STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Laura Nestler Date:

1-26-17

School: Windsor Middle School Grade Level: 7th

Content Area: Math

Title: Constructing Triangles!!

Lesson #: 5 of 11

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards

directly from the standard)

Draw, construct, and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships
between them. (CCSS: 7.G)

Draw (freehand, with ruler and protractor, and with technology) geometric shapes
with given conditions. (CCSS: 7.G.2)

Construct triangles from three measures of angles or sides, noticing when the
conditions determine a unique triangle, more than one triangle, or no triangle.
(CCSS: 7.G.2)

Understandings: (Big Ideas)

Students will develop the idea that the sum of interior angles of a triangle is 180
degrees. They will also work to develop the idea that the sum of any two sides of a
triangle has to be larger than the other side.

Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of

instruction, select applicable questions from standard)

How many degrees are in a triangle? What about a Quadrilateral?

Why do you think the sum of the angles in a quadrilateral is twice that of a triangle?

What information do you need to make a unique triangle?

How do you know if a triangle can be made with 3 side lengths?

Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)

Every student will be able to: (Create your own lesson objectives from the
standard, follow the ABCD format, using student voice)

I can: determine what the sum of all the interior angles of a triangle is.

I can: develop a formula that will help me determine if three sides will
make a triangle or not.

This means: I will be able to fill out the experimental activity and draw
conclusions about the patterns that I find.

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

List of Assessments: (Write the number of the learning target associated with
each assessment)

I will assess my students by looking at the work they complete for the warm up
problem. I will also assess their thinking as they work through the development
activity.

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form
Name and Purpose of Lesson
Should be a creative title for you and the
students to associate with the activity.
Think of the purpose as the mini-rationale
for what you are trying to accomplish
through this lesson.
Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to
last and what materials will you need?
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention.
These are actions and statements by the
teacher to relate the experiences of the
students to the objectives of the lesson,
To put students into a receptive frame of
mind.
To focus student attention on the
lesson.
To create an organizing framework
for the ideas, principles, or
information that is to follow
(advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a
different activity or new concept is to be
introduced.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what
students and teacher will do from the
minute they arrive to the minute they
leave your classroom. Indicate the length
of each segment of the lesson. List actual
minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
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Planned Lesson Activities
Constructing Shapes-
This purpose of this lesson has two different parts. One being, for
students to understand that every triangle has an interior angle sum of
180 degrees. The second being for students to know when you can
build a triangle with three sides and when you cannot.
Warm up 5 minutes
Angle exploration 20 minutes
Side length exploration- 20 minutes
Closure 5 minutes
For the anticipator set for this lesson I plan on having students
complete a warm up that has to do with finding the missing angle of a
complementary set or supplementary set of angles. I think this a great
time that students can get some more support in this area while also
moving on and focusing on the new content of todays lesson.
Teacher Actions Student Actions
I will have the learning targets on Students will get their chrome
the board for the class. books and their notebooks and
pencils.
I will have students complete the
warm up and award dojo point as Students will work in their teams
well as put a timer up on the board to complete the warm up for the
to help hold me accountable. day!
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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

-teacher input
-modeling I am going to have student
-questioning strategies complete the first page of their
-guided/unguided: work sheet that has to do with
-whole-class practice developing the idea that the
-group practice interior angle sum is always 180
-individual practice degrees for a triangle.
-check for understanding
-other Then I will have students work
through the experimental activity
for the three sides and hopefully
they will be able to make the
correct conclusion.
Students will work in their teams
sharing ideas. They will all be
using the same guidelines for
triangles and then comparing
them to see if they drew the same
triangle or different triangles.
Students will work in teams and
also individually to complete the
exploratory activity.

Closure For closure I just want to conduct a whole class discussion to see what
Those actions or statements by a teacher conclusions they found from the two in class activities! This will be a
that are designed to bring a lesson good time for students to be able to share with the whole class their
presentation to an appropriate conclusion. ideas after they have had time to work on it individually and in pairs.
Used to help students bring things
together in their own minds, to make
sense out of what has just been taught.
Any Questions? No. OK, lets move on is
not closure. Closure is used:
To cue students to the fact that
they have arrived at an important
point in the lesson or the end of a
lesson.
To help organize student learning
To help form a coherent picture and to
consolidate.
Differentiation If this activity is to difficult for a student I will have them practice just
To modify: If the activity is too advanced drawing angle with different side lengths before moving on to making
for a child, how will you modify it so that triangles.
they can be successful?
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a If this activity is to easy for a student I will have them help others
child, how will you extend it to develop develop the idea by looking at patterns. I will also let students explore

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

their emerging skills? in GeoGebra!

Assessment
How will you know if students met the
learning targets? Write a description of
what you were looking for in each
assessment.
I will assess my students through their in class participation and the
conclusions that they draw from the activity during class. I will also
assess students learning on the warm up problem for the day!

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

1. Draw a triangle with a side length of 4 centimeters and an

angle of 60 degrees:

a. Is your triangle the same as your neighbors?

b. Can you make exactly the same triangle every time if you
are only given an angle and a side?

c. What is the sum of all the interior angles? Show how you
got it!

d. Follow Link 1 in your daily agenda and try to make the

angle sum of a triangle more or less than 180 degrees! Is
it possible?

2. Create a quadrilateral with one 30-degree angle, one 60-

degree angle, and a side that is 5 cm long by following Link 2
in your daily agenda!

a. Is it the same as your neighbors?

b. What is the sum of all the interior angles?

3. What is the relationship between the angle sum of a

quadrilateral and the angle sum of a triangle?

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

4. Use Link 3 in the daily agenda to help you fill out the table!

Is the sum
you found in
What is the sum the last
Side Side Side Do these sides
of the two column larger
1 2 3 make a triangle?
smaller sides? or smaller
than the third
side?

7 14 10 Yes 7 + 10 = 17 Larger

4 8 8 Yes 4 + 8 = 12 Larger

5 12 4 No 5+4=9 Smaller

13 17 26 Yes 13 + 17 = 30 Larger

12 4 18 No 12 + 4 = 16 Smaller

11 5 16 No 11 + 5 = 16 Same

25 87 68 Yes 68 + 25 = 93 Larger

What patterns do you see between the fourth and the sixth column?

How can we determine whether or not three sides will make a

triangle?

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