Amanda Short

Preschool Unit Plan

Unit: Comparison and Number (Leading up to Measurement)
Lesson 1: Counting Apples Game
Objective:
Students will demonstrate understanding of number value by correctly identifying the group of
stickers that coordinate with the numeral on the card in 2 out of 3 attempts.
Standards:
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.1: Children understand counting, ways of representing
numbers and relationships between quantities and numerals.
Purpose:
Identify varying levels of student understanding of number value. This will help in their
understanding of the measuring involved in the next three lessons.
Academic Language:
Numerals, top, bottom, middle
Materials:
Number cards, pom-poms, tweezers, easel paper example pre-drawn, group lists
Introduction/Opening:
1.
Bring students to circle and get the wiggles out with a song/dance.
2.
Remind students to raise a quiet hand if they have an idea or an answer to a question I ask.
3. Ask students if they remember using the counting cards before. Take two-three student
responses. Correct misconceptions and use ideas to push thinking forward to todays
activity.
4. Ask students: Why do you think counting is helpful? or When do you think you might
want to count something?
Lesson Sequence:
1.
Point student attention to the easel example.
2.
Say, These are two groups of stickers. Each group has a different amount, or number of
stickers. How can we figure out which group has 4 stickers?
3. Teacher will choose a student who is in body basics with their hand raised.
4. After students practice two examples in this way, we will break into small groups to work
on this more.
5. The small groups will be grouped loosely by ability. Teachers will maintain close proximity
to students to guide thinking, ask higher-level thought questions and keep students on task.

Closing of the Lesson:

1. Teacher will bring students back to the carpet to close.
2. Teacher will ask students to share what they liked about the activity by raising their hands.
3. Teacher will restate that counting means that a numeral matches an amount of items and
restate the reasons that we may want to count as discussed in the opening of the lesson.
Assessing/Checking for Understanding:
1. Teachers will informally assess students and take anecdotal notes as necessary throughout
the lesson.
2. Teachers may take photos when students achieve new levels of understanding for
documentation in TS Gold.
3. Teachers will continue to assess students by asking students to produce x number of
counters or giving students simple equation-like problems to solve such as, I have two
cars, how many more do I need to get if I want 4?
Strategies for successful transitions:
1.
Remind students to keep their bodies safe during transition from group to small group.
2.
Have one on one help for Brady or Roscoe if needed.
3.
Provide positive verbal reinforcement for students who are behaving appropriately.
Classroom behaviors to reinforce:
1.
Safe bodies.
2.
Quiet voices.
3.
Raising hands to share ideas.

Lesson 2: Balancing Act

Objective:
After reading Balancing Act, by Ellen Stoll Walsh, students will demonstrate understanding of
the balance scale in small groups by making predictions and evaluating the accuracy of those
predictions.
Standards:
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.6: Children understand comparisons and measurement.
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.1: Children understand counting, ways of representing
numbers and relationships between quantities and numerals.
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.4: Children observe, describe and predict the world around
them.
Purpose:
Identify students varied levels of understanding of cause and effect, number value and
measuring weight/mass. This activity will give insight to student thinking about the world and
their ability to make accurate predictions.
Academic Language:
scale, fulcrum, lever, heavier, lighter, weight
Materials:
2 balance scales, Balancing Act book, blocks to demonstrate vocabulary or fulcrum and lever,
graphic organizer for Heavier/Lighter predictions
Introduction/Opening:
1. Bring students to circle and get the wiggles out with a song/dance.
2. Remind students of circle rules by doing the Rug Rules song together.
3. Say, If you have ever played on a teeter-totter, touch your nose.
4. Call on one student who is in body basics and touching his or her nose to explain what
happened when they played on the teeter-totter.
5. Use students description to demonstrate the vocabulary with the blocks. Explain that the
center where the lever pivots is called the fulcrum.
6. Now we are going to read a book that shows two mice friends who run into some problems
when other friends try to join in on their teeter-totter fun!
Lesson Sequence:
1. Read Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh
2. Ask for predictions and responses throughout the book to gauge student interest and
understanding. If students do not bring up the words heavy or light then introduce the
words as an explanation for what is happening in the story.

3. Explain that at the small group tables, each student will get a prediction mat with the
options HEAVIER and LIGHTER. Demonstrate this concept with different objects, asking
for student volunteers to help.
4. Students are encouraged to talk with each other at their tables about what they are thinking.
5. Students will go to small group tables where they will make independent predictions
regarding the relative weight of two objects using their organizer and then test their
predictions on the balance scales.
Closing of the Lesson:
1. Bring students back to circle.
2. Ask students, What happened with your scale predictions? Were you right? Why do
you think that happened?
3. Help students review the vocabulary (they are not expected to know these words, but rather
to have exposure to the words).
4. Release students using the Magic Mirror to next activity.
Assessing/Checking for Understanding:
1. Teachers will informally assess students and take anecdotal notes as necessary throughout
the lesson.
2. Teachers may take photos when students achieve new levels of understanding for
documentation in TS Gold.
3. Teachers will continue to assess students by asking students to compare two objects for
relative weight at the discovery center with the balance scales. (Review students placement
of objects in the organizers as well.)
4. Teachers will assess students building of levers in the block center and check for vocabulary
and thinking when possible.
Strategies for successful transitions:
1. Use Magic Mirror to find students in body basics to call on when transitioning to/from
small groups.
2. Use song reminders to reinforce behaviors and next steps.
3. Provide positive verbal reinforcement for students who are behaving appropriately.
Classroom behaviors to reinforce:
1.
Safe bodies.
2.
Quiet voices.
3.
Raising hands to share ideas.
Other:
Differentiation :
Lower - graphic organizer supports students who may need a more visual representation of the
concepts.
Higher - Teachers may prompt students to think about how many of one variable it might take to
balance out one of the other variable.

Lesson 3: Lengthy
Objective:
Students will demonstrate understanding of the mathematical term length by measuring the
length/height of objects around the room.
Standards:
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.1: Children understand counting, ways of representing
numbers and relationships between quantities and numerals.
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.6: Children understand comparisons and measurement.
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.4: Children observe, describe and predict the world around
them.
Purpose:
Identifying student levels of understanding of the concept of length.
Academic Language:
long/tall, short, measure, compare, count, add, take-away
Materials:
Graphic organizer, tape measure, yard sticks, rulers, links, pencils
Introduction/Opening:
1. Bring students to circle and get the wiggles out with a song/dance.
2. Show students the cover of the book, Lengthy, and ask them if they know what the word
lengthy means. If they are stumped by this, ask them what they notice about the dog on the
cover. (They will likely say he is long! - Explain that lengthy means long.)
3. Today we are going to talk about measuring length - or how long or short things are.
Lesson Sequence:
1. Read the book Lengthy by Syd Hoff.
2. Explain that we are going to measure how long - or tall - each student is today.
3. While calling students up one by one, invite other students to build chains out of the links for
later use.
4. After all students have been measured and have signed their initials by their length/height,
have students consider Who is the longest? Who is the shortest? etc.
5. Show students the graphic organizer for the day. Explain that this will help them to record/
write down their measurements during the activity today. Demonstrate how to use it.
6. Give each student an organizer and a pencil. The organizer will have 6 objects on it
represented with words and a picture.
* A friends arm
*A marker
*The hand washing sink
*A doll
*A shelf
*The couch

7. Release students to measure objects around the room using their chains. They can count the
links to record a measurement of the items.
Closing of the Lesson:
1. Bring students back to the circle
2. Ask students to raise their hand if they know what length means.
3. Ask students, What was the longest thing you measured today? How do you know it was
the longest?
Assessing/Checking for Understanding:
1. Teachers will informally assess students and take anecdotal notes as necessary throughout
the lesson.
2. Teachers may take photos when students achieve new levels of understanding for
documentation in TS Gold.
3. Consider student responses to questions during independent and group work times.
Strategies for successful transitions:
1. Use Magic Mirror to find students in body basics to call on when transitioning to/from
small groups.
2. Use song reminders to reinforce behaviors and next steps.
3. Provide positive verbal reinforcement for students who are behaving appropriately.
Classroom behaviors to reinforce:
1.
Safe bodies.
2.
Quiet voices.
3.
Raising hands to share ideas.
Other:
Differentiation Low - Some students may need to measure fewer than 6 items if the list is overwhelming.
High - Encourage higher students to begin comparing for relative length.

Lesson 4: Longer and Shorter

Objective:
After reading The Long and Short of It, by Cheryl Nathan and Lisa McCord, students will
demonstrate understanding of the measurement terms longer and shorter, while in small
groups by categorizing objects accordingly on a graphic organizer in 4 of 5 attempts.
Standards:
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.6: Children understand comparisons and measurement.
Iowa Early Learning Standard - 12.4: Children observe, describe and predict the world around
them.
Purpose:
Identifying student levels of understanding of the concept of measurement by length.
Academic Language:
long/tall, short, measure, compare
Materials:
graphic organizer, objects of varying length, The Long and Short of It book
Introduction/Opening:
1. Bring class to the circle carpet and get the wiggles out with a song/dance.
2. Sing the Rules of the Rug song to remind students of the carpet rules.
3. Remind students that I will be asking them questions and I want them to raise their hand if
there is something they want to say so that I can call on them to share.
4. Say, Earlier this week, we talked about balancing. What do you remember about
levers? (Prompt with lower vocabulary of teeter-totters if no responses.)
5. Today, we are going to talk about another way of measuring things. Its called length.
Lesson Sequence:
1. Read the book, The Long and Short of It
2. Help students connect this to Lengthy from the previous day and the concept of measuring
length.
3. If students seem to understand the basic idea of long and short, explain that in small groups
today students will take a new graphic organizer and compare items on the tables by their
length by placing the longer and shorter item on the correct side of the organizer.
4. Demonstrate for students how to use the organizer and encourage them to ask their table
partners to check their work and talk it over if they disagree.
5. Release students to the small groups using the magic mirror.
6. While students work in small groups and independently, teachers will assess students
understanding by observing objects in the organizers and listening to student conversation.

Closing of the Lesson:

1. Bring students back to the carpet.
2. Ask, Was it hard to figure out the length of the items? How was this different than
measuring with the scales? (Be prepared to scratch that question if the students dont get it.)
3. Ask, What else could we measure the length of?
4. After closing comments, release students one by one with the Magic Mirror to the next
activity.
Assessing/Checking for Understanding:
1. Teachers will informally assess students and take anecdotal notes as necessary throughout
the lesson.
2. Teachers may take photos when students achieve new levels of understanding for
documentation in TS Gold.
3. Teachers will continue to assess students during small group and independent work times by
asking students to compare two objects and describe by length - longer or shorter than.
(Review students placement of objects in the organizers as well.)
4. Students may also review their graphic organizers from the lengthy lesson. They can
categorize these objects that they measured according to length order as well.
Strategies for successful transitions:
1. Use Magic Mirror to find students in body basics to call on when transitioning to/from
small groups.
2. Use song reminders to reinforce behaviors and next steps.
3. Provide positive verbal reinforcement for students who are behaving appropriately.
Classroom behaviors to reinforce:
1.
Safe bodies.
2.
Quiet voices.
3.
Raising hands to share ideas.
Other:
Differentiation High: Challenge students to order more items (more than 2) from shortest to longest.
Low: Revert to lower level language - big, small and build up to long, short.

The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by
drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as
well as knowledge of learners and the community context.