Unit Standards and Goals

Math4
Shape, Dimension, and Geometric Relationships
Math4-6.1 (CCSS: 6.G.A.1-4)
Objects in space and their parts and attributes can be measured and analyzed
Math4-6.1a (CCSS: 6.G.A.1)

Develop and apply formulas and procedures for area of plane figures
including triangles, quadrilaterals, and polygons.

Math4-6.1c (CCSS: 6.G.A.3)

Draw polygons in the coordinate plan to solve real-world and

mathematical problems.

This chapter I took a different approach than a traditional math class, focusing on student
based discovery. The whole chapter used prior knowledge of certain geometric concepts to find
new area and perimeter formulas. Inside the chapter there was even student scaffolding; students
were required to use formulas they had used the day before to discover the area of a new shape.
The chapter ended by taking all the different formulas that students had found and required them
to apply those formulas to solve real world problems, graph polygons in coordinate plane, and
find the area of composite figures
.

The following are the goals that I hoped every student would achieve by the end of two days in
the classroom. Some were met better than others (See reflections on lesson plans).
Section 1:

Students can identify what is and is not a polygon.

Students know what it means to have parallel sides in a polygon.
Students can discover the area equation of a parallelogram.
Students can find the base and height of ANY parallelogram.
Students can find the area of ANY parallelogram.
Students can apply what they know about writing expression to find an expression for
area of a parallelogram

Section 2:

Students can determine what makes a triangle.

Students can provide a formal definition for a triangle.
Students can derive the area of a right triangle using background knowledge of a

rectangle.
Students can derive the area of ANY triangle using their knowledge of a parallelogram

from last lesson.

Students can approximate the area of triangles
Students can give examples of where they see triangles in the real world

Section 3:

Students can identify key features of Trapezoids.

Students can form a triangle from any trapezoid and use the area of this triangle to write a

formula for the area of a trapezoid.

Students can identify and list similarities and differences in Trapezoids and

parallelograms.
Students can apply the formula for the area of a trapezoid to find the area of any
trapezoid.

Section 3 extension:

Students can break up a composite figure into common polygons.

Students can apply ALL area formulas that they already know (triangle, trapezoid,

parallelogram)
Students can identify the measures on each side

Sections 4:

Students can graph ANY point on the coordinate plane.

Students can correlate the number of given points to the number of vertices in the

graphed polygon.
Students can discover a distance relationship between points on the coordinate plane.
Students can find the perimeter of basic shapes graphed in the coordinate plane.

These goals were assessed using both formative and summative assessments throughout the
chapter (See Assessment tools). Notice that these goals start with Students can, showing the
student driven class that I was desiring to see this semester. These goals were more specific than
the learning targets for each section, allowing me to break apart the lessons and assess how the
students were doing at different points of the section; this was done both formally and nonformally. These goals also helped to identify all the different levels of thinking that the students
would be going through during the chapter. Blooms Taxonomy breaks the levels of thinking
into different levels as follows; Remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating,
and creating. At least one of these student goals hit one of these levels of thinking.