LEARN NC

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

Maintaining the Balance

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L184

A lesson plan for Grades 3–4 Mathematics

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

About this resource

Appropriate grades
3–4
Provider
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

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In this lesson for grades 3 and 4, one of a four-part unit from Illuminations titled “Exploration of a Balance,” students participate in activities in which they focus on patterns and relations that can be developed from the exploration of balance, mass, length of the mass arm, and the position of the fulcrum.

This resource is referenced in the Illuminations unit titled “Exploration of a Balance” and is related to the Illuminations lessons titled “Keeping in Balance,” “Shifting the Balance,” and “Finding the Balance.”

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 1.06: Develop flexibility in solving problems by selecting strategies and using mental computation, estimation, calculators or computers, and paper and pencil.
  • Goal 5: Algebra - The learner will recognize, determine, and represent patterns and simple mathematical relationships.
    • Objective 5.01: Describe and extend numeric and geometric patterns.
    • Objective 5.02: Extend and find missing terms of repeating and growing patterns.

Grade 4

  • Goal 1: Number and Operations - The learner will read, write, model, and compute with non-negative rational numbers.
    • Objective 1.05: Develop flexibility in solving problems by selecting strategies and using mental computation, estimation, calculators or computers, and paper and pencil.
  • Goal 5: Algebra - The learner will demonstrate an understanding of mathematical relationships.
    • Objective 5.01: Identify, describe, and generalize relationships in which:
      • Quantities change proportionally.
      • Change in one quantity relates to change in a second quantity.
    • Objective 5.03: Verify mathematical relationships using:
      • Models, words, and numbers.
      • Order of operations and the identity, commutative, associative, and distributive properties.