Math Tourist:  I Want My Mummy

Essential Question for students (objective):  How can we solve multi-step real-world problems?

Supplies:   video (length 2:29), note-maker, connected cubes or inch tiles

CCSS:  4.MD.2, 4.OA.3 MP #1 – Persevere in solving problems, make sense of problems, MP#2 – Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively, MP#4 – Create a Model

Instructional Format: Video, student problem-solving, group or individual work

Lesson Description: There are many ways to use this video in your math class.  You can use it for multiple grade levels – including high school Algebra.  I filmed this video as an entry point for setting up comparison problems that students have a better understanding of if they can create a model.  Error alert:  Students have a tendency to create the model (or write the equation in Algebra) backwards.  If you say blue is twice as long as red, they usually model or write 2B=R.  I also included wording, “3 less than.”  Students incorrectly write 3-R rather than R-3.  **In a fourth and fifth grade classroom, it is important to give the students a different color to represent each of the 3 sarcophagi because connected cubes or regular squares are usually in primary colors and it is important to distinguish between the small black sarcophagus and the large one.  The other piece of information that is slightly nebulous is that I just say 3 less and I don’t indicate a unit (inches or feet).  I meant feet, but you could give inches to more advanced students to make them think a bit more.   

1)  You can show this video (2:29) at the beginning or end of any unit on multiplication. This video is very helpful to see how students can translate the information into equations or models.