ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

The unit of addition should be taught later in the kindergarten year so most of the students in the class can recognize and write their numbers up to 30. A couple of weeks ago, I told the children to take two crackers off the snack plate and then take three more. A student that was at services out of the room asked, “How many crackers do we get to take?” I said, ” You should take five.” One of the other students yelled that students were taking too many crackers. This snack time issue made me realize it was time to teach the understanding of joining two sets together. The addition instruction goal will be to connect children’s intuitive problem-solving processes to the meanings of the operations and the symbols used to represent them. The children will be using manipulatives to add two numbers together to get the sum, to learn what the addition sign looks like, and to become familiar with what the equal sign looks like.
According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) students in kindergarten should understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems. The kindergarten standards and benchmarks for the state show that a child leaving kindergarten should be able to determine the number of objects in a set when one object is added or subtracted up to ten and be able explain how to solve story and picture problems.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understandings: 1. I want the students to recognize, name, and write each numeral correctly to thirty. 2. I want the students to be able to use the mouse and number keys on the computer. 3. I want the students to add two numbers together and be able to get the sum by using manipulatives or clip art. 4. I want the students to know that groups of objects can be added in any order.
Goal(s): 1. Students will understand the language of sum, equals, and plus sign.  2. Students will be able to make up their own addition problem by joining groups of objects.  3. Students will become familiar with basic technology by using a computer.  4. Students will be able to create addition problems using the numbers, mouse, and clip art on the Kidspiration computer program.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. What do the students need to know to add? 2. How will the students use addition in every-day life? 3. What do the students need to know about working on the computer and how can knowing this help them later in life?
Objectives: 1. The students (audience) will verbally demonstrate recognition of the numbers 0-30 (behavior), when shown a flash card for each number (conditions) with 100% accuracy (degree).  2. The students (audience) will be able to use manipulatives (behavior) to solve a number sentence using the vocabulary terms plus, equals, and sum (conditions) with 90% accuracy (degree).  3. The students (audience) will listen to directions on how to use the mouse with the computer and after explanation be able to show teacher (behavior) how to grab or drag objects (conditions) with 90% accuracy (degree). 4. The students (audience) will play an addition game using ladybugs (behavior) to create five addition problems (conditions) with 100% accuracy (degree).  5. The students (audience) will practice their adding skills (conditions) by using the number keypad and mouse to play a game on the computer (behavior) with 100% accuracy (degree).  6. Using Kidspiration (condition), the kids (audience) will practice locating numbers on the keyboard and typing them (behavior) with 100% accuracy (degree).  7. Using Kidspiration (condition), the kids (audience) will create two addition problems each using clip art as manipulatives (behavior) with 95% accuracy (degree).

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
1. I will formally assess each child individually on recognition of numbers by using flash cards and have the students write their numbers 0-30 on a piece of paper making sure they are correctly written. 2. Formal assessment will also take place on the computer internet game Number Sense, as it gives the child feedback on the correct answer. 3. On the computer program Kidspiration, I will be looking at the end product on their screen for the assessment. 4. I will use informal assessments using the ladybug game on the computer when the kids need to make up their own addition problem and be making observations around the room as learning is taking place of who is understanding the addition concept of joining two numbers together.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
1. Students should be able to take out three ducks and take two more ducks out of the jar.  2. Students should be able to put the two piles together and count them. 3. Students should be able to determine an answer?  4. Students should be able to write problems on the board?  5. Students should be able to demonstrate the problem on the computer using Kidspiration. 6. Students should be able to play a game with them by saying,“I see two dots here and five dots over there” How many dots all together?  7. Students should be able to count the dots together to make sure the kids get the right answer.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
1. We will count how many students and teachers there are in the room. 2. How many total people are in this room?  3. Have the students dictate on how the problem should be written on the board. 20 students + 2 teachers = 22 people. 4. Tell them another problem saying, “I have two steaks in this freezer and three steaks in this freezer for supper. How many people can I cook for tonight?”  5. Show problem on board writing 2+3=5 people. 6. On Fridays the students get a choice between chocolate or white milk for snack break. We need to add the two numbers together to make sure we have enough milk for everyone. 7. Another everyday task is at snack time, the children take three crackers and then I tell them to take two more. How many did you get to take?  8. The children will get better with practice and will be asked to write three addition problems on their white boards using real life manipulatives.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
1. While at center time, I will watch the children using the computer program Kidspiration making sure they are typing in correct numbers and are dragging with the mouse the correct number of clip art objects for each number. Ex. If the child types two they should have two clip art objects. 2. The observation process will also take place as each child plays the games on the computer that are self correcting, playing addition box games and file folder games.

Instructional Strategies

The learning strategies in this lesson will provide the children with many hands-on learning activities. The teacher will instruct the students as a whole group, having the children take manipulatives to solve an addition problem stated by the teacher.
Problem based:  1. How can I write the addition sentence that was just stated by the teacher on my white board?  2. Did I use the addition sign and the equal sign in the right spot when writing the problem?
Self-directedness: 1. The children will work individually to complete their two addition problems using Kidspiration. 2. They use their higher order thinking to illustrate with clip art the two math problems that are before them utilizing the mouse.
Project-based: 1. Students will leave off the answers or sums to their addition problems when using the program Kidspiration so we can create a class book called “Fun With Addition”.  2.  Higher order thinking will be taking place as the children have to think back on what they have learned about numbers, how to operate the computer when doing their addition problems, and how to be able to put what they know about adding two numbers together to create or type the addition problems so they make sense and can be solved by others.