Download LP6 Special Triangles

Saint Mary’s College of California
P.O. Box 4350, Moraga, CA 94575-4350
tel. 925.631.4700 fax 925.376.8379
www.stmarys-ca.edu/soe
LESSON PLAN #6
Learning Segment Focus or “Big Idea”: Special Triangles Lesson
Grade: 4th
Content Area: Math
Classroom organization: Whole Class and Independent Work
Time Allotted: 1 hour
Resources and materials:
Students Need:
The Important Thing Mini Book, pencil, protractor, math journals, student whiteboards
Teacher Needs:
The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
Content Standard(s):
Mathematical Practices
Look for and make use of structure.
4th Grade Geometry
- 4.G.1.2 2. Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or
perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles
as a category, and identify right triangles. (Two-dimensional shapes should include special
triangles, e.g., equilateral, isosceles, scalene, and special quadrilaterals, e.g., rhombus, square,
rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid.)
*Only the bolded parts will be taught in this lesson
Specific Academic Learning Objectives:
• What do you want students to learn in this lesson? Students will learn: about special triangles including right,
equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute and obtuse.
• What should students be able to do after the lesson? Students will be able to: recognize, draw and explain the
properties of special triangles.
Prerequisites:
• What skills, knowledge and prior experience do students need for this lesson? Students should know about right,
acute, and obtuse angles. They should be able to use a protractor to draw angles. They should know that a triangle is a
closed figure with 3 sides and 3 angles. Teacher should have read the important book to the class before teaching the
lesson.
• How will you determine whether students have these? Students should have learned these in previous lessons. The
lesson will begin with a review of what students already know about triangles, then will go into the special
triangles.
• How will you connect to students' interests, backgrounds, strengths and needs, including their
cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic differences? The book will engage students and they will be excited to use
the structure from the book in their own mini-book.
Key ELD Standard(s): NA
Academic language demands:
• What academic language is used in the lesson? (Vocabulary, language structure and conventions, genres,
symbols, etc.) Students will learn these terms related to triangles: right, equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute and
obtuse. They should also be familiar with right, acute, and obtuse angles.
• What are the language demands of the task? Please address receptive (listening, reading) and productive
(speaking, writing) skills. Students will need to listen and observe as I model how to draw the triangles and will
listen to directions for independent work. Students will draw and write about the different triangles.
Accommodations (to ensure all students have access to the curriculum):
•
How will you make the academic language accessible to all students? Students will have a visual representation
of each concept. They will have hands-on experience drawing each term.
• How will you address the specific needs of your English learners? The visual elements will help English learners.
Also the repetition of the same phrasing from the book will help. Students will see the teacher model what they need
to do before they do it themselves.
• How will you address the specific needs of your students with special needs? The visual elements will help
students with special needs. They will be able to work together and see the teacher model the work before they do it.
Assessment:
• What evidence of student learning will you collect? I will collect the mini books.
• How will you use this evidence? I will review student work to see which students may need more explanation and
re-teaching.
• What criteria will you use to interpret the evidence? I will determine whether students are able to draw and
explain the unique qualities of each triangle.
• How will the evidence affect your next steps in teaching? As students work, I will help students who do not know
what to write. The students who do not understand will get more practice in a small group.
Instructional Sequence:
Time
Set or introduction:
How will you begin the lesson? How will you engage and motivate learners, connect to prior experience,
activate prior knowledge and/or share learning outcomes?
Re-read the first three pages of ‘The Important Book’ by Margaret Wise Brown.
Developing Content/Body of Lesson: What instructional strategies and learning tasks will you use in the main
part of the lesson?
1. Guided Practice
o Start with the first mini book page. Students will fill in the sentence starter “the important thing
about a triangle is…” They will draw a few examples of triangles.
o Show one triangle at a time to the students. Ask them what properties they notice about the
triangles (side lengths, angles, etc). Record the information on the anchor chart.
 Right Triangle one angle is 90 degrees, two are acute
 Acute Triangle- all three angles are acute
 Obtuse Triangle- one angle is obtuse, two are acute
 Equilateral Triangle- all angles are equal (60 degrees)
 Explain that the sides of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees
 Isosceles Triangle- two angles are equal
 Scalene Triangle- all three angles are different
o Have students identify those triangles in a group of triangles.
o Then they will practice drawing each triangle on their whiteboard for practice.
2. Independent Practice
o Students will use the information on the anchor chart to fill in the rest of the pages: right,
equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute and obtuse triangles.
** Picture included
Checks for Understanding / On-going informal assessment:
How will you know what students are understanding? (questioning and observing throughout the lesson)
- While students work on independent practice, I will check their drawings and explanations.
Closure:
How will learners summarize or reflect on what they learned (for example, share work, share a strategy, share a
process, discuss what they learned, raise a new question)?
 Have students create sketches of a super triangle cartoon. Tell them to include their ‘super properties’ in
the speech bubble. Example: Hi I am Excellent Equilateral and I am super, because all of my sides are
equal!”
Extending the Lesson/Homework (optional): NA.
Reflection, Next Steps: Students should practice determining the angles within triangles and identifying
different types of triangles.