Lesson Exemplar — Mathematics 3

Term 1 · Week 7 · Day 1 · Number and Algebra

This is the English copy of a Filipino document. Grade 3 is taught in the mother tongue under MTB-MLE — this is the last year of it. lesson-plan.md is the version a teacher takes into the classroom, and every word the teacher says is scripted there in Filipino. This copy exists for observers, school heads and supervisors who do not read Filipino. Teaching from this copy would break MTB-MLE.

This is one day. For the whole of Week 7 in the format DepEd prescribes for filing, see lesson-plan-ilaw.md (or its English copy).

I. CURRICULUM CONTENT, STANDARDS, AND LESSON COMPETENCIES

A. Content Standards

Quoted from the MATATAG Mathematics Curriculum Guide (DepEd, August 2023, p. 34), Grade 3 Quarter 1, content standard 4:

The learners should have knowledge and understanding of whole numbers up to 10 000.

B. Performance Standards

By the end of the quarter, the learners are able to represent, round, compare, and order numbers up to 10 000. (NA)

C. Learning Competency and Objectives

Competency — Quarter 1, number 12, quoted:

12. round numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand.

Objectives for this session. By the end of 45 minutes, at least 80% of learners can:

1. Find the two candidates — the multiple below and the multiple above
2. Show the number on a number line between the two
3. Measure and write the two distances, then choose the smaller
4. Say that rounding answers "which is nearer", not "what is correct"

The fourth objective is the lesson. A child who learns to round by a digit rule is right most of the time and will never find out why they are sometimes wrong.

D. Content

Rounding is not a question about a digit. It is a question about distance.

The class sentence, introduced in §D and said in Filipino: "Alin ang mas malapit?" — which is nearer?

E. Integration Across Learning Areas

II. MATERIALS

Needed — no cost. Chalk and a board; paper and pencil; one long number line on the floor — rope, chalk on concrete, or sheets of paper taped together, marked 100, 110, 120 … 200.

Not used: a calculator. There is no calculation in this lesson beyond subtracting two numbers.

In addition. slides.html slides 1–9 · game.html Round 1 · worksheet.html · wall-chart.html — all four are in Filipino only.

III. TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCEDURE

The Filipino script, with the exact wording to use, is in lesson-plan.md §III. The structure and timings are below.

A. Activating Prior Knowledge — 5 minutes (0:00 → 0:05)

Week 6 work, oral. Write on the board:

4 731

Place value is needed before rounding. A child who cannot see where the hundreds are cannot find the nearest hundred.

B. Establishing Lesson Purpose — 6 minutes (0:05 → 0:11)

Write large on the board:

149

Ask one question only:

"To the nearest hundred — which is nearer, 100 or 200?"

Take a vote and write both counts on the board. Most will choose 200. Do not settle it yet. Do not hint.

"We will find this out before noon, and we will not argue about it — we will measure it."

C. Developing and Deepening Understanding — 22 minutes (0:11 → 0:33)

C.1 Explicitation — the number line (7 min) (0:11 → 0:18)

Draw the line on the board — or better, use the line on the floor and stand a child on it.

    100                    149        200
     |———————————————————————|—————————|
              49 away          51 away

Count aloud with the class:

*"From 100 to 149 — how many? Forty-nine. From 149 to 200 — how many? Fifty-one."*

Write both numbers under the line. Do not give the answer yet.

"Which is smaller — 49 or 51?"

C.2 Worked Example — the answer (5 min) (0:18 → 0:23)

"Forty-nine is smaller. So 149 is nearer to 100."

Go back to the vote in §B and write the correct answer beside the two counts.

This is the moment of the lesson. Most voted 200, and they were not wrong because they are slow — they were wrong because they were taught to look at the digit. Say that plainly: "You looked at the 4 and the 9. That is not a bad thing to do. But it is not the question."

Write on the board and leave it there:

   Rounding is not a question about the DIGIT.
   It is a question about DISTANCE.

C.3 Guided Practice — we do it (5 min) (0:23 → 0:28)

Same line, new number: 151.

"149 and 151 differ by only two — but they have different answers. That is what nearer means."

Put both on one line on the board so it can be seen.

C.4 Independent Practice — you do it (5 min) (0:28 → 0:33)

Four numbers, same line, same two questions. Write the two distances before the answer.

(Teacher's copy. The children are given the numbers only.)

Walk around and ask one question only:

"Where are your two distances?"

D. Making Generalisations — 7 minutes (0:33 → 0:40)

Build it together and write it where it will stay all week:

   1.  Find the TWO CANDIDATES — below and above.

   2.  Measure the TWO DISTANCES.

   3.  Choose the NEARER.

Say the class sentence together, twice, in Filipino:

"Alin ang mas malapit?"

Then plant Day 2 and do not answer it:

"Tomorrow we will round the same number, 149, to the nearest ten. Do you think the answer will still be 100?"

E. With no electricity and no materials

This lesson needs no electricity. The number line can be drawn in the dirt with a stick, and that is in fact better — the child walks the distance and counts it in paces. If there is no paper, each child stands at the end nearest their answer.

IV. ASSESSMENT AND REFLECTION

A. Assessment — 5 minutes (0:40 → 0:45)

Exit question. On half a sheet:

                      2 6 4 8

1. To the nearest ten:        ____________
2. To the nearest hundred:    ____________
3. To the nearest thousand:   ____________
4. In item 2 — what are the distances to the two candidates?

   ______  and  ______

Answer key.

Marking, and what to do.

Read item 4 before anything else. It is the only item that says whether the child measured or guessed.

B. Teacher's Notes

C. Teacher's Reflection

• Did we use the floor line, or only the board?
• Did I leave the vote unsettled until §C.2, or did I give it away?
• Did any child ask whether a rounded number is "wrong"? That is a good question and it has a real answer: it is not wrong, it is close enough.

Anticipated Misconceptions

Differentiation

The Rest of the Week

Part of the E-turo MATATAG artifact set. Companion files: syllabus.md · lesson-plan-ilaw.md · assessment.md · offline-activities.md · slides.html · game.html · worksheet.html · wall-chart.html