Accessing Auditory Modality with Math Activities

Math Lesson 1: Days 1 and 2

Objectives:

	Students will participate in whole class activities which require listening carefully to directions from teacher and fellow students.
	Students will respond verbally on cue during activity.
	Students will communicate verbally to explain process used to solve problem.

Illinois Learning Standards:

Math

	6.B.2--Solve one- and two-step problems involving whole numbers, fractions and decimals using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
	6.C.2a—Select and perform computational procedures to solve problems with whole numbers, fractions and decimals.
	6.C.2b—Show evidence that computational results using whole numbers, fractions and decimals are correct and/or that estimates are reasonable.
	10.B.3—Formulate questions, devise and conduct experiments or simulations, gather data, draw conclusions and communicate results to an audience using traditional methods and contemporary technologies.

Materials:

	8x11 Hundred Charts (one for each student)
	Hundred Chart Clues (can be teacher-made or from Mental Math with Tiles & The Hundred Chart by Marcy Cook, www.marcycookmath.com)
	“I Have” Clues (can be teacher-made or from I Have by Marcy Cook, www.marcycookmath.com)
	Two Word Problems incorporating Guess and Check Strategy on transparency
	(Suggested Resources: No Problem! By Joan Vydra and Jean McCall, www.prufrock.com, The Problem Solver by Gloria Moretti, Mark Stephens, Judy Goodnow, and Shirley Hoogeboom, www.wrightgroup.com, and Daily Mathematics, www.greatsource.com)

Procedure:

This lesson will utilize several activities designed to allow students to experience learning by accessing their auditory modality. Let students know that they are going to focus on learning by listening.

Day One

Activity 1: Begin by distributing a hundred chart to all students and discuss how it is constructed; ask students to talk about any patterns they see (rows of 10, columns of 10, etc.). Tell students that by following with their pointer finger on the chart, they are going to listen to a set of clues, do some mental math by adding or subtracting, and try to end up at the designated number. Example: “Start with the value of a penny, Plus 10, Add 3, Take away 2, Plus 20,” etc. The teacher verbally states each clue with a short pause in between, and after around a dozen clues, asks students to name where they are on the hundred chart. Repeat activity, only this time increase clues to around 16, and instead of having students tell the number at the end, have them describe the number using math vocabulary. Now have students use pointer from both hands, and give clues for each with the object being to end up with both fingers pointing at the same number. Example: “One start on the value of a penny; the other start on the value of a dollar, To the smaller add 22, From the larger minus 20,” etc. Again ask students to give a verbal description of the number. Ready made scripts for these can be found in Mental Math with Tiles & The Hundred Chart by Marcy Cook.

Activity 2: Distribute pre-made “I Have” clues to each student. Teacher begins by asking the first clue. Example: “Who has the square of 7?” The student who has the answer, 49, must say, “I have 49. Who has…” and continue reading their clue. The student with that answer must respond accordingly, and the activity continues in this fashion until every student in the room has verbally participated and the game has gone full circle so that the last clue leads back to the student with the first answer. Teacher can follow the script, but only students giving clues and answering clues may speak. After completing a round, shuffle clues and redistribute. (Students like the challenge of trying to complete the round in a faster time. This activity can be designed to review almost any math concept.) Ready made scripts for these can be found in I Have by Marcy Cook.

Day Two

Repeat Activity 1 as a Warm-up

Activity 3: Display overhead transparency of problem utilizing Guess and Check Strategy. Read the problem to the students and elicit verbal responses for guesses. Through verbal questioning, lead the students toward the answer by helping them discover that they need to start with a reasonable guess, check to see if it is correct, and continue eliminating possibilities as they get closer to the solution that fits the given clues. Display second problem, have students partner up, and allow them to talk together to find their answers. Have volunteers verbally explain their strategies to the class.

Assessment:

Through observation, students will be assessed on how well they followed verbal directions during the activities. In activity one, teacher can readily see who followed along and ended up on the right number. In activity two, by following the script, teacher can assess participation and listening skills of students. In activity three, student’s verbal responses will be noted, and observations made of students talking through strategy with partner.