The Internet offers exciting possibilities for the classroom. Students can go

to a computer with an Internet connection and have access to a world of

information or browse away precious learning time.

"Offers the teacher a vehicle for Curriculum Integration, Cooperative

learning, Multicultural Experience, and Technology Application.

Lesson Topic/Title: Currency Exchange

Author Darci Larson with resources from AdventureOnline.com.

Introduction: This activity is for children who already know the value of the dollar into the hundreds with a logical sense for how much a particular amount of money is.

Content Area(s) and Grade Level: Most content areas for 2^nd or 3^rd Graders, this one being particular to math.

Integrated disciplines - Relates also to Geography and culturre.

Objectives: To let the children wexperiment with the vcsarious types of monetary values that we have in different countries and cultures. Mainly just to get a feel for what knid of comparioson there is to value.

And follow intsrucitons given for each activity. There are many resources for integrating into the curriculum.

Springboard: For the springboard, I would talk to the students about the price of variuos opbjects to get an understanding of their comprehension of the value of money

What teacher is to do

What students are to do

Special Thanks to:Merryellen Towey Schulz, Ph.D. College of Saint Mary

Lesson Topic/Title: Polygon Monster (Nogylop)

Author:Darci Larson with a resource from Tryna Morton ,Third Grade Teacher,Murphy Ranch Elementary School ,Whittier, California

Introduction: Polygon monsters are a creative way for classes to commubicate over the internet and find good uses of adjrectives

Content Area(s) and Grade Level: 2^nd Grade Math and English

Objectives The three objectives are for classes to communicate over the internet and find good uses for adjectives while they practice their polygonal shapes.

Students participate in a fun, exciting, and interactive hands-on learning experience.

GRADES K-4 STANDARD 9: GEOMETRY AND SPATIAL SENSE

In grades K-4, the mathematics curriculum should include two- and three-dimensional geometry so that students can--

describe, model, draw, and classify shapes;

investigate and predict the results of combining, subdividing, and changing shapes;

develop spatial sense; relate geometric ideas to number and measurement ideas;

recognize and appreciate geometry in their world.

Geometry is an important component of the K-4 mathematics curriculum because geometric knowledge, relationships, and insights are useful in everyday situations and are connected to other mathematical topics and school subjects. Geometry helps us represent and describe in an orderly manner the world in which we live. Children are naturally interested in geometry and find it intriguing and motivating; their spatial capabilities frequently exceed their numerical skills, and tapping these strengths can foster an interest in mathematics and improve number understandings and skills.

Spatial understandings are necessary for interpreting, understanding, and appreciating our inherently geometric world. Insights and intuitions about two- and three-dimensional shapes and their characteristics, the interrelationships of shapes, and the effects of changes to shapes are important aspects of spatial sense. Children who develop a strong sense of spatial relationships and who master the concepts and language of geometry are better prepared to learn number and measurement ideas, as well as other advanced mathematical topics.

In learning geometry, children need to investigate, experiment, and explore with everyday objects and other physical materials.Exercises that ask children to visualize, draw, and compare shapes in various positions will help develop their spatial sense. Although a facility with the language of geometry is important, it should not be the focus of the geometry program but rather should grow naturally from exploration and experience. Explorations can range from simple activities to challenging problem-solving situations that develop useful mathematical thinking skills.

Evidence suggests that the development of geometric ideas progresses through a hierarchy of levels. Students first learn to recognize whole shapes and then to analyze the relevant properties of a shape. Later they can see relationships between shapes and make simple deductions. Curriculum development and instruction must consider this hierarchy because although learning can occur at several levels simultaneously, the learning of more complex concepts and strategies requires a firm foundation of basic skills.

Springboard: Have students try to visually picture this monster and draw it.

What teacher is to do:

Provides the teacher with an easy to manage hands-on project which supports the curriculum and meets the needs of high,medium and low ability students.

Provides the teacher with teaching resources and tools such as a lesson plan

database, a planning time line, an electronic bulletin board, and simple

access to real time chat for communication.

Provides the teacher with opportunities for curriculum integration for the meeting of grade specific curriculum outcomes. Students develop computer skills such as word processing, image digitizing, and e-mail.

What students are to do:

Students learn and experience the Writing Process in a real-life outcome based

project where students take ownership of a creative design and description that

becomes published for a world wide audience.

Students are empowered with an experience that fosters Reading

Comprehension.

A student draws an original monster and then communicates that drawing into words using the writing process and the writing skills taught by the teacher.

The student from a cooperating school (many times another country) receives the description and uses reading comprehension skills to try to redraw the original

monster. The real trick is that the redrawn is done only from

Special thanks to: Merryellen Towey Schulz, Ph.D., College of Saint Mary- Spring, 2000

Title: How to Spend a Million Dollars

Author: Darci Larson with a resource from Technology Across the Curriculum

Content Area(s) and Grade Level: Mathematics 3^rd Grade

Objectives: Students use spreadsheet software to calculate how to spend exactly one million dollars.Students are given eight items to buy in any quantities desired. The objective is to spend exactly one million dollars, or as close to one million dollars as possible without going over. Those coming closest to one million dollars are the winners. The purpose is to see the power of recalculation using spreadsheet software.

In grades K-4, the curriculum should include estimation so students can--

explore estimation strategies;

recognize when an estimate is appropriate;

determine the reasonableness of results;

apply estimation in working with quantities, measurement, computation, and problem

solving.

Estimation presents students with another dimension of mathematics; terms such as about, near, closer to, between, and a little less than illustrate that mathematics involves more than exactness. Estimation interacts with number sense and spatial sense to help children develop insights into concepts and procedures, flexibility in working with numbers and measurements, and an awareness of reasonable results. Estimation skills and understanding enhance the abilities of children to deal with everyday quantitative situations.

From children's earliest experiences with mathematics, estimation needs to be an ongoing part of their study of numbers, computation, and measurement. It is important that children learn a variety of methods of estimating, such as the front-end strategy for computation and the chunking procedure for measurement. They also need to develop reasoning, judgment, and decision-making skills in using estimation.

Instruction should emphasize the development of an estimation mind-set. Children should come to know what is meant by an estimate, when it is appropriate to estimate, and how close an estimate is required in a given situation. If children are encouraged to estimate, they will accept estimation as a legitimate part of mathematics.

Integrated disciplines: Math, Estimating, Cooperation with one another, technology

Springboard : Grab their attention by letting them go off on a tangent about what they would all buy if they had a million dollars. Anything on the list?

What teacher is to do: Procedures

Lesson Topic/Title

Author

Introduction:

Content Area(s) and Grade Level

In grades K-4, the mathematics curriculum should include the study of patterns and relationships so that student can--

recognize, describe, extend, and create a wide variety of patterns;

represent and describe mathematical relationships; explore the use of variables and open sentences to express relationships.

Patterns are everywhere. Children who are encouraged to look for patterns and to express them mathematically begin to understand how mathematics applies to the world in which they live. Identifying and working with a wide variety of patterns help children to develop the ability to classify and organize information. Relating patterns in numbers, geometry, and measurement helps them understand connections among mathematical topics. Such connections foster the kind of mathematical thinking that serves as a foundation for the more abstract ideas studied in later grades.

From the earliest grades, the curriculum should give students opportunities to focus on regularities in events, shapes, designs, and sets of numbers. Children should begin to see that regularity is the essence of mathematics. The idea of a functional relationship can be intuitively developed through observations of regularity and work with generalizable patterns.

Integrated disciplines

Objectives

Materials/Technologies

Springboard

What teacher is to do

What students are to do

Closure

Assessment

Explanation

Merryellen Towey Schulz, Ph.D. College of Saint Mary Spring, 2000

Introduction:

Content Area(s) and Grade Level: Grade 3

In grades K-4, the mathematics curriculum should include measurement so that students can-

understand the attributes of length, capacity, weight, mass, area, volume, time, temperature, and angle;

develop the process of measuring and concepts related to units of measurement;

make and use estimates of measurement;

make and use measurements in problem and everyday situations.

Focus

Measurement is of central importance to the curriculum because of its power to help children see that mathematics is useful in everyday life and to help them develop many mathematical concepts and skills. Measuring is a natural context in which to introduce the need for learning about fractions and decimals, and it encourages children to be actively involved in solving and discussing problems.

Instruction at the K-4 level emphasizes the importance of establishing a firm foundation in the basic underlying concepts and skills of measurement. Children need to understand the attribute to be measured as well as what it means to measure. Before they are capable of such understanding, they must first experience a variety of activities that focus on comparing objects directly, covering them with various units, and counting the units. Premature use of instruments or formulas leaves children without the understanding necessary for solving measurement problems.

Estimation should be emphasized because it helps children understand the attributes and the process of measuring as well as gain an awareness of the sizes of units. Everyday situations in which only an estimate is required should be included. Since measurements are not exact, children should realize that it is often appropriate, for example, to report a measurement as between eight and nine centimeters or about three hours.

Integrated disciplines: reading comprehension and math

Objectives: Students will get accurate measurements of objects lidted below and create a graph using this information.

1.Survey favorite sports.

2.Measure the area covered by each student's hand.

3.Compare hopping and walking time for a given distance.

4.Measure the length of each student's foot.

Explanation

Merryellen Towey Schulz, Ph.D. College of Saint Mary Spring, 2000

Lesson Topic/Title: Adding and Subtracting Polynomials

GRADES K-4 STANDARD 7: CONCEPTS OF WHOLE NUMBER OPERATIONS

In grades K-4, the mathematics curriculum should include concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers so that students can--

*develop meaning for the operations by modeling and discussing a rich variety of

problem situations;

*relate the mathematical language and symbolism of operations to problem situations

and informal language;

*recognize that a wide variety of problem structures can be represented by a single

operation;

*develop operation sense.

Focus

Understanding the fundamental operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is central to knowing mathematics. One essential component of what it means to understand an operation is recognizing conditions in real-world situations that indicate that the operation would be useful in those situations. Other components include building an awareness of models and the properties of an operation, seeing relationships among operations, and acquiring insight into the effects of an operation on a pair of numbers. These four components are aspects of operation sense. Children with good operation sense are able to apply operations meaningfully and with flexibility. Operation sense interacts with number sense and enables students to make thoughtful decisions about the reasonableness of results. Furthermore, operation sense provides a framework for the conceptual development of mental and written computational procedures. Instruction on the meaning of operations focuses on concepts and relationships rather than on computation, which is the focus of Standard 8. Children need extensive informal experience with problem situations and language prior to explicit instruction and symbolic work with the operations. Thus, informal experiences with all four operations should begin in kindergarten and continue through grade 4. Instruction should help children connect their intuitions and informal language to operations, including the mathematical language and symbols of each operation. Children should encounter the four basic operations in a wide variety of problem structures. For example, in addition to problems with joining and separating structures, teachers should provide problems involving comparing and equalizing. Time devoted to conceptual development provides meaning and context to subsequent work on computational skills.

Additional resources available at:

http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/dubois/fourthgrade/index.html

www.ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Ed_Tech/EDT0008.html

All Standards listed were found through:

1989 Curriculum and Evaluation Standards For School Mathematics

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics