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The Literature Connection
Concepts Covered:
Tables, Fractions, Decimals,
Percents, Ratio, Proportion, Probability
Sunshine State Standards:
MA.3.A.2.2
MA.3.A.6.2
MA.4.A.2.3
MA.4.A.6.3
MA.6.A.2.2
MA.6.A.5.1
MA.7.P.7.2
Materials for each group:
10 sets of 10 different colored
snap cubes
1 box of markers
1 paper lunch bag with candy
10 sticky labels
assorted packs of sticky notes
1 calculator
grid/chart paper
Student Arrangement:
Students should work in groups
of 3 or 4.
Procedure:
Day 1: Table
- Read Cucumber Soup by Vickie Leigh Krudwig to students.
- Have students make representations for the number of each kind of
bug found in the book. (For example, 10 ants can be represented with
10 blue snap cubes and 2 praying mantises can be represented with 2
red snap cubes etc…)
- Label each group of bugs
with stickers.
Discussion:
How did you construct and organize your models of the insects?
Why did you arrange them that way?
What are other methods we could use to organize this information?
Day 2: Multiples
- Using chart paper, create
data tables to organize the information.
- Share/Explain tables with
class, use chart paper.
Discussion:
How many bugs are there in all?
What would happen to the number of bugs if 2 or more cucumbers fell
on the anthill?
How many of each bug would be needed to move the cucumbers? (Fill in
table)
What patterns do you see?
What kinds of numbers are these?
Day 3: Fractions
- Direct each student to pick
a bug and write its name on a sticky note. Each student in the group
must pick a different bug.
- On your sticky note, write
what part of the whole bug group your bug is. (For example, in the book
there are 9 mosquitoes and 55 bugs all together, so the relationship
is the fraction 9/55.)
- Students share answers in
their groups explaining how and why they wrote their answer the way
they did.
Discussion:
Show each bug’s
fractional representation of whole bug group on chart paper.
Discuss need to simplify some of the fractions.
- Working in pairs, the students
should complete a data table on grid paper.
- Demonstrate how to convert
decimals to percentages
- Complete the data table
with the matching decimal and percent. (Students work in pairs to complete
their data tables.)
- Ask students how fractions,
decimals, and percent are related.
- Ask students how fractions,
decimals, and percents help them understand data collected.
Day 4: Ratio Part to Whole
- Lead discussion about the
need to compare data, and ways fractions, decimals, percents can be
used to help make those comparisons.
- Another way to compare data.
Ex. There are 9 mosquitoes for every group of 55 bugs. State this comparison
as 9 to 55. Explain this is called a ratio. It can be written in several
ways. In words, it can be written as "9 to 55". We also have
a symbol to replace the word "to." Ask if anyone already knows
this symbol. Show an example of a ratio using the colon (9:55).
- Add another column to the
data table.
- On the sticky note, write
the ratio for the bug group chosen earlier. The ratio should be written
in all 3 ways: word, with colon, and as fraction.
- Share with your group.
- Fill in the ratio of bugs
in each separate group to the total bugs.
- Have students add data to
data table.
Discussion:
What about the fractions we simplified?
What happened to their ratio?
What about the equivalent fractions we calculated earlier?
Will their ratio be any different than the ones we just completed? Why?
Day 5: Ratio Part to Part
- Discuss possibility of
comparing a group of bugs to another group of bugs rather than a group
of bugs to the whole group of bugs.
- Pick two bug groups and
predict what the ratio would be.
- Write the bug group names
and the three forms of the ratio on the back of the grid paper.
- Share answers with class
on chart.
Day 6: Probability
Discussion:
Which bug would a hungry robin eat if he swooped down on the mixed group
of bugs?
Why do you think that?
Is it guaranteed that the bird will really catch that bug?
Discuss terms used when talking about probability.
Discuss probability and its mathematical representation
Lead the group to discover the fractional representation, decimal, and
percent form - the probability of catching a mosquito is 9/55, or about
0.16, or about 16%.
Probability Activity/Game
Directions:
Pull apart snap cubes and place inside paper bag (Just the right number
of cubes for each bug group).
Predict bug/cube will be pulled from the bag.
Tell the group the
probability of getting that bug.
Students who successfully predict which bug is pulled may choose one
piece of candy
Return all cubes to the bag after each try.
Variation 1:
This time, pick two bugs that you predict will be chosen
Pick one cube from
the bag.
Variation 2:
Predict which bug is likely
to be chosen
Pick
two cubes from the bag.
Discussion:
How do probability and ratio tie into fractions, decimals, and percent?
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