One Hundred Hungry Ants

Summary

Hear a fun story with a mathematical message. The storyline centers around ants getting into arrays to make it to a picnic faster. Practice multiplication facts with 1,2,4,5, and 10!

Materials

ONE HUNDRED HUNGRY ANTS by Elinor J. Pinze, illustrated by Bonnie Mackain

Student Prior Knowledge

Know how to use an array to help solve multiplication problems.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Know 5 different ways to build arrays to total 100.

Instructional Procedures

Read through the story and visualize how the ants arrange themselves into an array and then see what that looks like in a multiplication equation.

Strategies for Diverse Learners

Students can move the ants into the given number of arrays.

Extensions

Make a center out of it. Have 100 plastic ants and 5 laminated pages of the text with the 5 different arrays to practice: 1 x 100, 2 x 50, 4 x 25, 5 x 20, and 10 x 10.

Assessment Plan

If this unit was taught from Unit 1 & Unit 2 in Math Expressions, then when the 100th Day of School comes around sometime in February, you could give a little quiz of 5 ways to get to 100 with multiplication.

Bibliography

Children's book - ONE HUNDRED HUNGRY ANTS, by Elinor J. Pinze, illustrated by Bonnie Mackain. ILLUMINATIONS Resource for Teaching Math lesson called, All About Multiplication: Modeling Multiplication With Streets and Avenues, by Grace M. Burton.