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Lesson

4th Grade Math - Number Operations: Multiplication & Division

Clip 5/16: Problem 2 - 4th Grade Number Ops Part A

Overview

One goal here is to access prior knowledge and formatively assess student understanding and confidence levels about division.

Teacher Commentary

Several gaps in understanding arise. In retrospect, this is a key difference between teaching this lesson for a fourth grade class versus the fifth grade class it was planned for. Also, it serves as valuable assessment step before beginning a division bar model problem with students. I find a tentative confidence about 2÷4 versus 4÷2 or how to explain why 4÷2 is the same as 4-2. This makes me question the effect of teaching fact families (related multiplication and division equations) before solid investigations of division. To refocus on models, I choose to leave these ideas momentarily unjustified.

Materials & Artifacts