ME Unit Planning Template
Please use this template to guide your planning for your final ME unit.
Unit Topic:
Offer a brief description of the content for your unit of study
This unit is on solving word problems using the four operations. It starts
with solving simple, one step story problems involving the four operations,
then moves on to solving more complex, two step story problems
involving all four operations and then asks students to create equations
using a variable to represent the unknown number.
Caring Classroom Activities:
Here is where you list activities and materials you have incorporated into your
unit allowing students to feel they are involved in a Caring Classroom
Community. A one sentence description will suffice.
1. This unit involves story problems which automatically lend themselves
to incorporating students cultures and backgrounds.
2. Students are placed into small groups that work together multiple times
throughout the week. These small groups come up with a team name and
have a different captain as leader throughout the unit. By putting
students into small groups where they work together to create a
supportive environment, students feel apart of a collaborative effort
working towards a common goal.
3. I speak with parents and students who I feel will benefit from tutoring.
These students meet with me two times a week and we work specifically
on the skills that they need to develop to be successful.
4. Exemplary student work will be put up in certain areas of the room to
celebrate student progress towards goals. This work will be rotated out so
that every student has an opportunity to have their work showcased.
5. Students will work together to create anchor charts that are put up
around our room to help support their work and their progress.
Unit Challenge:
Copy and Paste (or add and attachment) of your post/pre assessment for this
unit of study. Make sure your assessment allows students to transfer their
learning to a new critical thinking/problem-solving situation. Make sure your
assessment is a skills/challenge match for your learners. Include your ABCD
format.
(At the end of this document)
Checking In Plans:
Include a description of how you incorporated transformative assessments
(no more than two), graphic organizers, self-assessment, and all scaffolding
efforts to allow your students to succeed on the post-assessment.
1. I have started doing twice a week morning tutoring before school. After
taking exit tickets, I will tell my students in particular who I think should
attend morning tutoring. Inevitably, others will ask if they can join as well.
This helps all students to be successful on the post-assessment.
2. During the stations mentioned above, I always work with one small
group, which allows me to see specifically where students are struggling
and where they might need extra help. I also end up having one or two
students who are especially struggling just stay at my station with me, so
not only are they getting extra support from me, they are also still getting
to work in the small, collaborative group.
3. On Wednesdays, we do what is called Computation Wednesday. Each
week, they take a computation quiz that assesses them on one of the four
operations we will be using. Students work together before starting these
quizzes on Wednesday to support those who need to catch up and to
practice the skills they will need to pass the next computation quiz.
Students have trackers that they get to color in as they pass each level
and hang on the wall when they pass one whole tracker.
4. On Mondays when doing the introduction to new material, students get
a graphic organizer, which is a sort of learning map, that we go through to
introduce and get a grasp on the new material. Students keep these in
their math folders.
5. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when we do stations, students have a
worksheet that they bring with them from station to station. I collect those
at the end of class to do a quick CFU and then return them with specific
feedback.
6. For station days, each station has differentiated material, so students
can choose the level at which they challenge themselves. This also helps
students to become self aware and self advocates in that they must
recognize what level they are at and what specifically they need to focus
on in order to make the most of their station time.
7. On Fridays we always take our AOLs. If I find that the majority of the
class got a 1 or 2 (out of 4) on that assessment, I will grade them and
return them that day for students to take home over the weekend and
study. We will then review the test and material on the following Monday
and retest on Tuesday. This obviously means that standards end up being
pushed back, but it is important that students understand one concept
before building onto it for the next concept.
Choice Plans:
Please attach your choice assignment here. This should match one of the
choice possibilities modeled in class (see our online session and notes from
classroom discussions)
After taking this quiz and once the students know where their strengths lie, I will have
them think with a partner about how that strength could support them in their math
work. One of the intelligences listed in this survey is obviously Math Smart, but I want
my students to realize that regardless of what their strength is, they could still apply it
to their math work in some way (specifically since this unit is based around math). For
example, if students are picture smart, they could use that strength to draw pictures to
help them visualize the difficult story problems, or if students are people or self smart,
they could try to put the story problems into a context that they would better
understand, whether it is thinking about others in that situation or themselves in that
situation. I will start by having students brainstorm in groups of people with similar
strengths as their own and then mix them up so that they are talking to and receiving
feedback from people with other strengths as well. We will then celebrate our strengths
and share out as a class why these strengths are a gift and how they will help us in all of
our school work.
Collaboration Plans:
Describe the outcome of the group work
Students work every Tuesday and Thursday in small groups when doing station work for
math. These stations tend to work out very well as not only do students get to
collaborate and work together to learn, they are also staying active and moving from
station to station, which keeps them engaged and awake. This group work is beneficial
because the students who are not understanding the material fully get extra
differentiated, focused support from their crewmates who do understand the material
and those who are mastering it get to further their understanding that much more by
explaining and teaching the material. Students had to learn how to teach one another
and work together instead of just giving each other the answer or working through it on
their own without collaborating.
Describe how you chose members for this group project
I grouped students based off of academic and behavioral needs. I would put students
who had mastered the material early on with students who were somewhat struggling.
This way students could have small group support from their peers who mastered and
understood the material. Also, students who had mastered the material felt like an
important, necessary part of the class by getting to help their crewmates and also
furthering their understanding in this way. Also, by splitting the class up into small
groups, I was able to split up students with more behavioral issues and concerns. By
putting them in groups that could help even out their behavioral issues and by giving
them the extra support that they need, behavioral issues were much less of a concern.
Include the set of norms for your group activity
Students practice daily how to work together to arrive at an answer instead of giving
one another the answers. This is modeled for them during the Do Now and explanation
of the Do Now. Students are also expected to work as a group and make sure that
everyone in their group understands how they arrived at the answer before moving on
to the next problem. Students are expected to stay on task and focused on the work,
and this is reported back to me by the messenger. Because of the sort of class culture
that has been created in the classroom, I feel that I can almost always count on
whoever is the messenger at that time to honestly report back on how they did. Also,
again because of the class culture, students are invested to use their time efficiently
and to get work done, even if Im not always there to be checking in on them. We play
music throughout station times to keep the mood light in the room and to keep attitudes
up, so students are generally cheery during station time, but they know to keep the
noise level low and to stay on task.
Describe the roles for each member of the group
There is always one team captain, who is in charge of reading the directions for each
station and making sure that everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing.
There is also a time keeper who makes sure that everyone stays on task and is using
their time efficiently. Finally, there is a messenger who reports back to me at the end of
each station rotation to give a quick report on how theyre group did. These jobs rotate
through group members through each station rotation so that everyone has a job at
least once throughout the station rotations.
Describe how you modeled the group work and how you appropriately paced
student work
We did a sort of gradual release for station work. It started with doing whole class work,
where I would model the lessons for the students as well as how to show someone how
to arrive at their own answers. From there, students would work with a partner at their
table to explain the work to one another and to learn how to help one another arrive at
their own answers and to learn from one another. From there, we moved on to small
table group work, where they would work on projects or assignments within their table
groups that they work with throughout the whole day and the people they were most
comfortable working with. From there, we finally moved on to working in station groups
and switching up who they worked with as well as working with different jobs. By
gradually releasing responsibility to them, students were set up for success to work in a
collaborative nature instead of being thrown directly into it without knowing how to
properly collaborate, which could be detrimental if not taught properly.
Include the final data for the results of your group work here
Since my group work is done two times a week, in order to collect data, I collected their
work from 3 weeks and tracked the data for how many students completed their work
proficiently, how many were partially proficient, and how many were below. Here are the
resultsOut of 28 students19 were Proficient
6 were Partially Proficient
3 were Below
Celebration Plans:
Complete the following chart concerning your positive contacts with students
in your class
Caring Classroom Checklist
Tracking Positive Comments
Student
Name
Phone
Post
Call
Card
Person
al
Meet
Email
Lunc
h
Bullet
in
Mee
t
Board
Parent
Meet
A.
McCoy
Meeting
with
mom
and
aunt
about
A.s
progress
L.
Simental
After
school
check in
about
L.s
growth
in math
T. Kosloff
Phone
call
home
about
T.s
grade
on a
test
Z. Kindig
Phone
call
home
about
improv
ed
grade
on a
makeu
Oth
er
p test
A.
McCoy
Letter to
mom
about A.s
improvem
ent on her
schoolwor
k
M.
Adams
Email to
mom about
improveme
nts and
about next
steps to
continue
improving
J. Knabe
M.
Tripplett
A.
Balmace
da
L.
Simental
After
school
check in
with
mom
and dad
about
properly
complet
ed
homewo
rk
Letter
home
about M.s
hard work
in class to
improve
her grades
Email to
mom about
A.s
improved
focus in
class,
which has
greatly
improved
his grades
After
school
checkin
about
L.s
improve
d
attitude
to
school
and how
much
this has
benefite
d her
Z. Kindig
Phone
call to
mom
about a
perfect
score
on a
makeu
p test
C. Hayes
Lesson Plan Template
Email
home
about
improved
work in
class
Clear and Measurable Objective:
I can solve multi-step story problems
using the four operations.
Description:
Students must read multi-step story
problems and understand what exactly
they are supposed to be answering and
then decide which of the four operations
will help them arrive at that answer. This
not only involves math but also reading
comprehension.
Opening Activity to get every student
voice in the room:
Create a story problem based off of
variables in the room and students
personal experiences. Work as a class to
solve it together on the board. Have
students work in partners to create their
own story problems in the same way I
did, involving variables from our specific
class. Groups will share out their story
problems and we will solve a few of them
as a class.
Brief Synopsis of task analysis
For a station day, after the Do Now,
students get into their station groups. I
then explain the 5 different stations and
what they will be doing at each. The 5
stations always include one station
working in a small group with me, one
station focused on straightforward
computation (usually multiplication or
division), a couple of stations focused
specifically on the learning target for the
week (for this objective, it was a station
focused on single step story problems
and another station focused on multistep story problems), and finally a
station spiraling back to previous
standards that students could use
continued work on. Students then have
roughly 12-15 minutes at each station.
Specific problems from each station will
then be reviewed as a class at the end of
station time.
Description:
By introducing this math concept in a
more fun, personal way that the students
can relate to, they will feel more
comfortable moving into a more difficult
concept. Also, students will see where
the math they are doing in class can
relate to their every day lives.
Transformative Assessment (when
applicable)
Students take an Exit ticket at the end of
class. We then grade it together as a
class and students are given the
opportunity to ask questions if they did
not understand.
Description:
This time gives students the opportunity
to see what exactly they did understand
and where they made need extra help.
Students are also given the opportunity
to ask questions on the spot or to decide
if they will need to come to tutoring.
Description:
Students have been taught how to
properly rotate through stations and how
to rotate through the jobs explained
above. The 10-12 minutes that students
have at each station gives them enough
time to complete the work but requires
them to stay on tasked and focused in
order to get the work done. Also, the
different stations practice the different
skills that students will need to be
successful. Specifically the stations for
this objective allow students to practice
the more fundamental skills that they
will need in order to complete the higherlevel work of the objective. Finally, by
having one station work with me, I get to
work in a small group with each and
every student to get a better idea of
where exactly theyre at and what
exactly they need.
Closing (all students involved):
As a debrief, students are asked to think
about where they may have seen story
problem occasions like this in their life.
How do you think you could apply this
work to your every day life?
Description:
It can often times be difficult for students
to see where their math work applies to
their every day lives, so this is an
opportunity for them to step back and
reflect on how their work in class applies
to their every day lives.
Pre assessment
SLT: I can identify and interpret products using whole numbers as factors. ______________
SLT: I can identify and interpret quotients using whole numbers._______________
Name_______________________
Date_____________
Use equal group models, array models, area models, or number line models to solve the
following multiplication and division problems.
7(4)= ________
5(8)= ________
9(3)= ________
10(7)= ________
How does using strategies help you solve multiplication problems?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
366= ________
246= ________
279= ________
305= ________
How does using strategies help you solve division problems? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
SLT: I can solve multiplication and division word problems. _____________
Use BUILD to solve the following story problems. Be sure to include which operation you are
using, the multiplication or division equation, a visual showing your work, and a sentence for
your answer.
Ms. D loves puppies. One day she decided it would be a good idea to get some puppies for all of
her friends. She has 4 close friends that she wanted to share with and she wanted to get each
friend 3 puppies. How many puppies did Ms. D have to buy?
Nina is quite the baker. One day she baked 20 cookies and decided to share them with some of
her friends. She made groups of 4 cookies each. How many friends was she able to give the
cookies to?
The 3rd grade boys decided to eat lunch at the park one day. They needed to bring some picnic
tables. There were 25 boys at school that day. Each table seats 5 people. How many tables did
they need to bring to the park?
Tavonn is so fast with her math skills. She is able to finish 4 math worksheets in 1 minute. How
many math worksheets is she able to finish in 4 minutes?
Post assessment
SLT: I can solve two-step word problems using the four operations ___________
SLT: I can represent two-step word problems using equations with a letter standing for the
unknown quantity ____________
Name_____________________________
Date____________________
For the following story problems, write an equation with a variable to represent the missing
number.
Ms. D loves puppies. She decided the best way to have fun is with a lot of puppies. She went to
the store and bought 32 puppies. When she got home, she realized that definitely was not
enough. She went back to the store and bought some more. When she got back, she had 54
puppies. However, she realized that also wasnt enough! She went back and by the end of the
day, she had 70 puppies. Perfect. How many more puppies did she buy the first time she went
back? How many more did she buy the second time?
Kristine was baking cookies. She made 3 batches of cookies. When she was done baking, she
had made 30 cookies. How many cookies were in each batch? She then decided to make 5
groups of cookies to give to her friends. How many cookies were in each group?
Donovan was playing basketball with Celest. They decided to make each basket worth 2 points.
Donovan scored 3 baskets and Celest scored 4. How many points did each of them get? How
many more points did Celest score than Donovan?
For the following situation, think of a story problem that you could write. Include the appropriate
equation with a variable representing the missing number.
Think about a time that you were doing one of your favorite activities- playing football, baking,
practicing the violin, etc. Create a story problem that involves one of your favorite activities and
then solve it below. Be sure to include a picture!
Scaffolded Graphic Organizer
Name____________________________
Date______________________
I can solve two-step word problems using the four operations.
I can represent two-step word problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown
quantity.
When solving story problems we use BUILD to make the work easier. Define BUILD below-
B_______________________________________
U_______________________________________
I________________________________________
L_______________________________________
D_______________________________________
We also learned that when we have a missing quantity, we can put a variable in its place.
Variable means __________________________________________________________________________.
Solve the story problems below using BUILD. Write an equation using a variable to represent the
unknown quantity.
Model I do- Ms. D was super bored over the weekend. She decided to go to the store to buy
some puppies! At first, she just bought 16 puppies. She realized that wasnt enough, so she went
back to the store and bought some more. By the end of the day, she had 25 puppies. How many
more puppies did she buy when she went back?
Class We do- Ms. D loves puppies more than anything. She also loves her friends. One day, she
bought 8 puppies. The next day, she went back and bought 4 more. She decided she should
share her puppies, so she decided to give the puppies away to her 3 best friends. How many
puppies did each friend get?
Continue to use BUILD to solve the story problems below. For each problem, write the matching
equation using a variable to represent the unknown number.
Small group- Matthew and Corey were playing basketball. They decided to make each basket
worth 3 points. Matthew made 3 baskets and Corey made 4. How many points were scored in the
game?
Small group- Ally and Dondrick were baking for their friends. They made 26 cookies. After they
finished baking, each of them ate 3 cookies. They then decided to give the rest of their cookies
away to Jaliescia, Ilias, JD and Alyscia. How many cookies did each of their friends get?
Small group- Livia wanted to buy a gift for her mom. She had two $5 bills. Her sister gave her
one $10 bill. The gift that Livia bought cost $18. How much change did Livia get?
Individual- Mikayla was making groups of flowers. She made 5 groups of 3 flowers each. If she
gave away 2 of her groups of flowers, how many flowers did she have left?
Celebration text with a struggling students parent
Student data tracking systems
Pictures sent home of students who had been struggling in the class. Students showcasing
their successful work.
Reflection:
Overall, this unit planning experience was incredibly beneficial and useful for me.
Throughout my course as a teacher, I feel that I have done a fairly good job at completing unit
plans, but this project gave me so much of a clearer understanding of how to do a complete,
thorough unit plan. Before, my unit plan was almost all academic based, and I did not put much
thought into the personal side of it. I feel like I have always prided myself so much on my ability
to create a strong classroom culture and strong relationships with my students. However, I
clearly was not thinking about how important these things were within my actual plans. By
specifically working towards putting these caring classroom activities and celebration, I was able
to have so much more success. We often talk about how much more successful our students are
through positive reinforcement. This form of unit planning just inherently includes positive
reinforcement, whether its through productive collaboration, celebration, or student success.
From the post assessment, I gathered the following data:
Exemplary: 7
Mastered: 17
Partially Proficient: 2
Beginning: 2
Our school is on a scaled rubric of 4, with a 4 being exemplary and a 3 being mastery. Overall, I
am very pleased with our class data. For the 4 students who did not score mastery, I will be able
to continue spirally back with them until they have mastered the objective.
When I asked my students about their thoughts on this unit, I got a lot of good feedback.
Students overwhelmingly reported that they felt proud of their work in class and felt as if they
could be successful in the unit. If students did not get the score that they wanted, they said that
they felt as if they could be successful through more work. Not only did students report that they
were proud of themselves, they also reported that they were proud of their crewmates and felt as
if their crewmates success was their success. As an expeditionary learning school, we talk a lot
about being a crew and not passengers. Every student reported that they felt a part of our crew
and not as a passenger. Students clearly understood their own strengths and where they would
be able to help others. They also understood the individual needs of their group mates and
understood how they could support one another. Finally, almost all students responded that they
knew where they were in their own development, where they needed to be and what they
needed to do to get there. This was huge for me as one of my main goals is for my students to
be self-advocates and to take charge of their own education. By my students each independently
knowing their individual situations, they are completely able to take control of their education.
Not only are my students able to take charge of their education now, they will be able to
do so in the future. One thing that I have worried about with my students is their success in later
years. My school does two year loops. Because of this, students build very strong relationships
with their teachers and very specific classroom cultures are created. I feel that my classroom
culture in particular has grown to be immensely strong and my students and I have a very
particular way of working with one another. I have been somewhat nervous thinking about my
students moving on to a new teacher next year. This is not to say that I do not trust other
teachers with my students, it is just somewhat nerve wracking thinking about letting my
students move on. However, since they have grown to have such a strong sense of self in the
classroom and such a strong sense of what they need, I am confident that they will be able to
move on in the future and be able to advocate and take care of themselves in the classroom.
