A Lesson Plan for The King’s Commissioners
Themes for lessons:
Different ways of grouping objects to expedite counting; demonstrating that you can have the same amount with various groups.
NCTM Standards
Pre-K–2 Expectations:
In prekindergarten through grade 2 all students should: count with understanding and recognize “how many” in sets of objects; use multiple models to develop initial understandings of place value and the base-ten number system; develop a sense of whole numbers and represent and use them in flexible ways, including relating, composing, and decomposing numbers; connect number words and numerals to the quantities they represent, using various physical models and representations.
Teacher Notes
This book demonstrates to the students that there are many ways to count and reinforces the digits and place value. Using chits as concrete models can help students represent numbers and develop flexibility in thinking about numbers, which is a hallmark of number sense. Also, because the King’s commissioners are a variety of people, the diversity among the commissioners can be a focus.
Lesson Plan
The Theme of this lesson is exploring different methods of grouping the same number of objects.
New words:
Grouping
You will need:
A copy of The King’s Commissioners; A chalkboard or tablet to track the numbers found by each royal advisor; paper and pencils for each child; chits representing 1, 2, 5, and 10 units.
Plan
Anticipatory Set and Objective:
Tell children you are going to read a story about counting and keeping track of a large number of people. Ask them to count to 20 by 2. by 5.
Input:
Read The King’s Commissioners. Share the pictures and talk about the numbers counted by each advisor. Stop after page six and ask the students to think about how they would count the commissioners, the king’s way (one by one) or the Royal Advisor’s way. First Royal Advisor counts in groups of twos, the Second Royal Advisor counts by fives and the capable little Princess counts by tens. Pause on page eight and ask the students how many commissioners the First Royal Advisor had counted; write the number on the board. Pause again at page 9 and ask the same question for the Second Royal Advisor; write it down. Continue this for all counts. On pages 14 and 15, point to the numbers the princess indicates, and explain again that there are different ways to group numbers when we count.
Modeling:
Using the chits to represent varied groups of commissioners, count them.
Guided practice: Pair the students together with a partner and write the numbers 22 and 35 on the board. Ask them group and count them four different ways (units, 2, 5, 10) and write the results on paper. Ask them to group the class in 2 different ways and count each group.
Check for Understanding:
Check the results of the practice.
Independent Practice:
Put several numbers on the board and have each child count and group them in any two different ways.