Curriculum Tie:

• 1st Grade
  Language Arts
  Standard 6
  Objective 1

Summary:
Students will learn the ordinal numbers while reading various children's stories.

Main Curriculum Tie:
Mathematics - 1st Grade
Standard 1 Objective 2
Identify simple relationships among whole numbers up to 100.

Materials:

• Music-appropriate for first grade
• Student chairs—one per student
• Five craft sticks

The Mitten by Jan Brett

• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Left mitten
• Right mitten
• Mitten Animals
• White 8 1⁄2 x 11 construction paper (2)
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Yarn

10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

• 10 Little Rubber Ducks
• Rubber Duck
• Paper cut outs of ducks or food shaped ducks

Additional Resources Books

• Six Dinner Sid, by Inga Moore; ISBN 0671796135
• The M&M’s Count to One Hundred Book, by Barbara Barbieri McGrath: ISBN 1570915709
• Nedobeck’s Numbers Book, by Don Nedobeck; ISBN 0824980158

Attachments

• right_mitten.pdf
  
• left_mitten.pdf
  
• mitten_animals.pdf
  
• rubber_duck.pdf
  

Web Sites

• Author Jan Brett's Home Page
  
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  
• Illuminations: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  
• Teachers.Net
  
• I Love That Teaching Idea
  
• A+ Math
  

Background For Teachers:

Before teaching this lesson, ordinal numbers should be introduced. This lesson should be taught no earlier then second quarter.

In the book, The Mitten, by Jan Brett, Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow, he continues without realizing that it is missing. One by one, woodland animals find the mitten and crawl in; first a curious mole, second a rabbit, third a badger and others, each one larger than the last. Finally, a tiny brown mouse follows in a big brown bear, and what happens next makes a wonderfully funny climax. As the story of the animals in the mitten unfolds, the reader can see Nicki in the borders of each page, walking through the woods unaware of what is going on. Students can begin learning the ordinal numbers by stating what animals come in what order throughout the story using the ordinal numbers.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.
6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written, and nonverbal form.

Instructional Procedures:
Invitation to Learn
This activity is called Musical Math. This large group game puts students in tune with ordinal numbers to the fifth place. Arrange 25 student chairs in five rows with five chairs in each row. Each row needs to have enough room for students to walk through. The chairs in each row may be placed so each student is facing the back of another student or they may be placed so students sit side by side. Play recorded music while students walk among the chairs. When the music stops, every child should quickly find a seat. Have students give the ordinal number that describes the position of their chair in the row where they are seated. Then restart the music. Continue play in this manner for as long as desired. For a fun finale, label five craft sticks with ordinal numbers through the fifth place. Stop the music and then randomly remove single sticks from the container. Announce each ordinal number and direct the students in the corresponding chairs to exit the game.

Instructional Procedures

The Mitten by Jan Brett

1. Read the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. As the story is read, point out the order in which the animals appear and the different sizes of the animals.
2. Once the story has been read, have students recall the animals in the story. List the animals on the board as the students recall them.
3. Once the animals are listed on the board, ask students what animal came first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth. Write the correct ordinal number next to each animal name.
4. Pass out a copy of the mittens and the animal page to each student. Have students begin to color and cut out their animals and mittens.
5. Have students punch the holes according to the pattern and weave the yarn through the holes to hold the mittens together.
6. When students have finished making their mitten, they can begin to write the correct ordinal number on the back of the animal and begin placing them inside their mitten.
7. For a fun finale, have a student reread the story to the class while the other students use their cut out animals and mitten to put the animals inside the mitten as they are reread in the story. Students are listening for ordinal numbers.

10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

1. Read the book 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle. While reading the book point out the ordinal words.
2. Once the book has been read, have students recall, using ordinal numbers, what happened in the story.
3. Review with students the position words which are talked about in the book: north, east, south, west, right, left, up, down, this way, and that way.
4. Give each student a page of paper ducks and have them cut out their ten ducks. Have students use the ducks to follow the directions given. For example, the first duck goes north, the fifth duck goes south, and the ninth duck goes to the left of the first duck.
5. Using the paper ducks, have students line them up on their desk. Have them identify different ordinal positions of the ducks as directed by the teacher.
6. As a creative writing extension, have students take a page and write a story about the possible adventures of the ducks.

Extensions:
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/ Integration

• Use the book, The Hat, by Jan Brett, to recreate this same activity using a hat and the animals in this story.
• Compare the two stories, The Mitten and The Hat.
• Have students make up their own creative writing story using a piece of winter clothing and their own animals. Have the students use the ordinal numbers in their story. Make sure the students use the ordinal numbers to at least the fifth place.
• Use any literature book and have kids retell what happened using ordinal numbers. A great story to use would be Patricia Polacco’s Thunder Cake.
• Ordinal numbers may be difficult for children acquiring English to pronounce because the “th” sound may not be in their original language; some may say “fours” instead of “fourths”, etc. Have them draw five objects in a row and print the corresponding ordinal numbers. Then have children look at your mouth as you distinctly say the numbers. Have each child practice reading the numbers aloud with a parent or sibling at home. Students could practice with a friend in class.
• Use transparency shapes, small triangle, big circle, little square, little circle, big triangle. Line them up in the order listed here and say to the class, “suppose I move the small circle to be first in line. In what place in line will the square be?” Continue with other questions.
• Instead of using white construction paper for the Mitten lesson, you can use felt. While students are coloring and cutting their animals, you can work with individuals to trace their mittens onto their felt, cut them out, and weave yarn through holes to hold the mittens together.
• To challenge students with the lesson, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, have students put the ducks in order by twos, fives, and tens to 100 while creating a pattern with all the colors.

Family Connections

• Students can go home and retell the story to their parents using the mitten and their cutout animals. Ask the students to teach their parents the ordinal numbers.
• Check out a copy of the book to one student a night. Ask the student to read the story or have their parents read the story to them and recreate the story with the animals and mittens made in class.

Assessment Plan:

• For the lesson The Mitten, check the back of each student’s animals to see that they have written the correct ordinal number for each animal.
• Visually watch while the story, The Mitten, is reread to see what order students are putting the animals in the mitten.
• For the lesson, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, use student journals to see if students are writing with details, good word choice, and sentence fluency. While students manipulate the paper ducks, observe to see that students understand position words, directions, and ordinal numbers.

Bibliography:
Research Basis

Stright, Anne Dopkins: Supplee, Lauren H. Children’s self-regulatory behaviors during teacher-directed, seatwork, and small-group instructional contexts. Journal of Educational Research, Mar/Apr 2002, Vol. 95 Issue 4, p235, 11p, 5 charts.

The authors examined differences between children’s self-regulatory behaviors in three instructional contexts; teacher directed, seat work, and small group. During teacher directed instruction, students were less likely to attend to instructions, monitor their work, and ask for help than during seat work or small-group instruction. This article states that a variety of teaching techniques is best suited for students.

Box, Jeanie A., and Little, David C. (2003). Cooperative small-group instruction combined with advanced organizers and their relationship to self-concept and social studies achievement of elementary school students. Journal of Instructional Psychology, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p285-287

Research has shown the use of small-group instruction in the classroom may positively affect students’ self-concept, as well as academic achievement. The researchers believe that teachers should consider the use of cooperative small groups with advance organizers as a method of improving self-concepts and academic achievement levels.

Author:
Utah LessonPlans

Created Date :
Jun 25 2006 14:02 PM