare and decide what we would want on our menu.

Closure: In closing this activity I would hope that the students have understood what tasks are involved in making a menu and making sure that the prices are correct.  We want our customers coming back real soon.  If the students were having problems with addition and subtraction I would hope that this activity would have helped out.
 

Assessment: Teacher Observation
Menu final product
Student participation in making of the menu
The actual role playing of the seafood restaurant
 

Modifications: We would make sure that the costs of our entrees were to the nearest dollar.  This will help those students that are still struggling with subtraction by using the money.  We could also have those that are struggling be the restaurant owners or the servers.  They would still be a major part of the activity even if they were having trouble.

Standards: Estimation and Approximation
Students will make estimates, and approximation, judge the reasonableness of results.
3.2-3.5 Estimates sums and differences of whole numbers of money.
 
 

Please read the University Disclaimer at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/aac/disclaimer.html The instructor's homepage (David Stoloff) is at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/stoloff.html Questions on these webpages, please email David Stoloff at stoloffd@easternct.edu.