Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 30754
How Many Goldfish?
In this lesson, students will solve addition word problems using Goldfish crackers and number mats. Students will work in pairs sharing word problems
they create.
Subject(s): Mathematics
Grade Level(s): K
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, LCD
Projector, Overhead Projector
Instructional Time: 1 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: addition, sum, total, in all, altogether, adding to
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
GuidedPracticeNumberMatandStudentRecordingSheet.docx
SummativeAssessmentExitTicket.docx
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
The students will solve addition word problems within 10 using manipulatives.
The students will solve subtraction word problems within 10 using manipulatives.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students will need an understanding of one to one correspondence for numbers 0-10.
Students will need to know how to write the numbers 0-10.
Students will need to know how to count from 0-10.
Students should be familiar with the addition, subtraction and equal signs.
This lesson can be used as an initial introduction to the aligned standard or students can have prior knowledge working with story problems. This lesson lends itself
well as an introduction to these skills or an in-depth review.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
1. How can we figure out how many Goldfish we have in all?
2. Do we need to add or subtract to solve this problem?
3. How many more Goldfish do we need to add to figure out the answer to this story problem? How do you know?
4. How many Goldfish do we need to take away to figure out the answer to this story problem? How do you know?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
1. To engage students in the lesson ask them if they've ever eaten cheesy Goldfish crackers. Be sure to show the students what a Goldfish cracker is to help activate
their prior knowledge. (Safety note: Whenever you are using food products in the classroom be extremely sensitive to students food allergies and never use a food
in class that could cause a student to have an allergic reaction. If food allergies are present in your classroom replace the use of Goldfish crackers with an approved
food product or math manipulative such as counting bears or buttons.)
page 1 of 4 2. Ask students, "Would you have ever thought that Goldfish crackers could help you do math? Well today we are going to use Goldfish crackers to
help us solve addition and subtraction story problems!"
3. Pass out a handful of crackers to each student and allow them to enjoy them as a snack. Letting students eat a few before beginning the lesson will hopefully
discourage them from wanting to eat the Goldfish they'll actually be using for the lesson.
4. Tell the students, "Today we will practice adding and subtracting Goldfish. The next baggie of Goldfish I pass out to you are not for eating they are
for finding the answers to our story problems."
5. Ask, "What does the word add or adding mean?" Accept student responses and guide them to understand that to add means to compose two numbers to
create a larger number.
6. After discussing addition ask, "What does the word subtract mean?" Accept students responses and guide them to understand that to subtract means to take
away to create a smaller number.
7. Pass the prepared baggies of 20 Goldfish crackers and a paper towel or napkin (the napkin will serve as a "work mat") out to students.
8. The teacher can utilize a document camera (if available, if you do not have a document camera use the board to draw Goldfish to represent the story problems) to
display their own set of 20 Goldfish crackers and work the story problems out for all students to easily view.
9. Have students keep their Goldfish in their baggies until told to remove them when given a story problem.
10. The teacher may use the following story problems to work with students or create their own based on the individual needs of their class. The teacher should read
each story problem to the class. The teacher may need to work out the first couple of story problems to explicitly teach the students what they are supposed to be
doing for this portion of the lesson.
1. "3 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, 2 more swam up to the group. How many Goldfish are swimming all together?" For example,
the teacher would place 3 Goldfish on the document camera, ask students to do the same on their napkins and then ask how many more fish they need add to
the group of 3. The teacher should ask students if we will be adding or subtracting for this story problem. The teacher will then add the additional 2 Goldfish
and ask students to do the same and then ask how they can figure out how many Goldfish there are all together. Accept student responses, which could include
counting all 5 together or counting on from 3. Repeat this questioning for the remainder of the story problems you practice. The teacher should also take the
time to write out each equation for students to view. The teacher may choose if they wish for students to do this along with them.
2. "8 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, 3 Goldfish swam away. How many Goldfish are there in the group now?"
3. "5 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, 5 more swam up to the group. How many Goldfish are swimming all together?"
4. "1 Goldfish was swimming in the pond, 6 more swam up to swim with him. How many Goldfish are swimming all together?"
5. "4 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, 2 Goldfish swam away. How many Goldfish are there in the group now?"
6. "9 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, 3 Goldfish swam away. How many Goldfish are there in the group now?"
7. "6 Goldfish were swimming in a group in the pond, no more Goldfish came to swim with them. How many Goldfish are in the group?"
8. The teacher may choose to practice more story problems with their students, gauge this on observation of how well the students are completing this task, if it
seems easy you may want to continue on.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
1. For the next portion of the lesson students will need to work with a partner. The teacher may choose to place students into partnerships or allow students to
choose, this will depend on your particular group of students.
2. The teacher should model the activity for students before allowing them to begin.
3. Each student group will need: 2 counters per student, one student recording worksheet (attached) for each student or math journals, pencils, crayons, 1 number
mat (attached). If the teacher uses math journals with students you may use them instead of the attached student recording worksheet.
4. Procedures:
1. Students will work with their partner. The teacher should number the students 1 and 2.
2. Student 1 will drop counters on the number mat.
3. Student 1 will then tell what numbers the counters landed on. If one of the counters does not land on the number mat the student may drop it again until it
does land on a number.
4. Student 1 will tell student 2 a number story they create using the numbers the counters landed on. The teacher may choose to keep the theme of the Goldfish
from the activity above or allow students to be creative and think of their own objects. For example, if the counters landed on 5 and 2, then the student will tell
the numbers and then tell the story. There were 5 kids playing and; 2 went away. Both students will then illustrate and write the equation on their individual
student recording worksheet or in their math journals.
5. Students solve the story problem and check each others answers to make sure they are correct. Students should continue until worksheet is filled or the
teacher instructs that the activity is over.
6. Make sure to tell students if they are going to be adding or subtracting. You may wish for the students to practice 5 addition and 5 subtraction story problems.
5. While students are engaged in the activity the teacher should be circulating the room to observe students work to ensure they are on the right track. At this time the
teacher may work with any student groups that appear to be struggling with these skills. The teacher may ask the following questions to help guide students
thinking:
What number did this counter land on?
What object do you want to use for your story problem?
Can you draw that many objects and write the number?
How do you know you've drawn the right amount of objects? Let's count.
What should the next number be?
Can you draw that many objects next to your other group and write the number?
Let's count to make sure you've drawn the right amount.
What addition or subtraction story problem can you think of for these two numbers?
What do you think your answer is? Let's use the pictures you drew to help us.
See attached: Guided Practice Number Mat and Student Recording Sheet
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
1. Students will complete an exit ticket to demonstrate mastery of the aligned standards.
2. The teacher will ensure students understand the directions and may need to read the exit ticket story problem to students.
3. The teacher may also choose to administer the exit ticket individually by calling students over one at a time to complete the task.
4. Any students not demonstrating a firm understanding of these skills will need to be provided extra support by the teacher, this can also be done individually or in
page 2 of 4 small groups after the lesson.
5. The teacher will determine if manipulatives should be provided to assist the students with completing the exit ticket.
See attached: Summative Assessment Exit Ticket
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
1. As a whole group, revisit the concepts of this lesson.
2. Ask students to share what they've learned about addition and subtraction from using Goldfish to represent story problems. Accept student responses.
3. Ask students why they think knowing how to add and subtract is important. Accept students responses.
4. Ask students if they can think of times when they've seen someone in their family add or subtract to complete a real world task. (i.e. watching their parents cook,
grocery shopping, buying items and making change, etc.)
Summative Assessment
The teacher will use an exit ticket to gauge if students have reached the learning targets. (see attachment and Independent Practice section)
Formative Assessment
To ensure students possess the skills necessary to be successful in this lesson the teacher should do the following:
1. Students should demonstrate an understanding of writing the numbers 0-10. The teacher can have students complete this task in their math journals or a separate
sheet of paper. If some students struggle with this skill the teacher will know that these students will either need additional support during the lesson or more
practice writing numbers before beginning the lesson.
2. Students should demonstrate fluency with counting from 0-10. This can be assessed verbally by individually asking students to count out loud for the teacher.
3. Students should also demonstrate a fluency for counting groups of objects up to ten. The teacher can have students complete this individually by asking students to
count out groups of objects up to ten.
Feedback to Students
The teacher will monitor and give constructive feedback while students are engaged throughout the lesson.
The teacher should constantly be circulating the room while students are working individually and in their groups to ensure they are on the right track and
understanding these new skills.
Specific questioning for students is embedded throughout the lesson.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
ELL students may be paired with partners that have good communication skills.
Extended time may be given for special needs students during the Independent Practice portion of the lesson.
The teacher can use the Guided Practice activity for a small group setting to review the skills in this lesson.
Extensions:
The teacher can read the book Animals on Board by Stuart Murphy. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/animals-on-board-stuart-j-murphy/1100084738?
ean=9780060274436
Students will create illustrations for the word problems in the story and share them with the class.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, LCD Projector, Overhead Projector
Special Materials Needed:
paper
pencils
crayons
markers
Goldfish crackers
number mat (attached)
counters
student recording worksheet (attached) or math journal if using
exit ticket (one per student, there are 2 copies on the page)
Further Recommendations:
The teacher will need to have the number mats and worksheets copied ahead of time.
The number mats can be laminated for use year after year.
Separating the Goldfish crackers into individual baggies may help on time, each baggie should have 20.
Ensure your aware of any student allergies before using food in your class.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
This lesson supports the alignment of Mathematical Practice standards MAFS.K12.MP.1.1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, MAFS.K12.MP.2.1:Reason
abstractly and quantitatively, MAFS.K12.MP.4.1: Model with mathematics, and MAFS.K12.MP.5.1: Use appropriate tools strategically.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
page 3 of 4 Name of Author/Source: Anonymously Submitted
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
MAFS.K.OA.1.1:
MAFS.K.OA.1.2:
Description
Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out
situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.
Solve addition and subtraction word problems1, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to
represent the problem (1Students are not required to independently read the word problems.)
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