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©1998 University Child Development School and Bonnie Campbell Hill. No part of the Continuum may be reproduced or used without written permission of University Child Development School. Continuum adapted by University Child Development School with permission from Bonnie Campbell Hill.
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Story: Students are working to help a read aloud character figure out how many trees can be planted in each of the six plots of land they have in a local park. This vitamin is worded in a way that directs students to begin using division to solve the task. In the video you see how children rely on the manipulatives to build and explain their thinking as well as using their drawings and conversations with peers and teachers. While the math vitamin story is the same for all the students, teachers differentiate the task by giving each child a different number of trees to plant that is based on their current level of numeric understanding. The first student shown is working with the teacher to learn how to “divvy” items up into six categories. The following student works with a teacher and 24 Unifix cubes. She demonstrates an understanding of the division concept and is beginning to explore how to write an equation that represents what she has built. The final student shown in the video is working to divide 140 trees and exploring the concept of remainders. He is also using base ten blocks for his work to illustrate his thinking.
Suggested manipulatives: Start new concepts with a manipulative that can be broken into single units. unifix cubes, multilinks or centimeter cubes are ideal. As student understanding for the concept develops and they begin to work with larger numbers, move to base ten blocks as these let you group by tens as well as use the units for the remainders.
Prep time: Adapting the vitamin wording to fit your specific story, putting manipulatives out in the room, creating the data sheets and copying the vitamin documentation forms will take about 15-20 minutes. Set up is always more fun and shorter on time if you do this activity with a colleague.
Classroom time: Asking children to “do their best work” for each Math Vitamin assumes that some children will need a longer time than others. Ideally you want to offer a block of time for Math Vitamin projects and have another task available (writing, free exploration etc.) for those students who finish work prior to their peers. For this project allow 20-45 minutes for students to work through all the steps.
How to individualize/stretch: When learning to divide, students first learn how to “divvy” (putting one block at a time in each area). As they grow, they will be able to start to work with groups of numbers.
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Story:
Suggested manipulatives: When students learn a new concept, they typically require a manipulative that can be broken into units of one. So, unifix cubes, multilinks , nuts, seeds, counting bears or any item that clearly represents single units is ideal for exploring counting and division.
Prep time: Adapting the Math Vitamin wording to fit your specific story, putting the manipulative out in the room, creating the map and copying the student documentation forms will take about 15-20 minutes. Set up is always more fun and shorter on time if you do this activity with a colleague.
Classroom time: Asking children to do their best work for each Math Vitamin assumes that some children will need a longer time than others. Ideally you want to offer a block of time for Math Vitamin projects and have another task available (writing, free exploration etc.) for those students who finish work prior to their peers. For this project allow 20-45 minutes for students to work through all the steps.
How to individualize/stretch: Counting and building groups of like items is related to division. Students beginning to explore this concept typically start by using the divvy method: one seed to this pile, one seed to this other pile etc. Students who have gained more understanding of grouping and dividing will start to make estimates of how many seeds will be in each pile and then use the manipulative to check their thinking. A further stretch for those students could be increasing the complexity of the manipulative they are using, like one requiring a greater level of abstraction like pattern blocks or Cuisenaire rods.Cuisenaire rods.
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Story: The loggers have cut a section of forest and have a pile of logs ready to be taken to the mill. These logs will be used for building new schools & homes
and even turned into paper! There are 4 trucks on this job site. The truck drivers will be paid per log, so the logs need to be divided evenly
among the trucks to ensure equal pay.
See your teacher to discover how many logs you have in your wood pile.
Divide them equally among the 4 trucks and find how many fit on each.
Suggested manipulatives: Unifix cubes, multilinks and centimeter cubes. In this video, students are using wooden pegs because the shape resembles the logs in the Math Vitamin story.
Prep time: 5 minutes to gather the materials and generate a few number scenarios for the different student levels.
Classroom time: Asking children to “do their best work” for each Math Vitamin assumes that some children will need a longer time than others. Ideally you want to offer a block of time for Math Vitamin projects and have another task available (writing, free exploration etc.) for those students who finish work prior to their peers. For this project allow 20-45 minutes for students to work through all the steps.
How to individualize/stretch: For those just beginning to explore division, give them a lower number of items to begin (four logs for two trucks), and for others who are ready, make their tasks more complex by changing the number of trucks and logs (forty-nine logs for three trucks, etc.). Make sure to have some scenarios that require a remainder (logs left behind)! There are two types of division questions: cutting and packing. This log Math Vitamin is a cutting example; students take an entire amount and cut it into smaller pieces. The second attached video for this benchmark illustrates a packing task; students find how much of something fits into a particular space. Learning to recognize both scenarios helps students understand the operation of division better.
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Story:Like Leon has noticed in the forest where he logged, there weren't enough trees replanted to ensure proper forest health. Today we will be planting on the north side of the mountain, which has larger plots. Each of these plots can fit 7 saplings today. See your teacher to find out how many saplings you are planting. How many plots will you fill?
Suggested manipulatives: Unifix cubes, multilinks, centimeter cubes and Cuisenaire rods.
Prep time: 5 minutes to gather the materials and generate a few number scenarios for the different student levels.
Classroom time: Asking children to do their best work for each Math Vitamin assumes that some children will need a longer time than others. Ideally you want to offer a block of time for Math Vitamin projects and have another task available (writing, free exploration etc.) for those students who finish work prior to their peers. For this project allow 20-45 minutes for students to work through all the steps.
How to individualize/stretch: For those just beginning to explore division, give them a lower number of items per plot (9 trees, how many plots of 3 will you have?), and for those with more division experience, provide larger sized plots, more trees and scenarios with remainders. For additional complexity, ask them to solve the task using Cuisenaire rods, as they require more complex thinking (this manipulative has a high level of abstraction). There are two types of division questions: cutting and packing. This tree plot vitamin is an example of the packing approach; students ask how many of one thing will fit into the other (how many plots of seven we will have with our 49 trees). The first attached video for this benchmark illustrates a cutting task; students take an entire amount and cut it into smaller pieces. Learning to recognize both scenarios helps students understand the overall operation of division better.
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Wow! All of Mr. Green Grasshopper's friends are hopping in to be at his special fall leaf dinner banquet. Mr. Green Grasshopper loves to munch on dry crisp orange leaves. He has been saving a special pile to share with his friends.
Inspired by James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl; Puffin, 2011
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Wendy and Erick are harvesting asparagus and they need your help! They have 4 creates to pile their produce in. Check with a teacher to find out how many spears of asparagus you need to evenly divide into each of the four crates.
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What a great trip we had yesterday to Jubilee Farm! Farmer Ryan took us on a hayride through the fields and showed us the blooming strawberry patch. Next month, it will be full of delicious ripe fruit! Just as we helped pack the asparagus crop on Monday, let's evenly divide the strawberries into cartons.
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The loggers have cut a section of forest and have a pile of logs ready to be taken to the mill. These logs will be used for building new schools & homes and even turned into paper !
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Farmer Wendy went to the henhouse and found it full of eggs! She wanted to share the bounty with her neighbors, so she divided them into egg cartons to distribute.
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The folks at Oxbow Farm are excited to share the fall harvest with us when we visit on Thursday. In the spring, they planted a pumpkin
patch with seeds of different varieties. Over the summer, the plants grew vines, leaves and flowers and eventually, the fabulous
fruit we know as PUMPKINS sprouted, swelled and ripened. | Download Math Vitamin :
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The logging truck is backing into the loading zone, ready for another day's work. The loggers have moved deeper into the forest, and the road to get there has narrowed
to one treacherous lane. Only one truck is equipped to take on this challenge. This special truck holds eight logs. See a teacher to find out how many logs
are in your wood pile today. How many trips will this truck need to take to transport all of the logs?
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This afternoon we are going to see a play about Little Red Riding Hood. Did you know that one of the treats Red was bringing to her Grandma's was a pizza pie?
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That Cat needs help, boy-oh-boy, cleaning up toy after toy. Thing 1 and Thing 2 brought 4 boxes today, we must help them clean up before they can play.
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Still what a mess, what a mess!
Such a messy mess mess.
You helped out a lot,
but there's still more to do!
Today there are even more
for you!
Now look—you have ,
there's a problem you can fix!
Your teacher will tell you
how many each fits,
these toys are no match
for your Math Vitamin wits!
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The Boxcar children spread out to hunt for a literary treasure! They are so excited, that they pull all the books off the shelves in the Collectibles Section. Let's help them return the books to the shelves!
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Benny, Henry, Jessie and Violet are excited to enter some of the contests at the fair in order to raise money to buy the book The History
of Greenfield for Grandpa's birthday. Their first idea is to make a blueberry pie for the baking contest. | Download Math Vitamin :
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Our read aloud characters, Henry, Benny, Violet and Jessie have met two new buddies, Courtney and Michael. Courtney and Jessie are
working together to create some beaded bracelets for the craft contest at the fair. They plan to make 6 beautiful bracelets.
See a teacher to see how many total beads they have to ÷ divide evenly ÷ between the 6 silver wires. How many beads will be on each bracelet? Build, record and write an equation for your solution. Have fun!
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7 Kind brothers trick-or-treated on Brittle Blvd. At the first house, they received one square of brittle to share. Baby brother smashed the brittle on the bricks creating the seven pieces you see before you.