This lesson was originally taught in an online math study group over the summer of 2020. Thank you to the CUNY teachers and staff who supported the group. And thank you to our students who stayed dedicated to their studies over the summer, in really difficult circumstances. I learned about about the chart activity from Usha Kotelawala, in a math teachers’ circle meeting.
After some time discussing counting numbers, the word “consecutive,” and looking at some examples of the sums of consecutive numbers, this lesson continues with an activity that is accessible to all of our students, adding numbers and placing them in a chart. Here is how the activity looks in Google Slides.
After filling out the chart individually and then with the large group, students brainstorm things they notice about the chart and questions they have, as part of the Notice/Wonder protocol.
At this point, you can decide whether you want the group to work on the questions they came up with, or if you would like to work on a set of prepared questions.
The Google Drive link above includes:
- A Google Slide presentation ready for use in a distance learning class.
- Two Google Docs files for Part 1, Part 2
- A Google Doc with chart and prepared questions
- A Google Jamboard with chart and prepared questions
- A Google spreadsheet with chart and prepared questions
- Notes from our summer 2020 classes (This will give you an idea of the questions our students asked, what they figured out, and how we followed up with more questions to push their understanding of functions.)
Some of the files above are duplicates in different formats, depending on what works for you and your students.
