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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Hopping on the number line

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L316

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 Mathematics

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In this lesson, students generate products using the number line model, which highlights the measurement aspect of multiplication and is a distinctly different representation of the operation. After demonstrating how to use a number line, the teacher challenges students to make up their own equations using the activity.

Students will be able to:

  • Use the number line model to find products.
  • Investigate the order property of multiplication.
  • Solve and create puzzles using the number line.

NCTM Standards and Expectations covered in this lesson include:

  • Understanding various meanings of multiplication and division.
  • Developing understanding of fractions as parts of unit wholes, as parts of a collection, as locations on number lines, and as divisions of whole numbers.
  • Understanding the effects of multiplying and dividing whole numbers.

    • North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

    Mathematics (2004)

    Grade 3

    • Goal 1: Number and Operations - The learner will model, identify, and compute with whole numbers through 9,999.
      • Objective 1.03: Develop fluency with multiplication from 1x1 to 12x12 and division up to two-digit by one-digit numbers using:
        • Strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers.
        • Estimation of products and quotients in appropriate situations.
        • Relationships between operations.
      • Objective 1.04: Use basic properties (identity, commutative, associative, order of operations) for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

    Grade 4

    • Goal 1: Number and Operations - The learner will read, write, model, and compute with non-negative rational numbers.
      • Objective 1.02: Develop fluency with multiplication and division:
        • Two-digit by two-digit multiplication (larger numbers with calculator).
        • Up to three-digit by two-digit division (larger numbers with calculator).
        • Strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers.
        • Estimation of products and quotients in appropriate situations.
        • Relationships between operations.