Lesson Plan #2

Grade Level: Preschool 4-6 years

Subject / Content area: Mathematical Thinking
Unit of Study: Sea Creatures / Sharks
Lesson Title: Comparing the Length of Different Types of Sharks and Familiar Objects
Central Focus for the learning segment: Students will organize different types of sharks by size.
Content Standard(s): NYS Pre-Kindergarten Foundation for the Common Core Domain #5
Cognition and Knowledge of the World; Measurement and Data: Describe and compare
measurable attributes.1. Identify measurable attributes of objects, such as length, and weight.
Describe them using correct vocabulary (e.g., small, big, short, tall, empty, full, heavy, and light).
Learning Objectives associated with the content standards:
a. After investigating the length and width of different types of sharks, students will use the
vocabulary length, width, greater than, less than in describing sharks.
b. After a large group discussion, students will hypothesize other animals or objects that may be
as long as a shark.
c. Students will recognize that objects are measurable.
Instructional Resources and Materials to engage students in learning:
Images of sharks
Images of real life objects that are similar in size to sharks
Images of shark size in relation to humans or other animals
Images of the largest sharks and the smallest sharks
Rulers
Measuring tape
Counting Blocks
Pencils

Paper
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks:
I do In presenting the material, first the idea of length will be directly related to how tall the
students are. Various classroom objects will be available to be measured. At first, we will only look at
objects and decide which one is longer and which one is shorter.
We do Together, we will compare the length of a shark to an object in the room that is shorter, the
same length, and longer. We will measure with a ruler, with counting blocks, and by comparing it to
our bodies.
You do Students will each have a rule and choose one object to measure. They will measure the
object and report it back to the teacher to add to the chart of objects we will compare to the length of
sharks.
Differentiation and planned universal supports:
Visual Visual representations of the length of sharks will be presented in the form of images
comparing sharks by size.
Tactile Students will touch objects to get an idea of their dimensions while they measure them.
Auditory Students will listen to an explanation of the length and how to measure sharks. Students
will be able to go to the audio center and listen to a scientific investigation on the length of sharks.
Kinesthetic Students will be able to use counting blocks or cubes to make their measurements.
Students will walk around the room to find objects to measure.
Technology We will research the length of sharks and present that information to the class.
Forms of Expression Students will be encouraged to draw, act out with their hands, or verbalize the
results of their measurements.
Language Function students will develop.
1. Length, width, long, short, longer, shorter, measure, measurement
2. Compare and contrast length of objects in the room to measurements of sharks

Additional language demands and language supports:

1. Ability to express length and the concepts of longer and shorter
2. This will be modeled with hand gestures and with paper and pencil drawings to give students
the option to represent length visually.
Type of Student Assessments and what is being assessed:
Informal Assessment: Students will be observed for the language they use when discussing sharks.
When students independently measure objects in the room, their understanding of length will be
observed by watching for what part of the object they measure and how they measure it. This will
provide many opportunities to give students one on one support in developing these concepts. This is
an introductory lesson, so students understanding before the lesson starts will be assessed and then
again from these observations.

Modifications to the Assessments: Lessons in the future will adapt based on what students already
know and their areas that need strengthening. Individuals may be assessed depending on their
strengths and areas needing strengthening.
Evaluation Criteria:
Do students understand the concepts of long and short, longer and shorter?
What language do students use to compare length?
Do students have a concept of space and dimension? Do they demonstrate understanding of relative
size?
Lesson Timeline:
Introduction 3 minutes
Measuring ourselves Students will find out how tall they are in inches. We will write this down on
the board and order the sizes from shortest to tallest. 6 minutes
Length of sharks: We will look at pictures of real life sharks and compare the largest and the smallest
sharks. We will look at pictures of real objects that are similar in size to the sharks. For example, one

of the smallest sharks is the pale catshark at about 8 inches. We will measure objects in the classroom
to see what 8 inches is like. 10 minutes
Measuring activity students will go around the room and measure at least one object. They will
write down the length or remember the length and report it back to the class. We will make a chart
with the measurements of the classroom objects. We will choose a few sharks to compare these
objects to. Are they longer or shorter? 10 minutes
Review/wrap up-

Extension: We will continue our study of measurement throughout the following weeks. We will keep
a chart in the classroom that we can add length comparisons to. In our study of other sea creatures we
will find out how long they are. We will bring this back to the measurements we have for different
sharks and objects and compare and contrast them.