Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere: A Fibonacci Tale

$Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere: A Fibonacci Tale book cover$

Grade 2
4 skill lessons · 4 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1The Two Days Before
2Three Rules, One Row of Numbers
3A and B: Drawing the Rule Amanda Drew
4Pairs on the Mat, Rabbits in the Count

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

5Before, Not After: Which Two Days Make Friday
6Put the Week Back in Order and Prove It with Adding
7The Day the Book Stops Counting
8Did Amanda Give Up on That Rule Too Soon?

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

9Fibb and Knot, Fib Not: The Names That Say Something
10Ridiculous Rodents and Horrid Hares
11Snarled, Growled Softer, Smiling: Watching the Wizard Change
12In a Small, Clear Voice: How Amanda Speaks Up
13Famous for Two Things: How Chee Is Introduced

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Skill lessons

4 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. The Two Days Before Concept · Adding the two numbers before to find the next

The book prints its whole week of counts, one pair on Monday and Tuesday, then two, three, five, eight and thirteen, and then states in Amanda's own voice what ties them together. Students build each day's pairs with counters, cover a day and rebuild it from the two days on its left, and write the adding sentence that names those two days. A number in this row is not free: two particular earlier numbers fix it, and using any other two produces a count the cards contradict.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Lay out the seven day cards in order (5 min)
Take the seven day cards and put them in the order the book tells them, Monday through Sunday. On each card build the pairs with two-colour counters: one counter of each colour makes one pair. Monday gets one pair, and you stop adding counters when the card's number is built. Say the day and the number of pairs aloud to your partner before you move to the next card.
Word preview: pair
On Sunday, thirteen pairs snuggled together eating thirteen carrots.
2. Find the two cards that make the next one (6 min)
Cover Sunday's card with your hand. Look at Friday and Saturday only, and put those pairs together on your mat to see what the next day must be. Uncover Sunday and check whether your pile matches. Do the same for Saturday, covering it and building Wednesday's and Thursday's pairs together. Tell your partner which two cards you used each time, in order.
On Friday, Amanda saw five pairs of rabbits eating five rows of spinach.
On Saturday, there were eight pairs eating eight onions.
3. Write the adding sentence for each day (5 min)
Write one adding sentence for each day from Wednesday on, using the two days before it: 1 + 1 = 2, then 1 + 2 = 3, and keep going to Sunday. Every sentence must use the two numbers that sit directly to its left on your card row, never any other two. Read your last sentence aloud and point at the two cards it came from.
Word preview: sum
“Each day, the number of pairs is the sum of the two days before.”
4. Say the rule in your own words (4 min)
Say the rule to your partner without reading it: tell them what you do to get any day's number. Your sentence has to name two days and one action. Then have your partner test your sentence on a day you did not use, and say whether it worked.
“So you see, it’s a pattern,” she finished.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Lay out the seven day cards in order (4 min)
Put the seven day cards in the order the book tells them and build the pairs on each with two-colour counters, one counter of each colour to a pair. Say the day and its number of pairs aloud.
Word preview: pair
On Sunday, thirteen pairs snuggled together eating thirteen carrots.
2. Find the two cards that make the next one (5 min)
Cover Sunday's card, put Friday's and Saturday's pairs together on your mat, then uncover Sunday and check. Tell your partner which two cards you used.
On Friday, Amanda saw five pairs of rabbits eating five rows of spinach.
On Saturday, there were eight pairs eating eight onions.

Three levels

Support: Work with the first five cards only, Monday through Friday, so no sum passes five. Keep the counters on the mat while you write, and read the two numbers straight off the two cards to your left rather than holding them in your head. The writing is the same; only the numbers are smaller.
At Grade: Build all seven days, cover and rebuild Saturday and Sunday from the two days before each, and write every adding sentence from Wednesday through Sunday. Point at the two cards each sentence used before you read it aloud.
Extension: Cover two days in a row, Saturday and Sunday together, and rebuild both from Thursday and Friday alone. Then say what goes wrong if you try to rebuild Sunday from Thursday and Saturday instead, using the counters to show the count you get and the count the card says.

English learners

Number, counting and the adding itself carry across languages, and a student who counts confidently in another language can build every card here without a word of English. What does not carry is the phrase "the two days before", where English puts the thing counted first and the direction last, and where "before" means earlier in the row rather than in front of it. Rehearse the frame "___ and ___ make ___" pointing at two cards and then the third, so the pointing carries the meaning while the words are still new. Invite students to work out and say the rule in their strongest language first, then report the same rule in English with the cards under their hands.

Materials

Seven day cards, Monday through Sunday
Two-colour counters
Number strip to 20
Building mat
Recording strip
Pencils
Word cards: pair, sum

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. Three Rules, One Row of Numbers Reasoning · Testing a rule against a row of numbers and finding where it breaks

Amanda names three candidate rules aloud and discards two of them, and the book prints the counts she tests them against. Students do the discarding themselves: they add one along the row, double along the row, and add the two before along the row, and they circle the exact count where each failing rule first disagrees with the book. The reasoning is that a rule is not beaten by opinion but by one place where it produces a number the row contradicts, and students must be able to name that place.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Test the adding-one rule on the book's numbers (6 min)
Write the book's seven counts along your strip: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13. Now test Amanda's first guess by adding one to each number and writing what you get underneath. Circle the first place where your answer and the book's count are different, and say the two numbers aloud.
Do I add the same number every time? One plus one is two. Two plus one is three. But three plus one is not five. So that doesn’t work. . . .
2. Test the doubling rule (5 min)
Test the second guess the book rules out. Double each count and write the double underneath, then circle the first place the double and the next count disagree. Tell your partner which day the doubling rule first breaks on, and give both numbers.
Word preview: double
The numbers are not doubling.
3. Test the rule that survives (5 min)
Now test adding the two counts before. Work along the strip from the third count to the last, writing each sum under the count it should make. Check every one against the book's number and mark the places they agree.
Word preview: sum
“Each day, the number of pairs is the sum of the two days before.”
4. Tell your partner why one rule beat the others (4 min)
Tell your partner which rule works and how you know, naming the count where each of the other two rules first broke. Your sentence must contain the two numbers that disagreed. Then listen to your partner's and say whether they named the same breaking place you did.
Maybe it’s an adding pattern,

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Test the adding-one rule on the book's numbers (5 min)
Write the seven counts along your strip, add one to each and write the result underneath, then circle the first place your answer and the book's count differ. Say both numbers aloud.
Do I add the same number every time? One plus one is two. Two plus one is three. But three plus one is not five. So that doesn’t work. . . .
2. Test the rule that survives (4 min)
Test adding the two counts before, working from the third count to the last and writing each sum under the count it should make. Mark every place your sum and the book's count agree.
Word preview: sum
“Each day, the number of pairs is the sum of the two days before.”

Three levels

Support: Test only the adding-one rule and only across the first four counts, 1, 1, 2 and 3. Write the book's counts in first and your answers underneath, one column at a time, so the two numbers to compare always sit one above the other. The circling and the saying stay exactly the same.
At Grade: Test all three rules across all seven counts, circle the first disagreement for each of the two that fail, and mark every agreement for the one that holds. Name both numbers at each breaking place.
Extension: Take the doubling rule and say why it looks right for longer than the adding-one rule does, using the counts where doubling and the book agree. Then decide whether a rule that works for the first three counts is enough, and defend your decision with a count from the row.

English learners

The arithmetic here is transferable and the strip does most of the talking, so a student can circle every breaking place without producing an English sentence. The hard English is the language of testing and rejecting: "that doesn't work", "it breaks here", "the rule holds". Rehearse the frame "the rule breaks at ___ because I got ___ and the book says ___" with a finger on the circled column, so the two numbers anchor the sentence. Invite students to decide which rule survives in their strongest language and then report the breaking place in English, since the decision and the reporting are separate jobs.

Materials

Rule-testing strip with the seven counts
Pencils
Coloured pencil for circling
Word cards: sum, double

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. A and B: Drawing the Rule Amanda Drew Representation · Building a picture from a stated growing rule and counting what it makes

Amanda draws her explanation in the dirt with letters, an A for adults and a B for babies, and the book prints both the drawing's first days and the rule that extends it. Students rebuild that drawing on paper, apply the stated rule one more day, and count the pairs their own picture produces. The representation is the point: the same growth appears once as a branching picture and once as a number sentence about two earlier days, and students have to find where in the picture those two days sit.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Draw the first four days from Amanda's words (6 min)
Listen to the four days Amanda describes and draw what she draws: two babies on day one, two adults on day two, then a forked line to a pair of adults and a pair of babies on day three. Label every pair A for adults or B for babies, exactly as she does. Count the pairs on each day and write the number under the day.
Word preview: adults
On the first day I had only one pair, Knot and Fibb.
The third day, they had a pair of babies. So there were a pair of adults and a pair of babies.
2. Apply Amanda's growing rule to day five (6 min)
Read the rule Amanda gives for how the rabbits grow, then use it to draw day five from your day four. Every A pair on day four draws a new B pair beneath it, and every B pair on day four becomes an A pair. Count your day-five pairs and write the number down.
Each pair of adults has a new pair of babies every day, and the babies grow up and have their own pair of babies in two days.
3. Check your drawing against the book's count (4 min)
Find the book's sentence for the fifth day and read the number of pairs it gives. Compare it with the number you counted on your own drawing and say whether they match. If they do not, walk back through your day-four pairs and find the one that did not follow the rule.
On Friday, Amanda saw five pairs of rabbits eating five rows of spinach.
4. Tell how the drawing and the adding sentence say the same thing (4 min)
Point at your day-five drawing and tell your partner where the day-three pairs and the day-four pairs both show up in it. Say one sentence that names the two earlier days and the number they make. Your partner points to the pairs on the paper as you say it.
“Each day, the number of pairs is the sum of the two days before.”

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Draw the first four days from Amanda's words (5 min)
Draw what Amanda draws: two babies on day one, two adults on day two, then a forked line to a pair of adults and a pair of babies on day three. Label each pair A or B and write each day's pair count underneath.
Word preview: adults
The third day, they had a pair of babies. So there were a pair of adults and a pair of babies.
2. Apply Amanda's growing rule to day five (4 min)
Use Amanda's rule to draw day five from your day four: every A pair draws a new B pair beneath it, and every B pair becomes an A pair. Count the day-five pairs and write the number down.
Each pair of adults has a new pair of babies every day, and the babies grow up and have their own pair of babies in two days.

Three levels

Support: Draw only the first four days, and use the A and B label cards laid on the paper instead of writing the letters. Say aloud what each pair becomes tomorrow before you draw the next day, so one day is finished and checked before the next begins. The counting and the labelling are unchanged.
At Grade: Draw the first four days from Amanda's words, extend to day five with her rule, count your pairs and check the count against the book's Friday sentence. Then point out the two earlier days inside your day-five picture.
Extension: Extend the drawing one more day to day six and count it, then say what happens to the picture if the babies grew up in one day instead of two. Show on the paper which pairs would change and what count day five would have had instead.

English learners

Drawing and counting carry across languages fully, and a student can build this entire picture from the A and B labels without English. The demand sits in Amanda's rule sentence, which packs two conditions into one long English sentence with "every day" and "in two days" pointing at different timings. Break it into two rehearsable frames the student says while drawing: "every A makes a new B" and "every B becomes an A tomorrow". Students may work the rule out and talk their way through the drawing in their strongest language, then report the day-five count and point to the two earlier days in English.

Materials

Large drawing paper
Pencils
A and B label cards
Word cards: adults

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

4. Pairs on the Mat, Rabbits in the Count Fluency · Counting by twos to find how many rabbits a number of pairs holds

This book counts in pairs on nearly every page and in rabbits exactly once, when Amanda tells the Piper that thirteen pairs are twenty-six rabbits. Students build the book's own pair counts with snap cubes and count the rabbits by twos, touching one pair per number word, then check their twenty-six against the book's. The count by twos runs without restarting from one, and a student can say which of the two numbers a row is being reported in.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build one pair and count its rabbits (4 min)
Snap two cubes together to make one pair, the way the book's two furry faces arrive together. Count the rabbits in your pair by touching each cube: one, two. Build three pairs the same way and count the rabbits by twos, touching a pair on each number word. One touch, one number word.
Word preview: pair
Two furry faces peeked out from behind the leaves.
Three pairs of rabbits scampered down the row eating her pea plants.
2. Count Friday's and Saturday's rabbits by twos (6 min)
Build five pairs for Friday and count the rabbits by twos to ten, touching a pair on each number. Then build eight pairs for Saturday and count by twos to sixteen the same way. Write the two rabbit counts beside the two pair counts on your strip, so five sits beside ten and eight beside sixteen.
On Friday, Amanda saw five pairs of rabbits eating five rows of spinach.
On Saturday, there were eight pairs eating eight onions.
3. Check the book's Sunday count (6 min)
Build thirteen pairs for Sunday and count the rabbits by twos, touching a pair on each number word until your pairs run out. Say the number you land on. Then find the sentence where the book says how many rabbits thirteen pairs are, and say whether your count and the book's number are the same.
Word preview: rabbits
On Sunday, thirteen pairs snuggled together eating thirteen carrots.
“We had 13 pairs, or 26 rabbits, after the first week.”
4. Say what one number does not tell you (4 min)
Point at your Saturday row and say two true sentences about it: how many pairs, and how many rabbits. Then tell your partner why the number eight alone does not say how many rabbits are on the mat, using the cubes to show them.
On Saturday, there were eight pairs eating eight onions.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build one pair and count its rabbits (3 min)
Snap two cubes together to make one pair and count its rabbits by touching each cube. Build three pairs and count the rabbits by twos, one touch to one number word.
Word preview: pair
Two furry faces peeked out from behind the leaves.
2. Count Friday's and Saturday's rabbits by twos (6 min)
Build five pairs and count the rabbits by twos to ten, then eight pairs and count by twos to sixteen. Write each rabbit count beside its pair count on your strip.
On Friday, Amanda saw five pairs of rabbits eating five rows of spinach.
On Saturday, there were eight pairs eating eight onions.

Three levels

Support: Stop at Friday's five pairs and count the rabbits by twos only to ten, touching each pair. Add one pair at a time and stretch the count by one number word for each new pair, never past sixteen. Every count starts from the leftmost pair on the mat, not from wherever your finger is.
At Grade: Build and count Friday, Saturday and Sunday, land on ten, sixteen and twenty-six, and record each rabbit count beside its pair count. Check the twenty-six against the book's own sentence.
Extension: Cover the cubes after you build Sunday and say the rabbit count from the pair count alone, then uncover and check by twos. Then take the Piper's line that there are more than twenty-six rabbits in the town and say what that tells you about the number of pairs, using the mat to show why it cannot be thirteen.

English learners

The count by twos is largely language-independent once the number words are in place, so a student who counts by twos in another language can run this whole task by touching pairs. The obstacle is the word "pair", which English uses as a single countable thing made of two things, and which many students will first hear as simply "two". Rehearse the frame "___ pairs are ___ rabbits" while the student points at the row and then at the cubes, so the two numbers are visibly attached to two different things. Students may count aloud by twos in their strongest language and report only the final rabbit count in English.

Materials

Snap cubes in two colours
Counting mat
Pairs-and-rabbits strip
Pencils
Word cards: pair, rabbits

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

5. Before, Not After: Which Two Days Make Friday Integrated · Students compute the same day twice, once from the two days before it and once from the two days after, and produce the sentence that says which of the two numbers the book's own row supports.

Students compute the same day twice, once from the two days before it and once from the two days after, and produce the sentence that says which of the two numbers the book's own row supports.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the rule and find Friday from the two days before (6 min)
Students lay out the seven day cards in the book's order, read the rule sentence aloud, and use it to find Friday from Wednesday and Thursday. They build 2 and 3 with counters, say the sum, and check it against Friday's printed count before writing it on the strip.
2. Swap one word and compute Friday again (6 min)
Students read the sentence again with "after" in place of "before", say aloud which two cards it now sends them to, and add those two counts. They write this second result under the first on Friday's card, so both numbers sit under the same day.
3. Say which number the row supports and why (5 min)
Each pair says one sentence naming the two cards they used and the number those cards produced, then says whether Friday's own card agrees. They must use both numbers, five and twenty-one, in the sentence rather than pointing.
4. Test the swap on a second day (3 min)
Students choose Saturday and run both readings again, writing both results on its card. They tell their partner whether the same reading won twice.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the rule and find Friday from the two days before (6 min)
Students lay out the seven day cards in the book's order, read the rule sentence aloud, and use it to find Friday from Wednesday and Thursday. They build 2 and 3 with counters, say the sum, and check it against Friday's printed count before writing it on the strip.
2. Swap one word and compute Friday again (6 min)
Students read the sentence again with "after" in place of "before", say aloud which two cards it now sends them to, and add those two counts. They write this second result under the first on Friday's card, so both numbers sit under the same day.

Three levels

Support: Work with the first five cards only, so the before-reading of Friday adds two and three and the after-reading is not available past the end of the strip. Give the student the rule sentence on a card with "before" and "after" printed in two colours and a matching pair of arrows to lay on the strip, so the direction is placed on the table before it is said. The adding, the checking and the saying are unchanged; only the number of cards in play is reduced.
At grade: Students run both readings on Friday and on Saturday, write both results under each day, and say a full sentence naming the two cards used, the number produced and whether the day's own card agrees.
Extension: Students find a day where the two readings happen to be close and say why closeness does not settle anything, then construct a swap of their own by changing "two" to "three" in the rule sentence, compute what that reading gives for Sunday, and say which of the three readings the row supports.

English learners

Adding is transferable and the counters carry it without English, so a student new to the language can produce both sums here. The obstacle is squarely in the sentence: "the two days before" puts the direction word at the end, after the thing it modifies, and several languages mark that direction with a case ending or a preposition placed first, so the word is easy to hear and easy to attach to the wrong noun. Rehearse the frame "I used ___ and ___, so I got ___" with a finger on each card as it is named, which puts the two selected days in the mouth before the sum is spoken. Students may decide which reading the row supports in their strongest language and then report the frame in English.

Materials

Strip of seven day cards carrying the book's counts
Two-colour counters
Rule sentence cards with the swap word printed separately
Pencils
The book's row of counts read aloud from the text

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

6. Put the Week Back in Order and Prove It with Adding Integrated · Students restore seven shuffled day cards to the book's order and prove the arrangement is right by showing that each card's count is the sum of the two to its left.

Students restore seven shuffled day cards to the book's order and prove the arrangement is right by showing that each card's count is the sum of the two to its left.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Restore the seven cards to the order the adding supports (7 min)
Students receive the seven day cards shuffled, lay them in a proposed order, and test each card by building the two counts to its left with counters and adding them. They move any card whose check fails and test again until every triple in the row passes.
2. Find the day that adds nothing (4 min)
Students identify the one card whose count matches the card before it and build both with counters to show no pair was added. They mark that card and say what happened in the book on that day.
3. Retell the week and defend the card that cannot move (6 min)
Each pair retells the week card by card, saying what happened and what the count became. They then say why the marked card cannot be moved, naming the two counts that would stop matching if it were.
4. Break the row on purpose (3 min)
Students swap two cards deliberately, run the addition check on the damaged row, and tell their partner which check failed first and with which two numbers.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Restore the seven cards to the order the adding supports (7 min)
Students receive the seven day cards shuffled, lay them in a proposed order, and test each card by building the two counts to its left with counters and adding them. They move any card whose check fails and test again until every triple in the row passes.
2. Retell the week and defend the card that cannot move (6 min)
Each pair retells the week card by card, saying what happened and what the count became. They then say why the marked card cannot be moved, naming the two counts that would stop matching if it were.

Three levels

Support: Work with the first five cards only, Monday through Friday, so no check requires a sum past five. Lay the two cards to be added inside a two-square frame before the sum is built, so the pair being tested is physically separated from the rest of the row. The ordering, the checking and the retelling are all unchanged; only the length of the row is reduced.
At grade: Students restore all seven cards using the addition check, identify the day that adds nothing, retell the week card by card, and say why that day cannot be moved, naming the two counts that break.
Extension: Students are given an eighth blank card and must say what count would have to be on it for the row to keep passing the check, then argue whether the row could have been restored at all if Tuesday's card had been lost rather than shuffled, using the counts to show what a reader could and could not recover.

English learners

Ordering objects and adding are both transferable, and a student can restore this whole row and pass every check without producing an English sentence, so the mathematics is available from the first minute. The language demand sits in the retelling, where English marks sequence with words that carry no quantity, then, next, the day after, and where the day names themselves must be held in order independently of the counts. Rehearse the frame "on ___ there were ___ pairs, because ___ and ___ make ___" so that each retold day carries its own arithmetic and the student is never asked to sequence from vocabulary alone. Students may reason about the order and test the sums in their strongest language before retelling the week in English.

Materials

Seven shuffled day cards carrying the book's day names and pair counts
Counters
Two-square framing card
A marker for the card that cannot move
The book's day sentences read aloud from the text

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

7. The Day the Book Stops Counting Integrated · Students find the eighth day's pair count, a number the book never prints, and must read out the sentence that fixes it before the number is accepted.

Students find the eighth day's pair count, a number the book never prints, and must read out the sentence that fixes it before the number is accepted.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Check the rule on days the book already answers (6 min)
Students take the rule sentence and test it on the printed row: they build the two counts before Friday and add them, then do the same for Saturday and for Sunday, checking each sum against the count the book prints. They mark every case where the rule holds.
2. Find the sentence that says what to do next (4 min)
Students search the text the teacher rereads for the sentence that says how any day's count is made, and copy it onto the top half of their answer card. They read it aloud to their partner and say which two days it sends them to for the eighth day.
3. Find the eighth day and cite the sentence (7 min)
Students build eight and thirteen with counters, combine them, and count the total. They read their copied sentence aloud to the teacher and then write twenty-one on the bottom half of the card. The sentence must be read before the number is written.
4. Say what the sentence rules out (3 min)
Each pair says one sentence naming a number the eighth day is not, and why the rule sentence forbids it, using a count from the row as the reason.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Check the rule on days the book already answers (6 min)
Students take the rule sentence and test it on the printed row: they build the two counts before Friday and add them, then do the same for Saturday and for Sunday, checking each sum against the count the book prints. They mark every case where the rule holds.
2. Find the eighth day and cite the sentence (7 min)
Students build eight and thirteen with counters, combine them, and count the total. They read their copied sentence aloud to the teacher and then write twenty-one on the bottom half of the card. The sentence must be read before the number is written.

Three levels

Support: Work the check on the early days only, where the sums are one and one, one and two, and two and three, so the rule is confirmed on numbers inside five before it is applied to eight and thirteen. Supply the rule sentence already copied on the answer card so the search is removed, and keep the reading aloud and the pointing at the two days exactly as they are. The eighth-day addition is still the student's to build and count.
At grade: Students check the rule on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, find and copy the rule sentence themselves, then build 8 and 13, count twenty-one, read the sentence aloud and write the number.
Extension: Students find the ninth day as well and say what makes it harder to defend than the eighth, given that one of its two addends is now a number the book never printed. They then argue whether a reader could have found the eighth day from the counts alone if the rule sentence were missing, naming a different continuation the row would also allow.

English learners

Adding and building with counters carry across languages, so a student can produce twenty-one without English. The heavy demand here is the citing: finding one sentence in a long stretch of dialogue and reading it aloud accurately, where the sentence is abstract, contains no number, and uses "the sum of the two days before" as a single noun phrase several words long. Rehearse the frame "this sentence says ___ and ___, so I add them" while the student points at the two day cards, so the sentence is connected to two visible objects before it is read aloud. Students may work out which sentence is the right one in their strongest language and read it aloud in English, and the reading aloud may be shared between partners.

Materials

Answer cards ruled into two halves
Counters
Strip of the seven printed counts
Pencils
The rule sentence and the day sentences reread aloud from the text

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

8. Did Amanda Give Up on That Rule Too Soon? Integrated · Students test the rule Amanda discards, count how often it worked before it failed, and argue a position aloud to the Piper using the counts that fund it.

Students test the rule Amanda discards, count how often it worked before it failed, and argue a position aloud to the Piper using the counts that fund it.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Run Amanda's rejected rule along the row (6 min)
Students write the book's seven counts along the top of the strip and, underneath, the answer the adding-one rule gives at each step. They mark each trial that agrees with the printed count and circle the first that does not.
2. Run the doubling rule too (4 min)
Students fill the third row of the strip with the doubling rule's answers and circle its first disagreement. They tell their partner which of the two rejected rules survived longer, naming the count where each one broke.
3. Make your case to the Piper (7 min)
Each student takes a position on whether Amanda gave up too soon and argues it aloud to a partner playing the Piper, who has asked how many rabbits there are and does not want to hear about playing in the dirt. The case must name how many trials the rule passed and the count where it first failed.
4. Answer the strongest objection (3 min)
The partner gives the best reason against the position just heard, drawn from their own strip, and the speaker either answers it with another trial or says which part of their case they are changing.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Run Amanda's rejected rule along the row (6 min)
Students write the book's seven counts along the top of the strip and, underneath, the answer the adding-one rule gives at each step. They mark each trial that agrees with the printed count and circle the first that does not.
2. Make your case to the Piper (7 min)
Each student takes a position on whether Amanda gave up too soon and argues it aloud to a partner playing the Piper, who has asked how many rabbits there are and does not want to hear about playing in the dirt. The case must name how many trials the rule passed and the count where it first failed.

Three levels

Support: Test the adding-one rule only, and only across the first four counts, so the strip has one row to fill and the first failure appears in the fourth column. Give the frame "the rule worked ___ times and broke at ___, so I think Amanda ___" printed on the strip, with the two blanks for numbers sitting directly under the columns they come from. The position, the arguing and the answering back are unchanged; the student is not asked to hold the trial counts in memory while speaking.
At grade: Students fill both rule rows across all seven counts, take a position, and argue it aloud to the Piper naming the number of passed trials and the count of the first failure, then answer their partner's strongest objection.
Extension: Students argue the position they did not take, using the same strip, and then say which of the two cases they now find stronger and what changed their mind. They may also test the third position by finding a count where all three rules agree and one where all three differ, and use those two columns to argue about where a rule ought to be tested first.

English learners

Adding and doubling along the strip are transferable and the marking and circling record the trials without a word of English, so every student can build the evidence their case needs. The language demand is unusually heavy in the arguing, where English carries positions with conditional and concessive forms, it worked twice but it broke, she should have tried, that are late-acquired and hard to produce under time pressure. Rehearse the frame "it worked ___ times and broke at ___, so I think ___" with a finger moving along the strip, so the two quantities are spoken before the judgement is attempted. Students may decide their position and rehearse it in their strongest language first and then make the case to the Piper in English, and a student may make the case with a partner rather than alone.

Materials

Three-row testing strip with the book's counts along the top
Counters
Pencils
A coloured pencil for circling the first failure
Amanda's rule-testing lines reread aloud from the text

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

5 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

9. Fibb and Knot, Fib Not: The Names That Say Something Concept · Finding the everyday words hidden inside made-up names

Two rabbits are given names that look like nonsense and turn out to be a sentence. Amanda says it out loud herself at the end of the book, and the wizard has already said it to the Piper. Students read the names as they first appear, say them aloud until the hidden words surface, and then find the two places where the book says the joke straight out. Nothing here asks students to count rabbits.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the names on the collars (5 min)
Read this span aloud with your teacher. Say both rabbit names slowly, then quickly, then slowly again. Amanda calls them funny names. Tell your partner what you hear when you say the two names right next to each other.
Word preview: collar
A tag on the collar around the black rabbit’s neck said “Knot.” The white rabbit had a collar, too. It’s tag read “Fibb.” “Knot and Fibb— what funny names!” Amanda laughed.
2. Catch the wizard saying it plainly (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The wizard tells the Piper two words that sound almost exactly like the two rabbit names. Point at them. Say the wizard's two words aloud, then say the rabbits' two names aloud, and tell your partner what is the same and what is different.
Word preview: wrath
“Piper, your greedy lie caused the entire town to suffer. I hope you have learned a lesson. Fib not, lest you raise a wizard’s wrath.”
3. Watch Amanda work it out herself (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Amanda calls the rabbits and then laughs. Say to your group what she has just noticed, and read aloud the exact words in the span that show the moment she notices it.
Word preview: joyfully
When Amanda put down the flute, two rabbits came and cuddled next to her. “Fibb, Knot!” she called out joyfully. Then she laughed. “Fib not. Well, I guess I agree with the wizard on that.”
4. Trace the names into the title (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The two names get squashed together into one long word. Say the long word slowly and see whether you can still hear both rabbits inside it. Tell your group which parts of the names survived and which parts got lost.
Word preview: eventually
Some called it “The Tale of Fibb and Knot in Chee,” but this was eventually shortened to “The Tale of Fibonacci.”

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the names on the collars (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Say both rabbit names slowly, then quickly, and tell your partner what you hear when they sit side by side.
Word preview: collar
A tag on the collar around the black rabbit’s neck said “Knot.” The white rabbit had a collar, too. It’s tag read “Fibb.” “Knot and Fibb— what funny names!” Amanda laughed.
2. Watch Amanda work it out herself (4 min)
Read this span aloud. Say what Amanda has just noticed and read out the exact words that show the moment.
Word preview: joyfully
When Amanda put down the flute, two rabbits came and cuddled next to her. “Fibb, Knot!” she called out joyfully. Then she laughed. “Fib not. Well, I guess I agree with the wizard on that.”

Three levels

Support: Support: say the two names aloud with the teacher, over and over, until you hear the two ordinary words. Match each name to its word card and stop there.
At Grade: At Grade: hear the hidden words, find them again in the wizard's warning, and say what Amanda notices.
Extension: Extension: the wizard says the hidden words to the Piper long before Amanda hears them. Argue to your group whether the wizard named the rabbits on purpose, using what he says about the lie as your evidence.

English learners

A joke built out of an English phrase split across two names cannot travel, and a learner will read Fibb and Knot as plain nonsense words with no reason to doubt that. Say fib not aloud first, teach what it means, and only then put the two names beside it. Frame: '___ and ___ together sound like ___.' Invite a name from the student's strongest language that hides a word; explaining it is the same skill.

Materials

Printed passage strip: A tag on the collar
Hidden-word cards
Printed passage strip: Piper, your greedy lie
Printed passage strip: When Amanda put down the flute
Printed passage strip: Some called it The Tale of Fibb and Knot
Word cards: collar, wrath, joyfully, eventually

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. Ridiculous Rodents and Horrid Hares Concept · Hearing words placed together because they start alike

The mayor never says rabbits when he complains. He reaches for two words that start with the same sound, twice, in two different speeches. Students say the pairs aloud, find the shared beginning sound, and then decide what the paired words do that the plain word rabbits would not. They finish by finding a third run of same-sound words in the closing scene.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Say the mayor's first pair (5 min)
Read this span aloud, sneezes and all. Find the two words the mayor uses instead of saying rabbits. Say them aloud together three times. Tell your partner what sound both words start with.
Word preview: ridiculous, rodents
The mayor called a town meeting. He blew his nose and said, “People of Chee! — ACHOO! — We have a rabbit invasion!” He paused to sniffle. “We must get rid of these ridiculous rodents. If not, they will eat all our food.”
2. Say the mayor's second pair (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The mayor does it again at the next meeting with two different words. Find them, say them aloud three times, and add both to your list. Say which sound they share.
Word preview: horrid, hares
“What shall we do about these — ACHOO! — horrid hares?” he bellowed. People scratched their heads, tugged their ears, and rubbed their chins, but they didn’t open their mouths.
3. Say what the pairing buys him (5 min)
Look at both spans reprinted here. In each one, say the mayor's pair aloud and then say just the word rabbits in its place. Tell your group which version sounds more annoyed and why, pointing at the sound the pair shares.
The mayor called a town meeting. He blew his nose and said, “People of Chee! — ACHOO! — We have a rabbit invasion!” He paused to sniffle. “We must get rid of these ridiculous rodents. If not, they will eat all our food.”
“What shall we do about these — ACHOO! — horrid hares?” he bellowed. People scratched their heads, tugged their ears, and rubbed their chins, but they didn’t open their mouths.
4. Find a same-sound run somewhere else (5 min)
Read this span aloud. It has its own pair of words starting with the same sound, describing what is left of the rabbits. Find them, say them aloud, and add them to your list. Tell your partner whether this pair sounds cross like the mayor's or soft.
Word preview: fluffy, furry
They all came hopping and leaping and dancing after Amanda, following her down the streets, over the bridge, and out of town. Soon there was not a fluffy tail or furry ear to be seen.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Say the mayor's first pair (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Find the two words the mayor uses instead of rabbits, say them three times, and name the sound they share.
Word preview: ridiculous, rodents
The mayor called a town meeting. He blew his nose and said, “People of Chee! — ACHOO! — We have a rabbit invasion!” He paused to sniffle. “We must get rid of these ridiculous rodents. If not, they will eat all our food.”
2. Say the mayor's second pair (4 min)
Read this span aloud, find the second pair, say them three times, and add them to your list.
Word preview: horrid, hares
“What shall we do about these — ACHOO! — horrid hares?” he bellowed. People scratched their heads, tugged their ears, and rubbed their chins, but they didn’t open their mouths.

Three levels

Support: Support: work the first pair only. Say ridiculous rodents aloud with the teacher, tapping the first sound of each word, and put the pair on your list.
At Grade: At Grade: find both of the mayor's pairs and say what the paired words do that the plain word would not.
Extension: Extension: the mayor's pairs sound cross and the closing pair sounds gentle, yet all of them are built the same way. Argue what makes the difference, using the meanings of the four words rather than their sounds.

English learners

Matching first sounds is a game every language plays, so the pattern will be recognised even before the words are understood. Tap the desk on the first sound of each word so students hear the match before meanings arrive. Frame: '___ and ___ both start with ___.' Ask for a same-sound pair from the student's strongest language; producing one proves the skill regardless of which language it came in.

Materials

Printed passage strip: The mayor called a town meeting
Same-sound word list
Printed passage strip: What shall we do about these
Printed passage strip: They all came hopping and leaping
Word cards: ridiculous, rodents, horrid, hares, fluffy, furry

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

11. Snarled, Growled Softer, Smiling: Watching the Wizard Change Reasoning · Tracking how a character changes across a story

The wizard is frightening when Amanda knocks and kind by the time she leaves, and the book shows the whole change with three short spans and three different words for how he speaks or looks. Students read the three in order, put the speaking words on a line, and say what pushed the change. The evidence is always the word the book chose for his voice or his face.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Meet the wizard at his worst (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Find the word that tells you how the wizard says his question, and find the words that describe his eyes. Say the question aloud the way those words tell you to. Put the speaking word at the left end of your change line.
Word preview: snarled
The wizard opened it slowly. His eyes burned like hot coals. “What do you want?” he snarled.
2. Catch the first softening (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The wizard is still growling, but the book adds three words that change everything about it. Find them. Say the line aloud twice, once as a plain growl and once the way the book asks, and put this speaking word in the middle of your change line.
Word preview: growled
He growled, in a softer voice, “What do you know about the number of rabbits?”
3. See where he ends up (5 min)
Read this short span aloud. There is no speaking word here at all, only a face. Put smiling at the right end of your change line and tell your partner why the book did not need to say how he spoke this time.
Word preview: smiling
The wizard stood before her, smiling.
4. Say what moved him (5 min)
With the three spans reprinted here in front of you, say one sentence to your group: 'The wizard changes from ___ to ___, and what moved him was ___.' The first two blanks are words from these spans. Your group may push back on the third.
The wizard opened it slowly. His eyes burned like hot coals. “What do you want?” he snarled.
He growled, in a softer voice, “What do you know about the number of rabbits?”
The wizard stood before her, smiling.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Meet the wizard at his worst (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Find the speaking word and the words about his eyes, and say the question the way they tell you to.
Word preview: snarled
The wizard opened it slowly. His eyes burned like hot coals. “What do you want?” he snarled.
2. See where he ends up (4 min)
Read this short span aloud. Put smiling at the end of your change line and say why no speaking word was needed here.
Word preview: smiling
The wizard stood before her, smiling.

Three levels

Support: Support: work the first and last spans only. Say snarled and smiling aloud and put them at the two ends of your line. Say which one sounds friendly.
At Grade: At Grade: place all three on the line in order and name what moved the wizard in one sentence.
Extension: Extension: the middle span keeps the word growled and softens it with three other words instead of swapping the verb. Argue why the book did not simply write said, and what keeping growled tells you about how far the wizard has come.

English learners

English carries huge amounts of feeling in its speaking verbs — snarled, growled, bellowed — where many languages use said plus a describing phrase, so a learner may read past the verb entirely. Say each line twice, once with said and once with the book's verb, and let students hear the gap. Frame: 'He said it like a ___.' Naming the wizard's feeling in the student's strongest language while pointing at the English verb counts fully.

Materials

Printed passage strip: The wizard opened it slowly
Change line
Printed passage strip: He growled, in a softer voice
Printed passage strip: The wizard stood before her, smiling
Word cards: snarled, growled, smiling

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

12. In a Small, Clear Voice: How Amanda Speaks Up Reasoning · Reading how a character's words and body show courage

Amanda is told to be quiet early in the book and speaks up anyway later. Both moments are written with careful detail about her voice and her body, and the contrast is the point. Students read the silencing and the speaking-up side by side, collect the words describing how each person speaks, and say what the book shows about Amanda without ever calling her brave.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the moment she is silenced (5 min)
Read this span aloud with a partner, one of you as the Piper. Find the word that says how the Piper speaks, and find what he calls Amanda. Say to your partner what those two things together tell you about how he sees her.
Word preview: ordered, deserve
“Quiet, little girl,” the Piper ordered. “I’m in charge, and I say the wizard doesn’t deserve our food.”
2. Read the moment she speaks up (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The book gives three details about how Amanda speaks and how she stands. Find all three and write them on your chart. Say her line aloud the way those details tell you to — not loud, but clear.
Word preview: silence
Then Amanda broke the silence and said in a small, clear voice, “Sir, I think I can help.” The people turned to stare at her. The mayor sniffed, “What’s your idea, little girl?” Amanda stood up as tall as she could.
3. Notice what nobody has changed (5 min)
Read the two spans reprinted here again. Two different men call Amanda the same two words in both spans. Find those words in each one and underline them. Tell your group whether she is treated any differently the second time, and what she does anyway.
“Quiet, little girl,” the Piper ordered. “I’m in charge, and I say the wizard doesn’t deserve our food.”
Then Amanda broke the silence and said in a small, clear voice, “Sir, I think I can help.” The people turned to stare at her. The mayor sniffed, “What’s your idea, little girl?” Amanda stood up as tall as she could.
4. Say the trait and prove it (5 min)
The book never uses the word brave about Amanda. Using your chart and the span reprinted here, say one sentence to your group naming a word for what Amanda is, followed by 'and I know because the book says ___.' Your evidence must be words about her voice or her body.
Then Amanda broke the silence and said in a small, clear voice, “Sir, I think I can help.” The people turned to stare at her. The mayor sniffed, “What’s your idea, little girl?” Amanda stood up as tall as she could.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the moment she is silenced (5 min)
Read this span aloud, one of you as the Piper. Find how he speaks and what he calls Amanda, and say what that tells you.
Word preview: ordered, deserve
“Quiet, little girl,” the Piper ordered. “I’m in charge, and I say the wizard doesn’t deserve our food.”
2. Read the moment she speaks up (4 min)
Read this span aloud. Find the three details about Amanda's voice and body, write them on your chart, and say her line the way they ask.
Word preview: silence
Then Amanda broke the silence and said in a small, clear voice, “Sir, I think I can help.” The people turned to stare at her. The mayor sniffed, “What’s your idea, little girl?” Amanda stood up as tall as she could.

Three levels

Support: Support: work the speaking-up span only. Find the words small and clear and say Amanda's line that way. Say whether that sounds easy or hard to do.
At Grade: At Grade: read both spans, collect the details, and name Amanda's trait with evidence from her voice or body.
Extension: Extension: the book calls her voice small and clear at the same time, which sounds like a contradiction. Argue what the author gains by pairing those two words instead of choosing loud or strong.

English learners

Being addressed as little girl carries a dismissiveness in English that a literal translation loses entirely, so a learner may read it as neutral or even affectionate. Say both lines aloud, once warmly and once dismissively, and ask which fits. Frame: 'He calls her ___ because he thinks she is ___.' A student may name Amanda's trait in their strongest language and point at the English evidence.

Materials

Printed passage strip: Quiet, little girl
Courage chart
Printed passage strip: Then Amanda broke the silence
Word cards: ordered, deserve, silence

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

13. Famous for Two Things: How Chee Is Introduced Representation · Reading how the opening of a story sets up a made-up place

The first two sentences of the book announce a town and promise exactly two facts about it, and the next two sentences prove one of the facts with pictures instead of explanations. Students read the opening, name what the book promises and what it delivers, and then compare with a later span where the same town is described in trouble. The work is on how an opening is built.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Count the promises in the first line (5 min)
Read this span aloud with your teacher. The first sentence promises a number of things and the second sentence delivers them. Say each one aloud. Tell your partner whether the book kept its promise exactly or gave you more or fewer than it said.
Word preview: famous
The town of Chee was famous for two things. Chee was where the Pied Piper lived, and Chee had rich green gardens.
2. Watch a fact turned into a picture (5 min)
Read this span aloud. The book has already told you the gardens were rich and green. Now it shows you instead. Say to your partner what each of the two sentences lets you picture, and which of the two you can see most clearly in your head.
Word preview: enormous
Lettuces grew bigger than a king’s head. Children played marbles with the enormous peas.
3. See the same town go wrong (5 min)
Read this span aloud. This is the same town later that night. Say to your group two things this span does that the opening spans did not, and name the one word here that makes the town sound unsafe.
Word preview: whooshing
A great whooshing wind swept through the town, shaking the houses. Everyone slept on, except for Amanda.
4. Open a place of your own (5 min)
Look at the opening span reprinted here one more time. Write two sentences opening a made-up town of your own in the same shape: one sentence saying what it is famous for, one sentence naming the things. Read them aloud and let your group say back what you promised.
The town of Chee was famous for two things. Chee was where the Pied Piper lived, and Chee had rich green gardens.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count the promises in the first line (5 min)
Read this span aloud. Say what the first sentence promises and what the second delivers, and whether they match.
Word preview: famous
The town of Chee was famous for two things. Chee was where the Pied Piper lived, and Chee had rich green gardens.
2. Watch a fact turned into a picture (4 min)
Read this span aloud and say what each sentence lets you picture, and which one you can see most clearly.
Word preview: enormous
Lettuces grew bigger than a king’s head. Children played marbles with the enormous peas.

Three levels

Support: Support: read the opening span with the teacher and name the two things Chee is famous for. Stop there; the picture work can wait.
At Grade: At Grade: match the promise to the delivery and say which garden sentence you can picture most clearly.
Extension: Extension: the opening promises two things but the story only ever turns one of them into trouble. Argue which of the two the book actually cares about, using what the storm span does and does not mention.

English learners

The opening is grammatically simple but the words carrying the pictures — enormous, whooshing — are not, and whooshing is a sound word that will not match its equivalent at home. Make the sound with your breath while saying it. Frame: 'It is famous for ___ and ___.' Ask what the student's own town or village is famous for, in whichever language comes first; that answer is the skill working.

Materials

Printed passage strip: The town of Chee was famous
Opening map
Printed passage strip: Lettuces grew bigger
Printed passage strip: A great whooshing wind
Word cards: famous, enormous, whooshing

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.