First Week Task 2

Grade 4GT
First Week Performance Task: Canstruction

Materials needed

• Canstruction power point slide
• Calculators
• Chart paper- approximately 3 sheets per group
• Markers

Task description

This task gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their level of proficiency with area and perimeter, as well as their ability to look for and make use of structures when problem solving. Students will multiply, divide and look for relationships among numbers during the investigation.

 

Task directions

1. Number routine (10 minutes)- Picture It

2. Problem Solving – in Groups (35 minutes)
   • Use the power point slides for Canstruction.
   • Allow students to work in groups of 3 ( 3 is optimal, 2 if necessary, never more than 4) to solve the problem.
   • As students are solving the problem, take observation notes on the checklist provided on what strategies are being used and the SMPs that the students are demonstrating.
3. Once students finish solving the task, have groups share. (15 minutes)
   • Discuss student ideas and strategies as a whole group.
   • Remind students that there may be many ways to find a solution to these tasks.
   • Ask students to share strategies and solutions. Lead the discussion by asking other students if they agree or disagree with the other groups’ findings.  Ask the groups to explain/justify their answers verbally. 

4. Closure: SMPs
   1. Display chart from yesterday.
   2. Share SMPs you noticed during yesterday's task.
   3. Have students "Think Pair Share"  a response to the statement below.
      • Name one SMP you demonstrated yesterday and one you did not.

 

Suggested questions:

• Ask students to explain what information they are using to help them solve the problem.
• Ask each student in a group to share what they know about the structure.
• Ask each students how they will sequence their work.
• When a team finishes, ask the team to explain/justify their answers verbally.
• Ask students how they arrived at an answer.
• Ask students to explain what they know so far (especially if they are stuck).
• Is there another way to represent that answer?
• Could you solve the problem a different way?
• Is your answer reasonable? How do you know?

 

Task guidance

Teacher should:	Teacher should avoid:	Anticipated strategies:
circulate and observe how students are working on the task . ask students general questions about how they came up with a given answer ask questions of different students in each group after a student shares his or her thinking, ask other students in the group, “Do you agree with _____’s reasoning?” or “Did anyone think about this in a different way?” if the students are stuck on a certain part of the task or having trouble explaining their reasoning, say, “Why don’t you and your teammates discuss [this part of the task]. I’ll go talk with the other groups and come back in a few minutes and we can continue our discussion.” ask students about correct and incorrect answers, not just ones that are incorrect or unreasonable answers circulate among the groups and try to interact with as many different students as possible if students are unable to explain or think through a given idea, encourage them to move on to another part of the task rather than trying to lead the students to a correct answer and/or strategy.	explain how to determine the area and perimeter show students how to find area and perimeter provide any instruction tell a student if their answer is correct or not react in a way that shows students if they are correct or not	Use of standard formula for area and perimeter Use of multiplication , addition, and subtraction Use of an expression to determine the total number of cans

Task resources

• Canstruction power point slides Download Canstruction power point slides
• Observation checklist Download Observation checklist
• Full teacher directions Download Full teacher directions
  
   

 

Standards

4.MD.3 - Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems. For example, find the width of a rectangular room given the area of the flooring and the length, by viewing the area formula as a multiplication equation with an unknown factor.