By: Laura Segreto
April 12, 2014
Springboard to Math Assignment
Book Title: How to Train with a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals
Author: Michael Phelps and Alan Abrahamson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Grade 5 Specific Curriculum Expectations:
- read and print in words whole numbers to ten thousand, using meaningful
contexts (e.g., newspapers, magazines)
- select and justify the most appropriate standard unit (i.e., millimetre,
centimetre, decimetre, metre, kilometre) to measure length, height, width, and
distance
- solve problems that arise from real-life situations and that relate to the
magnitude of whole numbers up to 100 000
Overview:
The book, How to Train with a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, is the story of Michael
Phelps journey to the Beijing Olympics where he won 8 gold medals. The book is
classified as a biography because the book is based on the true story of Phelps. The
book highlights the training he had to do in order to qualify and win at the Olympics.
Math Text Features:
The book is very appropriate for a math class as the details of Phelps training are
expressed in various mathematical ways in order for young students to grasp the
measurements being expressed. For example, Phelps had to train for six years and
every day over those 6 years he had to take a 3-hour nap. This measurement of time is
then expressed as 6,552 hours of naptime or put together to make 273 days. To make
this number easier for students to understand, it is cleverly expressed as 3 summer
vacations. The students are easily able to understand this measurement of time when
it is expressed as 3 summer vacations. Even if a “summer vacation” is a non-standard
unit of measurement, it is a unit of time that even very young students are familiar
with. The book creatively compares various different measurements; from distances,
to time, to mass. The book contains rich illustrations to represent the various
measurements. The illustrations help the students visualize a very large mass (9 tons),
a very large distance (20000 km) and a very short amount of time (one one-hundredth
of a second). The book visually compares distances using various non-standard units,
for example the distance 3400m using Washington Monuments and Eiffel Towers in a
very engaging and visual way.
By: Laura Segreto
April 12, 2014
3 Part Lesson Plan for Measurement/Number Sense Lesson using Literacy
Task/Problem
Learning Goal:
How do you visualize/represent a large distance Students will see that large distances and large
and a large mass? Solve a problem using nonmasses can be represented various ways and
standard units
represented in meaningful ways, that make sense
to them
Part 1 -Minds On (20min)
Student Success Criteria:
Teacher reads the book, How to Train with a
-I can visualize and represent a large distance
T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, as a read-a-loud
and a large mass
to the class. At page 5, the teacher will stop
- I can express a measurement using nonreading and ask the students to answer
standard units
Question 1: How far is the distance
- I can use pictures, numbers and words to
20000km? How can you represent this
represent a number
distance in pictures, words or numbers?
- I can solve real world math problems using
math language
Students are given 5 minutes to answer with
their “elbow partner.” The teacher then asks
students to share their responses before showing
them page 6-8 where the distance is expressed
three different ways. Teacher continues reading
and stops at page 14 and asks students to answer
Question 2: How much is half a ton? How
can you represent this mass in pictures,
words or numbers?
Students are given 5 minutes to answer with
their “elbow partners.” The teacher then asks
students to share their responses before showing
the class page 15& 16 where the mass is
expressed in different ways. Teacher finishes
reading the book.
Part 2- Work on It (25 min)
Strategies:
The teacher hands out the two “Work on It”
• Make a picture
questions and students are asked to work with
• Convert to another unit
their “elbow partner” to solve the problems.
• Estimate
Work on It Question:
• Divide – Question 2
1) Joey, who is in Junior Kindergarten,
•
wants to know how far away the North
Pole is from Toronto. Joey knows that
Tools:
the North Pole is far, but he is not sure
• Paper/pencil
how far. You look on the Internet to
• World Atlas or any books in the class
find out that the North Pole is roughly
library
5020km from Toronto. How would you
describe this distance to Joey? Use
• Internet/computers if needed to look up
pictures, words and numbers.
information
2) If Michael Phelps swam 20084km and
this is the same as swimming the Great
Wall of China 3 times, show how you
can calculate the length of the Great Wall
of China. Show all your work.
By: Laura Segreto
April 12, 2014
Part 3 – Gallery Walk –Students post their
responses to Question 1 on one wall of the class,
and Question 2 on another wall. For roughly 10
minutes students are asked to walk around and
look at the other solutions.
Congress Questions: (5-10 min) Now that you
looked at other possible ways to express the
distance from Toronto to the North Pole, which
solution surprised you? Were there any solutions
that you had never thought about?
What strategy did most people use to solve
Question 2? If you used division to solve
Question 2, what does the reminder represent?
Group members:_______________________
Misconceptions:
- Students may have forgotten the
vocabulary “kilometer” and “ton”
-
students may not remember how many
meters are in a kilometer
-
students may not be able to visualize a
half of a ton if they don’t know how
many grams are in a kilogram, and how
many kilograms in a ton
-
students are not familiar with the
imperial measurement system so the
distance, which was in “miles” on page 5,
was converted from 12 480miles to
20084km
Date:_____________________
Minds On Question 1: How far is 20 000km? What does 20 000km look
like? Represent what you think 20 000km looks like in pictures and
numbers
Minds On Question 2: How much is half a ton? What does half a ton look
like? Represent what you think half a ton looks like.
By: Laura Segreto
April 12, 2014
Work It Out Question 1: Joey, who is in Junior Kindergarten, wants to know
how far away the North Pole is from Toronto. Joey knows that the North
Pole is far, but he is not sure how far. You look on the Internet to find out
that the North Pole is roughly 5020km from Toronto. How would you
describe this distance to Joey? Use pictures, words and numbers.
Work It Out Question 2: If Michael Phelps swam 20084km and this is the
same as swimming the Great Wall of China 3 times, show how you can
calculate the length of the Great Wall of China. Show all your work.