LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Ashley Lennon
Stacey Crawford, Verona Elementary School
March 26th, 2014 at approximately 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
March 19th, 2014
A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
Title : My Piles of Coins
Type of Lesson : Multicultural Realistic Fictional read-aloud with extension activities and
discussions to further students knowledge about money. This lesson also gives students
the opportunity to practice strengthening their oral language skills in describing,
hypothesizing, and predicting. Another part of this lesson is to provide many
opportunities for students to practice and learn about working together, fairness, and
classroom rules.
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
Prior to the creation of this lesson, students had been working on becoming familiar with
American currency for the past two weeks. Initially, this was a hard concept to grasp and
students were mostly assigned to memorizing individual aspects about each coin. There
was no focus on the practicality of coins or any real connection to the purpose of coins.
Nonetheless, students were fascinated by the coins. They thoroughly enjoyed playing
with real and fake money. Despite having spent two weeks on memorizing aspects of the
American coins through verbal repetition, students still struggled to remember those
aspects. This lingering disconnect leads me to believe the auditory method of learning is
not very effective for students. They have also been looking at large images of the coins
as they repeat the facts, and I think the visual method of learning is not the most
appropriate way for students to make connections either. Thus, I think a more kinesthetic
experience approach will help students make stronger connections as it involves visual
learning, auditory learning, and learning via touch.
This lesson is developmentally appropriate as it pertains to physical development in that
the students will be using their fine motor skills when working with the goods cards, the
coins, and writing their reflections. This lesson is developmentally appropriate as it
pertains to social/emotion development in that students will be interacting with their
table-mates during the marketplace part of this lesson. They will be working on their
communication skills, taking turns, respecting others, and maintaining reasonable
emotions and reactions while engaging in transactions during the marketplace activity.
This lesson supports growth and development cognitively as students must assess number
consistency, number relation, and conservation of number. Additionally, students will be
storing information in and utilizing information in their working memory (also known as
short term memory). Lastly, this lesson works to further the students language
development. Students will be conveying meaning through oral and written
communication. They will be expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of other places,
people, and cultures. The students will refine their comprehension skills through
discussions pertaining to the read-aloud.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand - what are the
broad generalizations the
students should begin to
develop? (These are typically
difficult to assess in one
lesson.)
Know - what are the facts,
rules, specific data the
students will gain through
this lesson? (These knows
must be assessed in your
lesson.)
Do - what are the specific
thinking behaviors students
will be able to do through this
lesson? (These will also be
assessed in your lesson.)
1. Conservation of number. 1. Fact - The American coin
names and their respective
value amounts (penny is
worth 1 cent, nickel is worth
5 cents, dime is worth 10
cents, and quarter is worth 25
cents).
1. The students will verbally
recall coin names and their
respective values.
2. Foreign words have
meaning.
2. Fact - The new words,
chapati, sambusa, and
shilling and their meanings.
(chapati means flat round
bread, sambusa means
bread with food vegetables or
meat inside, shilling means
a particular coin)
2. The students will write
down chapati, sambusa,
and shilling on their
reflection papers and write
their own definitions of these
words.
3. Cause and effect 3. Rule - Different price
amounts yield different costs
and assets.
3. The students will assign
their two goods prices, and
through this assess whether
these amounts will enable
them to make more money.
4. Saving and investing 4. Rule - Money can be saved
or spent.
4. The students will choose
whether to give other students
money in return for a good,
or to save their money.
5. Addition and subtraction 5. Rule - Addition is the
process of calculating the
total of two or more numbers.
Subtraction is the process of
decreasing an amount.
5. The students will add to
and subtract coins when
engaging in monetary
transactions with one another
for the purchase and sale of
goods.
D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Assessing Objective 1 : Conservation of number.
Do - The students will verbally recall coin names and their respective values.
- During the market time, I will go to every student and ask them to verbally tell me the
names of each coin and their respective values. I will note if students answer
incorrectly and if they did, with which coins are they getting confused.
Assessing Objective 2 : Foreign words have meaning.
Do - The students will write down chapati, sambusa, and shilling on their reflection
papers and write their own definitions of these words.
- I will be paying most attention to what the students wrote for the definitions of each
word. This will communicate whether they understand what these words mean.
Assessing Objective 3 : Cause and effect.
Do - The students will assign their two goods prices, and through this assess whether
these amounts will enable them to make more money.
- The students will write the prices they assigned to their goods on their reflection
sheet. Whether these prices are reasonable will reflect whether they understand this
concept of cause and effect and that different price amounts yield different costs and
assets.
Assessing Objective 4 : Saving and investing.
Do - The students will choose whether to give other students money in return for a good,
or to save their money.
- The students will write on their reflection papers whether they spent of saved their
money. If the saved their money, they are to explain why they made this choice.
Assessing Objective 5 : Addition and subtraction.
Do - The students will add to and subtract coins when engaging in monetary transactions
with one another for the purchase and sale of goods.
- I will make observations and note any students who have difficulty making the
transactions by adding of subtracting. The students will write how much money they
initially have on their reflection paper. The students will also record on their
reflection papers how much money they have after the market.
E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if
required)
Oral Language
K.1 The student will demonstrate growth in the use of oral language.
a) Listen to a variety of literary forms, including stories and poems.
K.2 The student will expand understanding and use of word meanings.
a) Increase listening and speaking vocabularies.
b) Use number words.
c) Use words to describe/name people, places, and things.
d) Use words to describe/name location, size, color, and shape.
f) Ask about words not understood.
K.3 The student will build oral communication skills.
a) Express ideas in complete sentences and express needs through direct requests.
b) Begin to initiate conversations.
c) Begin to follow implicit rules for conversation, including taking turns and staying on
topic.
e) Participate in group and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
g) Follow one- and two-step directions.
h) Begin to ask how and why questions.
Reading
K.8 The student will expand vocabulary.
a) Discuss meanings of words.
b) Develop vocabulary by listening to a variety of texts read aloud.
K.9 The student will demonstrate comprehension of fictionalized texts.
c) Use pictures to make predictions.
d) Begin to ask and answer questions about what is read.
g) Discuss characters, setting, and events.
Writing
K.11 The student will print in manuscript.
a) Print uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet independently.
b) Print his/her first and last names.
K.12 The student will write to communicate ideas for a variety of purposes.
b) Draw pictures and.or use letters and phonetically spelled words to write about
experiences.
c) Use letters and beginning consonant sounds to spell phonetically words to describe
pictures or write about experiences.
d) Write left to right and top to bottom.
Economics
K.7 The student will
a) recognize that people make choices because they cannot have everything they want;
b) explain that people work to earn money to buy the things they want.
Civics
K.8 The student will demonstrate that being a good citizen involves
a) taking turns and sharing;
d) practicing honesty, self-control, and kindness to others;
e) participating in decision making in the classroom
f) participating successfully in group settings.
Number and Number Sense
K.2. The student, given a set containing 15 or fewer concrete objects, will
a) tell how many are in the set by counting the number of objects orally;
b) write the numeral to tell how many are in the set; and
Computation and Estimation
K.6 The student will model adding and subtracting whole numbers, using up to 10 concrete
objects.
Measurement
K.7 The student will recognize a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter and will determine the
value of a collection of pennies and/or nickels whose value is 10 cents or less.
K.10 The student will compare two objects or events, using direct comparisons or
nonstandard units of measure, according to one or more of the following attributes: length
(shorter, longer), height (taller, shorter), weight (heavier, lighter), temperature (hotter,
colder). Examples of nonstandard units include foot length, hand span, new pencil, paper
clip, and block.
Probability and Statistics
K.13 The student will gather data by counting and tallying.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
I will provide:
- Arrows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel, illustrated by E. B. Lewis.
- Laminated goods cards (bicycle, chapati, sambusa, toy trucks, kites, marbles,
fruit, vegetables)
- Snack-sized Ziploc bags
- Two bags (not translucent)
- Reflection pages
My cooperating teacher will supply:
- Whiteboard to generate list on
- Large display of coins on the bulletin board
- Fake American coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters)
- Dry erase markers for each student
G. PROCEDURE
Preparation of the learning environment (15-20 minutes):
- Random amounts of the fake American coins should be placed in enough snack-sized
Ziplock bags for each student to have one bag of coins. There needs to be at least
eight coins in the bags. Every bag of coins will be put in a non-translucent bag for
students to draw from.
- The goods cards should be approximately 4 x 6, with one photograph of a good
printed on the card. The photograph should be approximately 3 x 4. There should
be space left either above or below the picture for students to write the cost of the
good. Each card needs to be laminated. There needs to be two cards per student.
Every card will be put in a non-translucent bag for students to randomly draw from.
- The reflection paper needs to be typed up. There should be one copy per student. The
following sentences should be on the reflection paper.
! First and Last Name _________________________________________________
! The new words I learned from the story are
!
______________________________ and this means ____________________
______________________________________________________________.
!
______________________________ and this means ____________________
______________________________________________________________.
!
______________________________ and this means ____________________
______________________________________________________________.
! Pre-Market
!
The amount of money I begin with is ________________________________.
!
The two goods I have to sell are ____________________________________
and___________________________________________________________.
!
The price of ____________________________ is _____________________.
!
The price of ____________________________ is _____________________.
! After-Market
!
The amount of money I ended with is _______________________________.
!
I chose to save my money because __________________________________
______________________________________________________________.
!
The good or goods I bought were ___________________________________
______________________________________________________________.
Altogether, these items cost ________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.
Engage - Introduction of the lesson (30 minutes):
- What is a coin? (7 minutes)
! Ask students, What is a coin? Can you describe a coin to me; what does it look
like, what is its purpose, who has them, how do you get them, etc.
! Tell students that as they respond, you will write their descriptions of a coin onto
the whiteboard so the class can have a list defining what a coin is.
! Four to six students should answer.
! Before a student responds, ask them, Do you have something different to share
about coins?
! As you record student responses, put their names beside their responses.
- American coins (2 ! minutes)
! Ask students to collectively recite the information about coins they have been
learning about (for each coin: coin name, who is on the coin, and how much the
coin is worth).
- Ask the students if everyone in the world uses the same coins as we do. In response to
their responses, tell the students, No, everyone does not use the same coins as we do.
In fact, many different countries use different coins that all look differently and are
worth different amounts. (30 seconds)
- Read My Rows and Piles of Coins written by Tololwa M. Mollel and illustrated by E.
B. Lewis (20 minutes)
! Say to students, I want to share one such example of this. I am going to read you
this book, entitled, My Rows and Piles of Coins, written by Tololwa M. Mollel
and illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Lets see if the boy uses the same coins that we do.
! Read the book and pause on the following pages to ask the students the following
questions and receive student responses.
(5) What do you notice about the coins he is holding? Are they American coins?
Where do you think Saruni and Yeyo live?
(6) What do you think chapati might be? What do you think sambusa might
be?
(11) How many piles of coins does Saruni have? How many rows of piles does
Saruni have? Do you think he has enough to buy the bicycle?
(12) What does Saruni mean when he says hell be like a cheetah on wheels?
(15) How many piles of coins does Saruni have now? How many rows of piles
does Saruni have? Why do you think Saruni arranges his coins in piles and his
piles in rows? What might this tell him? Do you think he has enough to buy
the bicycle now?
(16) How could Saruni help Yeyo with his bicycle on market days?
(22) Can you imagine starting school in July? Show me how July usually feels
for us. What other differences about Sarunis home and community do you
notice?
(24) How many coins did Saruni say he had? How many counting sticks would
we need to make three hundred and five?
(25) What do you think a shilling might be similar to?
(28) Why does Murete ask for thirty shillings and fifty cents?
- Quickly recap the story
Implementation of the lesson (20 minutes):
- Pre-marketplace (10 minutes)
! Explain that we are going to each go to the market to buy or save and sell our own
goods just like Saruni did with Yeyo in the story.
! Explain that you will call tables one at a time to come to the teacher (you) and
randomly draw two cards from a non-translucent bag. These cards represent the
goods that they will sell at the market. Say to them, You will decide how much
your goods cost, but make sure the prices are reasonable and fair because you
want people to buy your goods so you can make more money. Each student is to
obtain a dry erase marker from the teacher to use to write the price of their good
on the card. Students are to randomly draw one coin bag from the non-translucent
bag. As the students take their coin bags, tell them, This is your money. You can
choose to save it or spend it. Students will also collect one reflection paper.
! Call students attention to the chapati card and the sambusa card. Read them
the descriptions in the back of the book explaining what these words mean.
! When students return to their seat, have them complete the Pre-Market
sentences on the reflection paper.
! Then they are to use the dry erase marker to write the price of each good on the
respective cards.
! Once they have written the price, the students are to put the cards in front of them
facing away from them, signifying that their goods are available for purchase.
- Marketplace (10 minutes)
! Table-mates may buy and sell their goods with their money.
! You need to circulate the room and drop-in on marketplaces to offer guidance
and help if asked.
Closure (10 minutes)
- Have students count the coins they have post-marketplace and complete the After-
Market sentences.
- Circulate the room to make yourself available if students need help.
- Students are to turn in their reflection papers to the teacher.
Clean-up (if required)
- If there is time, the students are to put all of their coins back into the snack-size
Ziplock bags, put the coin bags into the non-translucent bag they drew them from, put
the goods cards back into the non-translucent bag they drew them from, and put the
dry erase markers away.
- If there is not enough time, students are to leave the supplies on their table and I can
quickly put away the supplies once while students pack up and leave to go home.
H. DIFFERENTIATION
One student in the class tends to quickly become distracted and engaged in other tasks.
This student also has a tendency to be disruptive and unkind to their peers. To best accommodate
this students learning prior to the market activity, if I can foresee this student coming disengaged
during the carpet time and read-aloud, I will discretely give this student busy objects like a stress
ball, and/or a crumpled up piece of paper that they will have to make flat again, to keep their
hands busy but their mind engaged. I will call this students table last to collect supplies and
begin working on completing the Pre-Market reflection questions. I will also follow these
students to their table and intentionally position myself alongside this student so that I can
immediately ensure this student is engaged in the activity. I will also check on this student
periodically throughout the lesson and utilize positive reinforcement to impact their behavior.
To support the learning of students struggling with the assignment objectives, I will
encourage students to seek guidance and help from their table-mates first. If they are still
struggling, I will go to them and talk through what they are struggling with. I will be sure to
refrain from giving them excessive commands and lecturing at them. Instead, I will guide their
thinking through questions and hypothetical situations. I will also encourage students to use their
resources if they have difficulty recalling information like coin names and values or the
meanings of the new words from the read-aloud.
For students who complete the assignment earlier than expected, I will ask them to
answer the following question on the back: Saving your money is a great skill to begin
practicing. But first you need to make money. What are some real ways you can make money
now? What do you want to save your money for? I could also have students illustrate their
responses.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT
IT?
If students are struggling to count and complete the computations with the fake American
coins, I will alter the directions and have students record the number of pennies, nickels,
dimes, and quarters they have. Then, on their goods, I will have students write how many
pennies, nickels, dimes, and/or quarters are required for their goods to be purchased. If a
student who wants to buy a good doesnt have the coin they need, we can talk about how
much the needed coin is, and how many other coins could make up for the needed coin.
If many students are choosing to save their money, rather than spend it, as a class we
could talk about in order to save money, you must make money. They can brainstorm
ways to better sell their goods to their table-mates, and put those renewed marketing
practices into practice.
If a disagreement between students arise, I will request that they verbally communicate to
one another what made them upset, what they would like the other person to do, and
come to an agreement.
If too many of the dry erase markers are dried up and inefficient, I will give students
sticky notes to write on and apply to their goods cards.
I will keep a close watch on the time, and if I anticipate any parts of my lesson to begin
using too much time, I will cut some parts out such as the following:
- During What is a coin?, I could ask fewer students to contribute in describing what
a coin is.
- During the recitation of the information about American coins, I could eliminate the
requirement that students must say who is on each coin.
- During the read-aloud, do not ask the questions for page 12, 16, 22, eliminate the
question about counting sticks on page 24, or 28.
Lesson
Objectives !
Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5 Notes
(Additional
Info)
Students "
The students
will verbally
recall coin
names and
their
respective
values.
The students
will write
down
chapati,
sambusa,
and shilling
on their
reflection
papers and
write their
own
definitions of
these words.
The students
will assign
their two
goods prices,
and through
this assess
whether these
amounts will
enable them
to make more
money.
The students
will choose
whether to
give other
students
money in
return for a
good, or to
save their
money.
The students
will add to
and subtract
coins when
engaging in
monetary
transactions
with one
another for
the purchase
and sale of
goods.
Supplemental
information
about student
behavior,
student
interest(s), or
student
comment(s).
1. Ali
2. Avi
3. Ayden
4. Brandon
5. Cassius
6. Cheyenne
7. Chloe
8. Christopher
9. Dulce
10. Gabe
11. Iris
12. Kaden
13. Kayla
14. Kelston
15. Parker
16. Zane
Lesson Implementation Reflection
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes
and explain why you made them.
Thankfully, as prompted, I had prepared specific ways to improve my reaction to
undesirable events. One huge problem that I quickly picked up on was that I was running out of
time for the What is a coin? part of my lesson and for the read-aloud. To improve my awareness
of time in a more discrete fashion, the night before my lesson I accessed my Google Docs
Calendar and scheduled the events of my lesson. During my lesson, I had my phone on vibrate in
my pocket and during those scheduled events, Google Docs texted my phone, silently letting me
know through quick vibrations that it was time for the next part of my lesson. During the What
is a coin? part of the lesson, I had recorded the answers of six students. I wanted to generate a
list that was not too sparse, however, to compensate for the excess time this required, I requested
that students recite the American coin names and their respective values-eliminating the
requirement that they recite the names of the person on the coins. During the read-aloud, I
refrained from asking students the question on page twelve; on page sixteen, I asked two students
to quickly respond; I made comments instead of asking the questions on pages twenty-two, and
twenty-four; and on page thirty-one, I asked the students, How many coins do you think it
might take for Saruni to buy a cart?
During the market activity, the students experienced great frustration in adding the
different coin amounts to obtain a total amount. Again, following the just-in-case plans in
section I of my lesson, I had students write the prices of their goods in the format of how many
pennies, nickels, dimes, and/or quarters these items cost. The same format was used in the
completion of their reflection papers. To make a connection between comparing coin amounts
(that five nickels make a quarter), I tried to explain it to the class using the projector, but students
could not seem to understand regardless of how I communicated this concept. In response to this,
I made the comment, Well, thats okay. We can revisit this later. For now, continue buying
goods with the number of coins the price requires.
II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on
student learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can
you offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on students performance as it pertains to each objective, the impact of my lesson
on their learning was that I reinforced the values of American coins. Most students needed
constant reminders as to the name and the value of the nickel and dime. All of the students
experienced difficulty in adding and subtracting different coins. The students were able to
categorize like coins and add and subtract in this way (such as four pennies or five quarters, and
recognize that they started out with three pennies, two nickels, two dimes, and one quarter and
ended with one penny, two nickels, no dimes, and no quarters).
I may have provided the wrong impression of saving money during the market activity, as
only two students chose to save their money. The rest of the students were eager to purchase as
many goods as they could, turning it into a competition of who had the most and the best goods.
When asked why they chose not to save their money, a student responded, Because its no fun. I
want to play with stuff [referring to the goods]. In response to this, I asked the students who
chose to refrain from spending money to explain the reason behind their choices. One student
remarked, If I spend my money and sell my goods, I dont have a lot of money. But if I sell my
goods and I dont spend my money, I have a lot of money. Even though this was not an option,
the other students explanation as to why they chose to save their money reflects that the student
is making a connection between the story and the market, as well as how saving money could be
beneficial. The student explained, I didnt have enough money to buy a cart like Saruni, so I
wanted to save my money. This explanation also serves as a great reflection of the students
interests in the culture, community, and location of Sarunis home.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice
in a better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
If I were to teach this lesson again, but design it to be more developmentally appropriate,
I would design a better way to make more developmentally appropriate connections between
value equivalency among different coins. When I tried to explain that five nickels are worth the
same amount as a quarter, students were very confused and were not able to apply this type of
comparison to the other coins. I would provide them with fewer coin selections such as only
pennies and nickels. I would have students practice making the conversion that five pennies are
worth the same as a nickel and vice versa. If I were the only teacher teaching these students
about money, I would begin with this practice, and gradually add dimes and quarters as students
become stronger in their knowledge of each coin. The market activity, each time, could be a great
way for students to learn more about different cultures in addition.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were
the classroom teacher?
In reviewing the assessment data I collected, if I were the teacher, I would work on
helping students to better understand coin amounts, coin conversions, adding and subtracting, the
value in saving, and Tanzania. As previously mentioned, my class and I would take a step back
from learning every coin conversion. I would have students spend time strengthening their
knowledge about one coin at a time, while making connections to the coin they most recently
became experts on. Strengthening their abilities in adding and subtracting would be implemented
in this lesson through repeated opportunities to practice these computations. I would also like to
have a banker come into the class to talk about saving money with the students and practical
ways they can earn money.
As the students were thoroughly intrigued by the culture, community, and geography of
Sarunis home, Tanzania, I would further explore aspects of this country with the students. I
would try to have a guest speaker come in to genuinely expose students to aspects of Tanzanian
culture. We could further explore and research their currency system, their food, their calendar,
their holidays, etc. As a class, we can observe changes in Tanzania that occurred since the
1960s.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about young children as learners?
As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I have been reminded that young
childrens learning is a process. Although I had observed students level of knowledge as it
pertained to coins and addition, I had expected too much of the students. I learned that in
teaching, success comes from baby steps rather than great leaps and bounds. Something that was
reinforced through my experience in teaching this lesson is that when students do not
comprehend something, it is a reflection of a disconnect, misconception, or misunderstanding
that needs to be readdressed. Once you take a step back and spend an appropriate amount of time
investigating and exploring the uncertain, incredible growth occurs. It was amazing how quickly
students frustration disappeared once I altered the assignment from adding up different coin
values to categorizing them based on individual coins.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had
reinforced about teaching?
As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I have learned the importance of being
over-prepared and flexible. Had I not devised back-up plans for just-in-case events, students
learning could have been at a great disadvantage. Thanks to scheduling the text message
reminders, I was more attentive to the time, and as such used the time more efficiently. I was also
more prepared to handle students confusion on coin comparisons, addition, and subtraction.
When students were unable to comprehend coin comparison, initially, I had become frustrated
that I could not communicate this concept successfully. No matter how I rephrased my
explanation, the students did not understand. I had to pause, accept this, and decide to move on.
This was a reminder to myself that students learning is a process. I could not expect them to
think about coin comparisons if their understanding of coin values was incomplete. Once I
altered the way in which students created their prices and made monetary exchanges, students
learning and recognition of coin values was strengthened. I also needed to be flexible as it
pertained to time usage by eliminating aspects of my lesson that I had already planned. After my
lesson, I was very thankful for part I of the lesson plan-devising just-in-case reaction plans.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had
reinforced about yourself?
As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, my passion for educating students was
certainly reinforced. Although I had initially expected too much from the students, the joy I
experienced when they were making transactions and reflection comments was almost
overwhelming. I desired to see them through their learning about coins and monetary values.
When the students were curious about Tanzanian culture, community, and location, I desperately
desired to create and lead a lesson that brought Tanzania to them. The extension lesson ideas I
obtained from teaching this lesson made me excited to have my own future classroom where I
guide my students through enjoyable experiences in learning.