T4T Tell Me About... (Lesson 4 of 6)

Created Jan. 24, 2024 by DAWNE COKER

Download full lesson and materials:

Download: lesson4-questions-md4-cluster1.docx


Lesson Excerpt:

 

NC Mathematics Standards:

Represent and interpret data.

NC.1.MD.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories.

• Ask and answer questions about the total number of data points.

• Ask and answer questions about how many in each category.

• Ask and answer questions about how many more or less are in one category than in another.

 

Standards for Mathematical Practice:

1.      Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.  

4.  Model with mathematics.

6.  Attend to precision.

 

Student Outcomes:

●     I can create a question with 3 answer choices that I can ask my classmates.

●     I can organize and count data that I collect.

 

Math Language:

·         Data, organize, question, table, tally

                                                                                                      

Materials:

●     Tell me about… recording sheet

 

Advance Preparation:

●     Make copies of the Tell me about… recording sheet

 

 

Launch:

  1. Introduce the word question.

·         What is a question? Can you give me some examples of questions?

 

  1. Say to students that today we want to learn about the opinions of their classmates. For example, if I wanted to know which of 3 different pets they would prefer, I might ask

·         If you could have only 1 pet would, would you rather have a dog, a cat, or a fish? Ask students to think about their choice.

·         Then ask students to raise a hand if they would prefer a dog. Record that number with tallies on the chart. Repeat that process for cats and fish.

·         Questions to ask to summarize could include:

·         Which pet got the most votes? How do you know?

·         Which pet got the smallest number of votes? How do you know?

·         By doing this, what did we find out?

·         Why do you think I asked you to choose from three animals instead of asking what pet would you like to have?

Explore:

  1. Pair students up and have them talk and come up with their own question with 3 possible choices. If students are stuck you could suggest that they pick one of these topics and come up with their 3 choices:

·         Favorite breakfast food

·         Favorite dinner food

·         Favorite type of cookie

·         Favorite type of ice cream

·         Favorite sport

·         Favorite TV show

·         Favorite board game

 

Observation

Questions to Ask

Students have difficulty coming up with a question.

·         What would you like to know about your classmates?

·         If someone were going to ask you a question about yourself what would you want them to ask you?

Students have difficulty coming up 3 possible choices.

·         How can we come up with 3 choices that your classmates are likely to choose?

 

  1. Once students have told you their questions and 3 answer choices, they can complete part 1 of the Tell me about… activity sheet.

  2. Ask students:  How can we keep track of who has answered our question? Have students brainstorm possible ways to keep track. Remind students that they need to keep track of their data as well as who they have asked their question to.

  3. Students should then spend time asking each other their questions. You could have students do this by having them all move around the room asking each other. The goal is for students to collect data from at least 12 classmates if possible.

  4. As students collect data, observe them and ask questions to support them. Make sure students are keeping track of their data on the activity sheet. This provides teachers with a chance to informally assess their students, e.g. who interacts well with others in the class, who is keeping track of the data, who needs prompting to work independently, etc.

 

 

 

Discuss:

  1. Bring students together on the carpet (they need their activity sheets).

 

Sample Questions

Possible Responses or Talk Frames

·         What was something interesting you learned today about your classmates?

 

·         “An interesting fact that I learned was that my classmates ______.”

·         What does your data tell you about the class?

 

·         “I learned that my classmates’ favorite ___ is ___ and their least favorite ___ is ____.”

·         Did you have any trouble keeping track of who had answered your question? How did you keep track of your data?

 

·         “I had a hard time determining who I had asked until I started writing names down on my paper.”

·         “I wrote down names and their choice at the same time. That helped a lot.”

·         Why is it important when we collect information to be certain we ask the same person the question only once?

 

·         “If someone gets more votes than other people, our data won’t be right.”

·         “If we want to find out the class’s favorite and least favorite, everyone should only get one vote.”

·         Who would like to share your question and tell us about the results?

·         Responses will vary based on the question and data.

 

  1. Conclude the discussion by saying, Think about what we did today. Can you help me finish this sentence?  “Mathematicians are people who ____________.” 

Return to top