Compilation of Lesson Plans

Design for Learning

Instructor: Emily Freeman
Lesson Title: Growing Arrays
Curriculum Area: Math

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: 4th

Villani
Date: November 5, 2015
Estimated Time: 60 minutes

Standards Connection:
4. NBT.5. Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and
multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of
operations. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or
area models.
Learning Objective(s):
When given a worksheet, students will accurately solve 5 out of the 6 problems using the array
method.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
I will break apart 2 two-digit numbers to multiply using an array.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Students will be given a worksheet with 4 computation problems and 2 word problems that
require applying the material learned in class. The students will be expected to use the array
method taught in class to break both two-digit numbers apart and create an array with 4
rectangles. Chart paper will be provided for students that feel the need to make the arrays that
way, though they will be encouraged to draw the arrays on the paper instead. Students that
accurately complete at least 5 out of the 6 problems will be considered proficient and placed in
the green group. Students that score 4 out of the 6 correct will be placed in the yellow group and
observed for further remediation. Students that score 3 or less correct will be placed in the red
group and receive further remediation.
Engagement:
The teacher will lead the students through a two-digit by two-digit number talk that requires
them to only split apart one number. The teacher will draw the ways that the students solved the
problem. Class, when I call your table I need you to grab your math journal, put it on your desk,
and come join me on the carpet for math time. I will only call the tables that are quiet! When you
get to the carpet, sit on the ground- do not grab any furniture. The teacher will call the tables to
come join her on the carpet. Lets review our number talk moves. Remember, keep your fists at
your chest and change it to a thumbs up when you solve the problem. Please do not shout or yell
out that you got the answer. Sit quietly and try to solve it another way if you solve it quickly. Are
you ready? The teacher will write the first problem on the board: 18x 23=? Give the students
several minutes to solve the problem in their heads. When a majority of students have the
problem solved, the teacher will move on and begin to hear strategies. The ideal strategy would
be splitting up 18 and leaving 23 whole while some may jump to splitting apart both. Remember,
if you found the answer, your thumbs should be at your chest. Lets hear some strategies! The
teacher will write the different answers students found on the board and hear how students got to
their answers. That was so great everyone! You all were able to find the answer eventually but

wasnt it a little hard to do such big problems in our heads? Even if you did 20x18 and split it all
the way to 5x18, thats just a lot to keep in our heads isnt it? Well today we are going to learn a
faster and easier way to multiply two digit numbers! (Transition to teaching)
Learning Design:
I. Teaching:
The teacher will pass out the premade array cards for 23x18. Okay friends, return to your seats.
With the person next to you, grab 1 white board and marker and sit quietly. I am passing out a
set of array cards. Please leave them in the bag until I say its okay to take them out. We arent
going to move on until everyone is quiet. Take your cards out of their bag- what do you notice?
Hmmmm think hard! Thats right! There are 4 array cards: one for 20x10, one for 20x8, one for
3x10, and one for 3x8. I want you and your partner to model what Im about to draw on the
board with your array cards. As the teacher is taking answers from the class, she will draw the
arrays next to one another to build 23x18. Can someone tell me what 20x10 is? Thats right- its
200! Please write the answers on the array cards! And can someone tell me 3x10? Right again30! Make sure youre modeling what Im drawing on the board. Can someone raise their hand
and tell me what 8x20 is? Thats right- 160! And lastly, 3x8? Right, 24! So we found the totals
for all 4 of our arrays- you should have what I have on the board modeled in front of you. I want
you to take a second and think about what you see in front of you. The teacher will give the
students a second to think. Hmmm does anyone know what we have here? Thats right friends!!
We have modeled 23x18 in front of us with array cards! Looking at your cards and what we have
on the board, how would we get our answer? Dont shout out your answer, we are working
together. We will add up the total from all 4 of our arrays! Working with your partner, add up the
sums from each array to find the total. Wait just a minute and we will solve it together. The
teacher will listen to solutions but the only mistakes or differences will come from addition
errors. Now the tricky part- looking at our array cards, how did I split up the numbers 23 and 18
to get all the way to 4 arrays? Think really hard! Think back to how we multiply 2-digit by 1digit numbers together. Lets look at our arrays. Think about how we normally split apart
numbers- we split these apart to get 20+3 and 10+8 right? First we multiplied the values in the
tens place together to get 20x10. Next we multiplied the tens place of each with the ones place of
each. This is the trickiest part! We did this because it is the same as if we were doing 23x8 or
18x3. In those problems, we would have split the numbers apart and done 20x8 and 10x3 right?
Well its the same thing here! Lastly, we multiplied the ones places together just as we would
have in 23x8 or 18x3. Does anyone have any questions? I know this is tricky so we are going to
practice again together. The teacher will write 17x21 on the board. Okay class. This time I want
to hear how you think we should solve it. Looking at the problem, how should we split apart our
numbers? Great! So what are our four arrays? The teacher will call on one student at a time to
provide the answer. Awesome job! Now that we have our arrays, what else do we need to do to
get the answer? Right again! Working with your partner and white board, I want everyone to
figure out the solution to the problem. Great job! We are going to practice one more thing
together. The teacher will write 46x32 on the board. Stay at your seats friends! I know this is a
big problem but we arent going to solve it. I want you to think about everything we have just
talked about and come up with a way to split both numbers apart and what our 4 arrays should
be! I want you to put thumbs at chest then thumbs up when you have a solution, just like if we
were on the carpet. There are multiple ways to solve this so dont be mean if someone finds a
different set of arrays than you. The teacher will pause and let students think. She will then hear

strategies and write them on the board. Acceptable strategies would include splitting 46 into 20
and 26 and 32 into 16 and 16, amongst others. Great job you guys! Yall did a great job making
4 arrays! Now we are going to practice on our own. (Transition to practice)
II. Opportunity for Practice:
Okay friends, now that we are back at our seats, I need you to turn to the next open page in your
math journal. I am going to pass out a word problem for you to solve in your journal. If you need
help, jus raise your hand. Im going to be walking around to see how you are doing so please try
your hardest. Since this is a word problem, what do we need to have in our answer? RightWORDS! I need you to draw the array that the problem will create first. After you draw the
array, move on to solving it! We are practicing drawing our arrays here so if you need help, ask
a friend or raise your hand. I need you to stay quiet if you finish, we will talk about it soon! The
teacher will walk around and observe the progress of the students. She will take a mental note of
any students that are struggling, pulling them to the carpet later for extra help. The teacher
should not discourage talking during this as long as the talking is on task and focused. Once she
has observed a majority of the class has finished, she will work it out on the board. Okay friends,
it looked like most of you were finished so we are going to talk through it on the board. Can
someone tell me what answer they got? Im only going to call on you if you are quietly raising
your hand. And can you tell me how you broke apart the 2 numbers? What arrays did you make?
Great! Can someone tell me a different strategy they used to get the answer? Did you get the
same answer? Why or why not? Do you guys see how everyone could have split apart the
numbers differently and still gotten the right answer? Awesome! I want you to stay at your seat
as I pass out your worksheet for today. (Transition to assessment)
III. Assessment
Okay class, now that we have finished our journal problem, we are going to complete some
practice problems to make sure we mastered it today! This sheet has a mixture of word problems
and non. Remember, word problems should have words in the answer! Read it all carefully and
take your time. If you need dry erase chart paper to create the arrays, feel free to come grab it
from the table. Lets read the directions together- you need to solve the problems on the sheet
and draw the arrays created for each problem. If you do not draw the arrays you will not receive
full credit for your answer friends! Please work by yourself- I want to see what you know, not
what your neighbor or friend across the room knows. As you finish, place it in the basket and
grab our challenge problem from the back table. If you do not get to the challenge problem, it is
okay! (Transition to closure after all students have finished assessment)
IV. Closure
The teacher will engage the class and bring everyone back together for one last problem. There
are 14 friends with us today and I have a treat for you. If each of us are going to get 23 M&Ms,
how many M&Ms did I need to bring with me to class? Im not sure I have enough so I need
your help to make sure before we share our treat- I dont want anyone to be left out of getting a
treat. Before you start, can someone tell me what the multiplication problem here is? Thats
right: 23x14! Now take a minute to try to solve it on your own. If you get the answer right, we
may get to share the special treat!
Materials and Resources:

 Array cards premade for 18x23 for each student

Assessment worksheet
6 sets of array cards premade for 2 problems from worksheet
1 copy of word problem for journal for each student
Bags with M&Ms for each student
Dry erase chart paper
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
The teacher will observe students that are struggling during the journal portion of the lesson. The
teacher will have the students join her at the front to work through sections of the worksheet
together. She will have array cards premade that correspond to different problems from the
worksheet. Pulling the students to the carpet, the teacher will walk them through the worksheet,
beginning with the ones that have array cards premade. The teacher will also have a piece of grid
paper cut to the dimensions of one problem from the worksheet that is still together in a whole,
not cut into 4 separate arrays. The students will be prompted to split the large array part into 4
smaller arrays that work for them to solve, individualizing the process. Students that complete
the assessment quickly will have access to an additional challenge problem to complete until
their peers are finished. The challenge will be placed on a table in the back of the room for
students to easily access when they are finished.
Data Analysis:
There were not any students that completed the assessment. Of those that completed a portion of
it, only some did so with complete understanding of the strategy in question. This shows me a
number of things such that the content was too much for one day and it was too difficult to ask
the students to do right away on their own.
Reflection:
I learned more from writing and teaching this lesson than I have at any other point in the
semester. My teacher does such a great job reading the classroom and leading math lessons that
she makes it look so easy! By writing this lesson, I learned how I need to really think through
every aspect of what students will do in a lesson and the different ways I will explain something.
For this lesson, I wrote the teaching portion how I taught the strategy to myself with a full
explanation then one example together then independent work. Since it was 4th grade, I figured I
would add another practice together but that would be enough- it wasnt. I was surprised
throughout this lesson how I felt like I was teaching the math very simply but students still failed
to understand. This lesson taught me that teaching math is much harder than I thought it would
be. I learned that I need to remember that my students do not have the schema I do- something
that is hard to remember and reduce to. Ideally, if it was my classroom, this lesson would have
been taught over several days. I would have started by show the method with very simple twodigit numbers one day then moved on the next once I felt the class understood the idea better. In
retrospect, I should have written my lesson this simply from the beginning, not trying to cram so
much into one lesson. I should have taught the strategy from several different angles to try to
reach students that were struggling or not understanding. I feel as though I used manipulatives
properly and did not need to use any more technology. This skill and strategy is something my
class continues to work on and will for the rest of the year. What I took away from learning that
knowledge was that, like the majority of standards, no standard will be taught through only one

lesson. For full mastery, standards will continue to be taught and reinforced throughout the
school year.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each

restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?
Pizza Depot will open 23 new restaurants next year. Each
restaurant will need 29 employees. The employees must
be at least 17 years old. How many people will Pizza
Depot need to hire for the new restaurants?

Name:_________________________

Date:__________________________

Arrays Worksheet
Directions: Complete the problems listed. Draw the array you are using
to get your answer to show your work.
1. 31x27=_____

2. 35x14=_____

3. 21x34=_____

4. 19x21=_____

5. A movie theater ordered 24 boxes of candy. Each box contained 18

pieces of candy. How many pieces of candy is that in all?

6. A jeweler made 36 ruby necklaces. He used 7 diamonds, 19 rubies,

and 42 emeralds to make each necklace. How many rubies did the
jeweler use?

Name:_________________________

Date:__________________________

Challenge Problem
Right down the road is a bakery that sells the most delicious pies,
cookies, and cakes. There are 25 dozen cookies, 14 dozen cakes, and 32
dozen pies in the bakery. If Ms. Freeman buys every treat at the bakery,
how many sweets will she have in total? Use an array model to show
your work.

Design for Learning

Instructor: Emily Freeman
Lesson Title: Prove it to me
Curriculum Area: Reading

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: 4th Villani

Date: October 21, 2015
Estimated Time: 30 minutes

Standards Connection:
RI.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and
when drawing inferences from the text.
Learning Objective(s):
When given a passage, students will refer to details and examples from the text with
100% accuracy.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today I will learn how to prove my answers with evidence from what I read.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Students will each receive a copy of the Find the Evidence passage. The teacher will provide a
crayon in each color required. She will have the group read the directions on the page and ensure
each child knows what to do. The students will be expected to read the passage and answer each
of the following questions by underlining the corresponding evidence in the passage. Students
that show the proof for all 6 questions will be considered proficient. Students that correctly prove
5 out of the 6 will be placed in the yellow group. Students that prove 4 or less will be placed in
the red group and receive further remediation.
Engagement:
The teacher will have the I have Who has? game printed and cut out for the students when
they arrive. The game will give students an insight into Avi as an author and person before they
read the interview. Okay class. I need some of you to come join me at the table when I call your
name. The teacher will call the names of the small group of students participating in the lesson to
come sit at the table. Okay friends, today we are going to read an interview about an author
named Avi. Has anyone ever heard of him before or read any of his books? Well I havent but I
promise you he is very interesting! Before we start we are going to play a game to learn more
about Avi. Has anyone ever played the I have Who has? game before? I will explain how
it works so put on your listening ears. I will hand you a little card. Whichever person has the
stars on their card will begin. You will read your part I have and share what your card says
about Avi. After reading the I have portion, you will read the Who has? Everyone will
need to pay really good attention when they read their question! Every persons I have is the
answer to somebody elses question! For example, if my card said Who has Ms. Freemans
favorite color? and your card said I have blue, you would read your card after I read mine. I
know this is a bit tricky but all of you are very smart so I know you can handle it. Does anyone
have any questions? The teacher will proceed to pass out the cards and play the game with the
students, potentially talking about any fun facts that may come up about Avi. Wow friends! You

did such a great job and we already have learned so much about Avi! Today we are going to read
an interview with Avi (Transition to teaching)
Learning Design:
I. Teaching: We are going to read an interview with Avi. Before I give you your copy, I want you
to start to think about details from the text. When you read a story and answer questions
afterwards, where should your answers come from? Thats right- the text!! Today we are going to
focus on doing this with an informational text. Can anyone tell me what that means? I know, its
a big word! Thats right! An informational text is one that informs you- it tells you something!
The teacher will pass out a copy of An Interview with Avi to each student. Dont start reading
yet! Just looking at the title, what do you think this will be about? Right! It will be about the
author Avi that we just learned somethings about! Therefore, we are being informed about?
Right again! We are being informed about Avi! Now I want you to whisper read the interview.
Dont read to see who can finish first- read to learn about Avi because we will talk about him
afterwards. The teacher will listen to the students as they whisper read, tuning in on each child
individually to ensure correct reading of difficult vocabulary. Is everyone finished? Can someone
tell me what the letters Q and A meant for this? Thats right! The Q meant question and the A
meant answer. Who would the subject of this piece be? Thats right- the subject is Avi! Now I
have a tough question to get you to think harder- why did the interviewer begin with asking Avi
about his experiences with school and his favorite books? The teacher will listen to each child
give their opinion- an example answer would be because Avi became a writer because he loved
to read different stories and had a rough childhood that was changed by a tutor. Wow those were
all great ideas! Now we are going to focus on proving our answers with evidence from the text
just like we talked about! Remember, dont blurt out the answer! The teacher will ask the
following questions of the whole group but call on one student at a time to show her where they
found it in the text. Can anyone tell me what event in Avis life led to a change in his attitude
toward writing and show me where they found the answer? Great! How about what goal Avi set
for himself as a result in his change in attitude? And where did you find that answer? What
about Avis dysgraphia- what are the effects of Dysgraphia and where can you show me that in
the text? And lastly, how does Avi use a computer when he is writing? Make sure you can prove
it to me! Great job!! (Transition to practice)
II. Opportunity for Practice:
Lets go back to the game we played at the beginning that told us some facts about Avi. We are
going to go through each card and find the same information in the reading! We need to be
careful though- there is extra information on the cards that isnt in the reading so we will need to
be sure to distinguish what we can prove and what we cannot prove. The teacher will then reread
each card and call on different students to find the information in the text. The teacher will
emphasize the importance of proving information with text evidence throughout the time.
III. Assessment
The teacher will pass out the Find the Evidence paper and crayons to each student. Now I want
you to show me that you can do it all by yourself! In front of you is a passage and certain
crayons. I want you to read the passage and follow the directions. You will read the questions
and underline where the information can be found in the passage in the corresponding color. Any

questions? The teacher will proceed to ensure each student stays on task and is able to complete
the assignment.
IV. Closure
The teacher will pass out a sheet of construction paper to each student. Wow! Yall did so well
today! Thank you for being quiet and good listeners! Before we go back to our seats, I want you
complete a 3-2-1 response for me. On your sheet of construction paper, I want you to first write 3
things you learned today. These can be about Avi or about why we should use the text to prove
our answers. Next I want you to write 2 questions you still have. Maybe you are wandering
which Avi book you should read or youre still not sure why we have to prove our answers from
the text! Lastly, I want you to write 1 thing you want me to know. This can be that you learned a
lot today or it can be that the lesson was too easy for you! As soon as youre done, hand me your
piece of paper and quietly get your book and snack for reading time.
Materials and Resources:
3 crayons of each of the following colors: blue, yellow, red, purple, green, orange
Find the Evidence passage
An Interview with Avi reading for each student
A piece of construction paper for each student
I HAVE WHO HAS game cards cut and printed
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
For the kids that score in the red group, the teacher should reteach the lesson using lower level
passages for the guided reading and assessment. A more simple text would allow for a better
understanding of the location of textual evidence for students that failed to grasp it at a higher
level. Additionally, the lesson could be retaught having students physically circle and highlight
the evidence from An Interview with Avi text. This would allow them to see the visual connection
between the question and the location of the answer in the text. For students with attention
problems, the teacher will need to ensure the small group of students are seated in an order that
will promote learning as much as possible. Additionally the teacher will need to create an
environment that promotes learning by keeping all students on task and ending unnecessary
conversations before they get carried away.
Data Analysis:
Only 1 out of the 3 students is considered proficient in providing textual evidence. The
other 2 students got 4 out of the 6 questions correct and will receive further remediation on the
topic. This occurred mostly due to a lack of focus I believe. The two that got 4 out of the 6
correct missed the questions they missed due to not reading the text fully. These students both
missed the same question due to not reading the sentence fully. In this particular instance, the
question asked what was being advertised and the students provide how it was
being advertised. One student missed a question asking when and instead
essentially restated the question for his answer. The other student made the
error of listing the place of birth as a college as opposed to the actually
college name. This mistake is more excusable because the student might not
have the schema to support reading the name of a college or university and
immediately connecting to the fact that it is a college. For this reason, this

student will be moved to the yellow group and merely watched for further
remediation because I believe, based on past work of this student, that
further remediation will just bore him and not be productive.
Reflection:
By teaching this lesson, I learned that I need to explain things more explicitly with my
students. I need to assume they know absolutely nothing about the topic or content and script my
lesson accordingly. In this lesson, I did not do so and really struggled to understand why my
students were not performing the way I wanted them to at every point in the lesson. I also better
understand that resources make students more engaged. Similarly, resources appeal to a variety
of learners and gather the attention of students that learn tacitly, visually, audibly, and more. In
this lesson, I did not use many resources. While I did use some, the few that I used were
incredibly impactful in the teaching of my lesson. I was told that my lesson needed to be more
detailed and less analytical. I need to think through every little detail of my lesson plan as
opposed to just the bigger picture of teaching the lesson. In my next lesson, I will be more
detailed. My next lesson is in math and I know I will need to step back and remember the level
that the students are at and the schema they possess now is very different from mine in math. I
will need to be detailed and script out every aspect of my lesson rather than just what Im going
to do with them. By teaching this, I learned the significance of really thinking through what my
students will be doing throughout every part of a lesson- not just the bigger picture of what will
be taking place. For me, it was most difficult to design the we do portion of the lesson. I have
always been the type of learner where I watch the teacher do it then I want to do it by myself and
receive feedback to know if I did it correctly or not. In my head as a learner, the we do part is
evaluating my peers, not me, and thus isnt telling me if I learned what I needed to or not. In my
next lesson, I will need to remember that my students enjoy group work and benefit from it
greatly. I will need to provide them opportunities to work together and benefit from what others
have to say when practicing.

Samford University
Design for Learning

I HAVE:
Avi won the Newberry Award for Crispin: The
Cross of Lead and
a Newberry Honor Award for Nothing But the Truth.
WHO HAS: What were some of Avis favorite books as a
child?
I HAVE:
Avi loved to read The Wind in the Willows,
Treasure Island, and
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
WHO HAS: What are some examples of books by Avi?
I HAVE:
Avi has written Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The
Good Dog, and
over 70 others!
WHO HAS: What learning disability does Avi possess?

I HAVE:
Avi has Dysgraphia which means he mixes up his
letters when
he is writing.
WHO HAS: Why does Avi see value in writing books?

I HAVE: Avi believes books explain what people feel.

Books give people
the words to explain how they are feeling.
WHO HAS: What awards has Avi won for his writing?

Design for Learning

Instructor: Emily Freeman
Lesson Title: Electromagnetic Energy
Curriculum Area: Science

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: Villani, 4

Date: December 3, 2015
Estimated Time: 30 minutes

Standards Connection:
NGSS.4-PS3-1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the
energy of that object.
Learning Objective(s):
When given a worksheet, students will explain the construction of an electromagnet and ways to
change it with no errors.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today I will build an electromagnet and learn how it works.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Each student will receive a Building an Electromagnet Worksheet. Students will complete the
worksheet with a partner. Students will be assessed based upon their answers to each question
and their completion of the table. Students that correctly note the relationship between the
number of coils and the number of paper clips picked up as well as understand the basics of
electromagnets will be considered proficient. Students that fail to understand what they made or
recognize the correlation between coils and paper clips will be placed in the yellow group and
watched for further remediation. Students that fail to complete the worksheet accurately will be
placed in the red group and will receive further remediation.
Engagement:
Review energy
Make electromagents
The teacher will review what students know about energy up to this point and walk students
through building their own electromagnet. Class, I know we have been talking about energy.
What is energy? What are some different types of energy? Energy is all around us isnt it? Today
we are going to be learning about electromagnetic energy. Lets say that all togetherelectromagnetic energy. Think about that word for a second. What can we predict about it?
Right- its going to have something to do with electricity and magnets. Lets keep this in mind for
later. We are going to build our own electromagnets today! You and your partner sat down at a
spot with the materials in front of you. Each set of partners has 4 items- a battery, wire, an iron
nail, and a ton of paper clips. Does each group have the items? Look up here at mine! Look how
many paper clips I have hanging onto my electromagnet! And watch what happens when I move
this one little wire (paper clips fall off). I want everyone to take their wire and wrap it 5 times
around their nail. One partner can hold the nail while the other wraps if you want. I will walk
around to help as you need it. Now I want you to take the ends of your wire and attach the wire
to one side of the battery like this. Do not attach both sides yet. We will get to that! (Transition to
teaching)
Learning Design:
I. Teaching:
The teacher will better explain what an electromagnet is by comparing to a normal magnet. After
talking about it a minute ago, you have a better idea about what an electromagnet is. An
electromagnet is a temporary magnet that only works when it has electricity going through it.

What is an easy way we could remember this? Those are all good answers but I like the
electromagnet idea- electro means electricity! Can you think of an instance where it would be
beneficial to have a magnet that can be turned on or off? Awesome! Something that is really
unique about electromagnets is that when they are turned off, they are not magnetic at all! Can
you imagine a regular magnet that has this power? Crazy! Can you turn a normal magnet on or
off and make it stop being magnet? NO! What did we learn about that we should keep in mind as
we create our own? Right- coils are important and we should have some element of iron
Before we start, do you think our electromagnet will be more magnetic if we have a lot of coils or
if we only have some? Hmmm we will see! What should our magnets do? Right- pick up the
paperclips. I want you to now attach the other wire to your battery like this. If you need help or
more tape I will come help you! (Transition to practice)
II. Opportunity for Practice:
I want all of you to try to pick up a paper clip with your electromagnet. You might need to have
one partner hold the wires on the battery and the other partner touch paper clips onto the
magnet to see if they stick. The teacher will give students time to try on their own. Raise your
hand if you have not gotten any paper clips to stick yet. I want you to now see how many you can
stick onto your magnet. What is the most paper clips you can get to stick?
III. Assessment
The students will complete a worksheet while continuing their experiment with their partner. The
teacher will float around the room to ensure all students are contributing and check for
understanding. I am passing out a worksheet for each of you. I want you and your partner to
work through it and answer the questions. Take your time- this isnt a race. If you need help,
raise your hand. Answer the questions as well as you can. I want you to start by drawing your
electromagnet. Draw what you have made. On the back there is a table. Does everyone see that?
I want you to follow the directions for adding or taking away coils then continue to test it to see
how many paper clips are picked up.
IV. Closure
After all groups have finished their sheet and have their strong electromagnet made, the teacher
will bring the class back together. Think back to the table you filled out- what happened when
you had 10 coils? Wow that is a lot of picked up paper clips! How many did you pick up when
you had 1 coil? Oh thats it? So what can you tell me about coils- is it better to have a bunch of
coils or only some? Right- a bunch! Now with the super strong one you made- how many paper
clips did it pick up? WOW! Thats amazing! You guys did a great job today. Can someone tell me
again what an electromagnet is? Right- a magnet powered by electricity. And why could this be
important? Right- some machines need magnets that can be turned on or off.
Materials and Resources:
Building an electromagnet worksheet
D Batteries
Copper Wire
Iron Nail
Masking tape
Paper clips

Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):

For students that are above and beyond the instruction of this lesson, an alternative worksheet
will be provided that contains alternative variables such as changing different nails, wires, or
batteries. These students will benefit from the challenge of testing different materials or even
predicting what would happen. For students in the red group, an easier follow up lesson will be
provided. The teacher will have 1 electromagnet made and explain that it only works when the
wires touch the battery. The entire aspect of the iron nail and different numbers of coils will be
excluded.
Data Analysis:
With much help, 16 of the 18 students in the lesson were able to complete the worksheet and be
considered proficient! The 2 other students were not focused and did not complete the worksheet
and are subsequently placed in the red group. Their lack of attention throughout the lesson
resulted in them lacking the knowledge they needed to complete the worksheet. We reviewed the
questions at the end of the lesson giving students time to reconsider their answers if they needed
to.
Reflection:
This lesson taught me how to be flexible and think on my feet. My teacher wanted me to lead
students through the experiment so I struggled from the beginning writing the lesson plan and
figuring out what to put where. For the actual experiment, my teacher had helped me find the
materials from the science lab and said everything would be great! I decided it was a good idea
for me to make an electromagnet to show the class right before they headed down to the lab.
After an hour of finding new nails and trying to find a battery that wasnt 8 years old (I couldnt
find a battery that wasnt), I found a way to adapt the experiment to pick up some paperclips.
The lesson went well other than this hiccup at the start! I had to change the way the worksheet
table looked after I handed it out to them which caused some confusion. I feel as though I did the
best I could with the materials I had in that moment and I learned a lot about being flexible. I
couldnt have taken the materials home to test at home and I couldnt leave for the store in the
middle of the day so I had to be flexible and make it work.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Name:_________________________
_________________________

Date:

Building an Electromagnet Worksheet

Draw the battery, wire, coil, and nail.

Describe what happens if you hold a paper clip near the

coil.

Take the wire off of one of the ends of the battery. Can
your electromagnet pick up paper clips still? Why/why
not?

Fill in the table below

Electromagnet

Number of paper clips

picked up

5 coils
1 coil
10 coils
15 coils

Write about how changing the number of coils affects how

many paper clips the electromagnet could pick up.

What are some ways that engineers might be able to use

electromagnets?