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Chrysanthemum is My Name
Belinda Thomas
Kindergarten
Blackwell Elementary School
County Schools
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Task
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Overview
In this task, the students will compare the length of their names with the length of their classmate’s names using cube towers. They will share and discuss the differences and similarities in the lengths using math vocabulary such as longer, shorter, more and less.
Illustrative Task
Begin by brainstorming a list of long words, choose 2-3 words to write on the board. Lead a discussion on the length of the words, student names and how they compare. The teacher may read a book such as Chrysanthemum and discuss the length of her name in the story as a hook for the student’s interest.
- Think of the longest word you know.
- Look where it is written on the board.
- Let’s count the number of letters in that word.
- Is this word longer or shorter than your name?
- How long is your name? Print your first name on an index card.
- Make a tower with the connecting cubes to represent the number of letters in your name.
- Tell about your group’s towers.
The teacher may show the students his/her name printed on an index card and build a tower corresponding to his/her name as an example.
Show students the recording sheet and explain how they are to record the names of students in their group whose names are shorter, longer, or the same length as their own. Put students into groups of 5 for this task. After finishing the recording sheet, have students draw, tell or write about their group’s letter towers.
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GPS Addressed
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MKM1. Students will group objects according to common properties such as longer/shorter, more/less, taller shorter, and heavier/lighter.
a. Compare and order objects on the basis of length.
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Video Information
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Use these questions to guide your thinking about some of the important teacher ideas in the lesson featured in the video clip.
- What kinds of questions does the teacher ask to promote students’ problem solving?
- How is the teacher gauging students’ current understandings and building from those understandings?
- Consider the GPS standards listed with this video.
- What makes this lesson different from lessons you have taught on this topic?
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