Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template

LESSON RATIONALE
Students will need to transition from counting individual square units to using their skills in
multiplication to find the area of a rectangle. Students need to understand and use formulas for
the rest of their mathematics career.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—
a. Students will find the area of a rectangle using the formula, [l x w].
B. Objective(s)—
a. Students will number the outer perimeter to find length and width of a rectangle.
b. Students will utilize the formula [l x w] rather than counting out square units.
[This lesson will transition students into being given numbers for length and
width rather than having them counting the square units.]
c. Students will demonstrate the ability to use the formula to find the area of a
rectangle [multiply length and width].
C. Standard(s):
a. 3.M.5: Find the area of a rectangle with whole-number side lengths by
modeling with unit squares, and show that the area is the same as would be
found by multiplying the side lengths. Identify and draw rectangles with the
same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different
perimeters.
II. Materials-
a. Time per lesson element – 8:00 am to 8:55 am
i. Anticipatory Set: 5-10 minutes
ii. Lesson Presentation: 5-10 minutes
iii. Transition Time: 2 minutes
iv. Station/workshop: 7-10 minutes each (approximately 35-minute block)
v. Closure: 3 minutes
b. Space:
i. During the anticipatory set and the lesson, students will be seated on the
carpet at the front of the room.
ii. During the stations following instruction, students will be at the floor table
with myself or at another table with the supervising teacher; one station
will include summative assessment; other stations will be independent
work [on iPads].
 c. Behavior:
i. Students will be expected to be attentive and participatory. They will be
informed that Mrs. Price will be making note of who to give/take away
dojo points.
ii. If students are disruptive, I will say “I’ll wait,” and wait until I have their
attention. If necessary, I will redirect and illicit their attention back to the
task at hand, using reminders of the supervising teacher’s reward-point
system if necessary.
iii. If students get off task, teachers will redirect as they are able from their
stations. I will set my students up at their station with me and walk around
briefly to ensure independent students are on task.
d. Materials:
i. Standard sized napkins for each student
ii. Poster board
iii. Post-it notes (two sizes)
1. Enough post-it notes (small, square) for station activity and
anticipatory set.
iv. Masking tape (or washi tape)
v. Worksheet 1 (for independent station)
1. http://www.commoncoresheets.com/Math/Area/Finding%20Area%
202/English/2.pdf
vi. Worksheet 2 (for station led by teacher)

III. Anticipatory Set

• I will pass out (or have a student pass out) a standard-sized napkin to each student. I
will also give each student five post-it notes.
“I have given you each a napkin. But napkins are boring. I was thinking we should pretend
it’s something else. Let’s pretend that these napkins are houses on Minecraft. Do any of
you play that game? [allow for answers briefly] Here’s the thing. I really want a wood
floor. In your own mind, not out loud, but just quietly to yourself, think of what kind of
floor you want. Do you want a wood floor like me? Or maybe you want a stone floor. I
have a question for you. How can I find out how many floor blocks we need to cover the
ground in my house? [allow for one or two answers] How about I give you some of the
floor blocks to help you figure it out? [I will pass out 5 post-it notes to each student.
These will be separated in advance.] Take 30 seconds and see if you can tell me how
many blocks would fit in our house. Would anyone like to share their answer? [allow
for discussion; I will praise good critical thinking/guesses and run with anyone who
figures out how I am intending for them to solve for area upon the completion of this
lesson.]
 IV. Purpose:
a. “We are going to learn how to find the area of a square or a rectangle WITHOUT
counting all the squares like we did last week. Instead, we will use multiplication.
This is so important because it makes finding the area so much faster and easier.”

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptation to Diverse Students—
a. For students who cannot read directions sufficiently for themselves, directions will
be reiterated orally.
b. Extra assistance will be offered to students with learning difficulties; J and M in
particular.
c. For students in the class with emotional/behavioral problems, the expectation of
completion of worksheets will be slightly reduced.

VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

 Lesson presentation will be centered around the poster board I have made. The poster
board is covered in post-it notes. The outer perimeter post-it notes are glued to the board,
while the post-its covering the inner area are removable. Following the lesson, students
will be instructed to leave their napkins and their post-it notes on their carpet spot (as we
will return to them later).
o Guided practice will take place during my station. Independent practice will also
occur within a station. I will model the activity; students will complete the
exercises with the teacher; the teacher and I check for understanding before
students work alone.
o I brought this board with me today to help me teach you this new way of finding
area. By raising your hand, can anyone tell me how you could find the area of this
poster board? Think of the things we did last week to find area. [call on students
and allow answers until the correct answer is shared] What if I did this…. [I will
remove the inner post-it notes from the board, leaving only the outer perimeter]
How will we find the area of the poster board now? Does anyone have any ideas?
[call on students, allow for a few answers] What if we used the post it notes that
are still on the board to figure it out? How could we do that? [call on students,
allow for answers] What if we think of the board as columns of post it notes all
squished together? [I will use a marker to draw in the units I removed from the
board—instead of wasting time putting the post-it notes back on] See how there
are rows and columns? Kind of like an array. [I will indicate each row/column I
am talking about] How about columns, how many rows are there? [call on, allow
answer] How many are in each row? How many are in each column? There are
10 groups of 6 OR 6 groups of 10. That means that we can use multiplication!
This means that to find the area, you can count how many post-its or units are on
this side, count how many are on this side, and then multiply those two numbers!
o Now, Mrs. Price will remind us of our stations. [students will be designated to
various stations for workshop time.]
o Students will split into stations, one of which is directed by me
 I will introduce students to an activity which bridges counting square units
and merely multiplying length and width.
  *See photo attached of sample
 I will have six rectangles taped either to the floor, table, or paper—each
different sizes. They will line post it notes along the length and the width,
count them, and multiply the numbers to find the area.
 Listen carefully to the directions, okay? Ready? What you are going to do
today, is find the area of each of these rectangles. To do that, you are
going to use these post-it notes to figure out how long this side is and how
long this side is. [I will indicate the length and width of one of the
rectangles.] What do you think we will do next? [I will allow answers.]
Yes, we are going to multiply the two numbers to find the area of the
rectangle. Why do we multiply the numbers? [I will allow for answers;
praising if the answer is correct. I will then reteach the concept of columns
and rows.]
 Student will work on each rectangle, I will check in and assist as
necessary.

VII. Check for understanding. How do you know students have learned? What
strategies will you implement if all students have not met lesson outcomes? Employ
one or more strategies to determine student learning.
 Guided practice and small time of reteach will take place during a small group station.
 I have been given permission to alter two of the regular stations; one is run by me and the
other is one of the independent stations.
 The planned tasks or assignment must relate directly to learning outcomes.
 During closure, I will ask for thumbs up/thumbs down response from students.

VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

a. Students will be gathered back to their carpet spots.
Now that we have worked together in our stations, can you show me on your napkin, with your
post-it notes, how to find area in the new way that we learned today? When you’re finished and
ready to explain what you did, raise your napkin up in the air! [allow students to manipulate
post-it notes and replenish post-it notes for those who lost them. Allow for answers.]

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

 Formative assessment:
o During instruction time, I will ask questions of the students that will prompt their
own explanation of what we are learning.
 How will you find the area of this rectangle (poster board)?
 What if there are no square units to count?
 How will you find the area if you only have square units on the sides?
 How do you know that you would multiply these numbers together?
o During my station time with students, we will scaffold the idea of using length
times width with a hand-on activity that will display the students’ understanding
of the formula and its connection to square units.
 Summative assessment:
o Students will complete [part of] a worksheet during an independent station. This
worksheet will assess their ability to accurately use the formula for area of a
rectangle.
o Students will be asked to return to the anticipatory set activity and explain their
newfound reasoning.
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS
Station activity

Poster board
Name ____________________________________

1. square units 4. square units

2. square units 5. square units

3. square units 6. square units