Description
What our Compare the Size of Products lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Compare the Size of Products teaches students how to compare the product of a multiplication problem without finding the solution to the problem. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to compare the size of a product based on comparing the two factors in a multiplication problem without finding an exact solution. This lesson is for students in 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the orange box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition to this lesson is to write round robin flash cards with various problems on them and have your students race to see who gets the correct answer to move on to the next opponent. To reinforce their understanding, you can also have students use flashcards to practice. Finally, you could create a scavenger hunt for your students to participate in to find all the fractions that would make a number less than, greater than, or equal to around the classroom.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
COMPARE THE SIZE OF PRODUCTS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Compare the Size of Products
The Compare the Size of Products lesson plan includes one page of content. Multiplication problems are made up of factors. For example, the problem 2 x 3 has the factors 2 and 3. The product, or answer, is 6. One of the factors can be a fraction, which changes the process that you need to use to solve!
If either fraction is equal to one, the product is equal to the other factor. This follows the identity property of multiplication: any number multiplies by one is equal to itself (even if the 1 is written as a fraction). For example, if you had the fraction 2/2, you can rewrite it as 1 and multiply. For example, you may have the problem 4 x 2/2 = 4 x 1 = 4. The lesson includes several examples where the fraction equals one.
If the fraction is greater than one and the other factor is a positive whole number, the product will be greater than the whole number. The lesson includes an example problem: 2 x 1 1/2 = 2 x 3/2 = 6/2 = 3. 3 > 2, so 1 1/1 > 2.
If the fraction is between zero and one and the other factor is a positive whole number, the product will be less than the whole number. The lesson includes an example: 6 x 1/3 = 6/3 = 2. 2 < 6, so 1/3 < 6.
Knowing these basic rules about multiplying and comparing products will help students know whether their answer is correct or not. They can do a quick check by determining if the answer should be equal to, greater than, or less than the other factor.
COMPARE THE SIZE OF PRODUCTS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Compare the Size of Products lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
DICE ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
The activity worksheet asks students to roll a die to fill in the blanks in different multiplication problems. They will then circle equal to, greater than, or less than for the product without solving the problem.
CIRCLE EXPRESSIONS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will circle the expressions that are greater than the original factor without calculating.
COMPARE THE SIZE OF PRODUCTS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment asks students to complete a few short exercises. First, they will write nine multiplication problems: three where the answer is greater than the original factor, three where the answer is less than the original factor, and three where the answer is equal to the original factor. Next, they will fill in the blank in a few sentences about the lesson material.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
