Activity Notes

Activity: __Animal Race1_____ Name: __________________# ____

Date: ____________
Common Core State Standards:
Domain:
Standard:

*NCTM Content Standard (with justification):

Number and Operations – Addition and subtraction with sums to twenty (20). In this activity, the
students need to find four (4) numbers that add up to 20. As they have a target of 20, some students
may use “think addition”, subtraction, the use of recalled facts, etc to reach the target number of
twenty.
*NCTM Process Standards (with justification) - Select two that most lend themselves to this task:

*Materials:
Counters – bingo chips, 1”-square tiles, Unifix cubes, pennies, etc.
Paper
Drawing tools – crayons, pencils, colored markers, etc

*Engagement:
How many of you have ever been in a race? When? What type of race? Who won? How many people
were in your race? Have you ever heard of a “heat” in a race?

After sharing the story The Tortoise and the Hare, the other critters want to race too. How many feet
would we have on the starting line if 4 people from our class raced? How did you figure that out?

*Exploration:
Animal Race: After seeing Tortoise and Hare finish their race, all the other critters wanted to compete
too. After a bit of discussion, the critters decided to have 4 heads and twenty feet on the starting line
ready to race.

1
With the person sitting next to you, find as many solutions (combinations of critters) for the different
heats of the race. Make a record of your thinking.

*Facilitating Questions:
1. How many heads are at the starting line?
2. How did you know ___ + ____ = ____?
3. How many more feet do you need on the starting line to make 20 altogether?
4. If you already have ______ feet, how many more do you need?
5. Can you think of an animal with zero legs?
6.
7.
*Evaluation/Authentic Assessment:
Each person/group will create a representation using picture, words and mathematical symbols to
record each heat. Each group will develop a variety of critter groupings (more than one way to show
the animals that could be at the starting line).
Each student will select his/her favorite “heat” and record on the “Convince Me” activity sheet.

*Expansions/ Extensions (Activity Variations):

Select a variety of other number of heads and feet starting line combos. For example, 5 heads and 18
feet; 5 heads and 23 feet. Are there combos that are impossible to create?

*Modifications for Diverse Learners:

Reduce the number of feet/heads.

*Diagrams/ Pictures/ Other