Super Specs

$Super Specs book cover$

Grade 1
5 skill lessons

Math

Skill lessons

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

1Call the Number Before the Sign Arrives
2Say the Rule Out Loud
3Say Every Sign From Here to Ten
4House Two, House Four, House Six
5The Card That Is Face Down

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.

No math-through-reading lessons for this book yet.

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.

No reading and language lessons for this book yet.

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Skill lessons

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

1. Call the Number Before the Sign Arrives Reasoning · Predicting the next number in a pattern and saying which rule you used

Molly names the number on a sign nobody in the car can read yet, and then the sign arrives and settles it. Students do the same thing: they commit out loud to the next number in a run and to the rule they used, before the run is extended, and then find out. Two of the runs the book prints are ones the book itself never answers, so the class's answer is the only one there is and it has to be defended from the numbers on the table.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Commit out loud (5 min)
The teacher shows the four exit numbers Molly reads on the highway. Before anyone calls out, each student decides privately, and then every student says two things in one breath: the next number, and the rule. Only after everyone has said theirs does the teacher read what the book says next.
Word preview: next
At last I see the sign. What is the next number in this pattern? 5, 6, 7, 8?
Hurry up, exit 9.
2. The two the book never answers (6 min)
Two runs get a question in this book and no answer: the Ferris wheel and the boat ride. Pairs take one each, lay it out in cards, say the next number and the rule, then walk back along the run checking that the rule holds at every pair of neighbours. There is no page to turn to for these two. The run is the whole of the evidence.
He finds them on the Ferris wheel. What is the next number in this pattern? 10, 8, 6, 4.
He spots them at the boat ride. What is the next number in this pattern? 1, 3, 5, 7.
3. Why you said that (5 min)
Partners swap answers. Each one says the other's rule back and then tests it on a pair of numbers in the middle of the run, not the last pair. If the rule fails anywhere, both partners find where it failed and pick a rule that survives every step.
4. A number that cannot be next (4 min)
The teacher offers a wrong next number for a run the class has already settled. Students say which two numbers it disagrees with, and how far off it is. Finish with one student saying the whole case aloud: the number, the rule, and the pair of numbers that proves it.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Commit out loud (4 min)
The teacher shows the four exit numbers Molly reads on the highway. Every student says two things in one breath, the next number and the rule, before the teacher reads what the book says next.
Word preview: next
At last I see the sign. What is the next number in this pattern? 5, 6, 7, 8?
Hurry up, exit 9.
2. The two the book never answers (5 min)
Pairs take the Ferris wheel run or the boat ride run, say the next number and the rule, and check the rule at every pair of neighbours. The book answers neither one, so the run is the whole of the evidence.
He finds them on the Ferris wheel. What is the next number in this pattern? 10, 8, 6, 4.
He spots them at the boat ride. What is the next number in this pattern? 1, 3, 5, 7.

Three levels

Support: Work with the exit run only and keep the rule sentence to the frame count forward one. Say the next number with the strip under a finger, moving one card, so the answer is something the hand does before it is something the mouth says.
At Grade: Give the next number and the rule for all three runs, and defend one of them by putting a finger on a pair of neighbouring numbers the rule works on.
Extension: Take the boat ride run and find a second rule that also fits 1, 3, 5, 7 but gives a different next number; a run that starts over from its beginning is one. Say which of the two rules the book's other runs make more likely, and what one more printed number would have settled it.

English learners

The mathematics travels without English: a child can show the next number by moving one card and hold up fingers for the size of the step. What this lesson asks for in English is a claim made before the evidence, one sentence with a number in it and a because in it, and that is a demanding shape in any language. Rehearse it whole: The next one is ___ because we are counting ___ ___ . Let students say the claim in their strongest language first, then in English with the frame, and accept a finger on the pair of numbers as the because while the words are still arriving.

Materials

Printed source passage in this step
A strip of ten cards numbered 1 to 10 per pair of students
Word cards: next, pattern

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

2. Say the Rule Out Loud Concept · Naming the rule that makes a number pattern

The book's closing table says that every pattern has a rule and that the rule is what tells you about the pattern, then writes one rule out in words with its numbers underneath. Students take runs the book prints, find the one step that gets from each number to the one beside it, check that the same step holds all the way along, and say it as a sentence. No next number is asked for anywhere in this lesson.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. What a rule has to do (4 min)
Read the three sentences in this step aloud together. Then, in pairs, say what a rule has to do before it counts as a rule: it has to work between every two numbers standing next to each other, not only the first two. Each pair says one sentence back to the class.
Word preview: rule, order
Every number pattern has a rule. The numbers in a pattern are in a special order. The rule tells you about the pattern.
2. Name this one (6 min)
The teacher writes the boat ride numbers where everyone can see them: 1, 3, 5, 7. Students find the step from 1 to 3, then from 3 to 5, then from 5 to 7, and check it is the same step all three times. Each student then says the rule as a whole sentence. Do not say what comes after 7; that is not this lesson's question.
He spots them at the boat ride. What is the next number in this pattern? 1, 3, 5, 7.
3. The rule the book prints (5 min)
Read the one rule the book writes out in words and the four numbers printed under it. Students test that rule the same way they tested their own: nine to seven, seven to five, five to three. Then say whether it is the same kind of rule they gave for the boat ride, and name the one thing that is different about it.
Word preview: backward
Rule. Count backward 2. 9, 7, 5, 3.
4. Two roads, two rules (5 min)
Molly tells Eddie the parking lot signs are like the exit signs. Students lay the exit numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 in one row and the section numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 in another, name the rule for each row, and then say exactly what is alike about the two rules and what is not. Finish with one sentence per pair: the same size step, opposite ways.
there's a pattern to the exit numbers on the highway. Same goes for the parking lot signs.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Name this one (5 min)
The teacher writes the boat ride numbers where everyone can see them: 1, 3, 5, 7. Students find the step from each number to the one beside it, check it is the same step every time, and say the rule as a whole sentence.
He spots them at the boat ride. What is the next number in this pattern? 1, 3, 5, 7.
2. The rule the book prints (4 min)
Read the one rule the book writes out in words and the four numbers under it, and test it the same way: nine to seven, seven to five, five to three. Say what is different about it.
Word preview: backward
Rule. Count backward 2. 9, 7, 5, 3.

Three levels

Support: Work only with the boat ride numbers and only on the front of the run: find the step from one to three, then check that same step on three to five with the teacher alongside. Say the rule with the frame count forward ___ and stop there.
At Grade: Name the rule for each of the three runs as a full sentence, checked against every neighbouring pair, and say what is alike and what is different about the exit rule and the parking lot rule.
Extension: Write two runs of your own, one going up and one going down, and hand them to a partner with the rules kept back. See whether the rule the partner says matches the one you meant. If it does not, decide together whether your run let in two rules, and add a number that shuts one of them out.

English learners

The step itself needs no English at all: a child can point from number to number and hold up two fingers for the size of the jump. Three words have to be learned, rule, forward and backward, and none of them is a number word. Rule means something narrower here than it does anywhere else in school, where it usually means what a child is allowed to do; here it is the thing that works every time between neighbours, and it is worth saying so plainly. Give the frame The rule is count ___ ___ . Let students say the rule in their strongest language first while pointing along the run, then in English with the frame.

Materials

Printed source passage in this step
A board or chart paper the whole class can see
A strip of ten cards numbered 1 to 10 per pair of students
Word cards: rule, pattern, order, backward

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

3. Say Every Sign From Here to Ten Fluency · Counting forward and backward by ones within 10

The family drives past exit 5, then six, seven, eight and nine, and the book prints every sign on the way; walking in from the car they pass section 4, then 3, then 2. Students lay a strip of ten numbered cards, count up it to ten from whatever number the teacher calls with one touch per number word, walk it back down from five to one the way the family walks the parking lot, and finish counting with no cards on the table.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Lay the road (4 min)
Each pair spreads ten cards numbered 1 to 10 in a line, left to right, and touches every card while saying its number. Read the sentence in this step and put a finger on the card that matches the sign Molly is looking at out of the car window. Leave the row where it is; every step today uses it.
Word preview: exit
I stare out the window, even though there's nothing to look at but trees and the sign for exit 5.
2. Drive to ten (6 min)
The teacher calls a starting sign, six or four or eight, and students count forward from it to ten along the cards, one touch and one number word each time. Say the numbers out loud, do not mouth them. Anyone who loses the count starts again at the last card both partners agree on.
Word preview: next
At last I see the sign. What is the next number in this pattern? 5, 6, 7, 8?
3. Walk back to one (6 min)
Turn the row around so ten is on the left. Start at five, the section the family parks in, and count backward to one, touching a card on each number word. Do it twice: once with the whole class together, once with a partner listening for a card that gets skipped.
Word preview: backward
We walk past the signs for section 4, then 3, then 2.
4. Signs with no cards (4 min)
Push the cards away. The teacher names a number and a direction, seven going up or five going down, and students count aloud to the end of the row from memory. Every student takes one turn alone before the class does one together.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Drive to ten (5 min)
The teacher calls a starting sign and students count forward from it to ten along the cards, one touch and one number word each time. Anyone who loses the count starts again at the last card both partners agree on.
Word preview: next
At last I see the sign. What is the next number in this pattern? 5, 6, 7, 8?
2. Walk back to one (4 min)
Turn the row around so ten is on the left. Start at five, the section the family parks in, and count backward to one, touching a card on each number word.
Word preview: backward
We walk past the signs for section 4, then 3, then 2.

Three levels

Support: Stay on the strip and keep every count inside one to five: count up from two to five, then straight back down from five to one, touching a card on each number word. Add one card at a time as the counts hold, never past ten.
At Grade: Count forward to ten from any called start and backward to one from five, first on the cards and then with the cards away, with no number skipped and none said twice.
Extension: Count backward from ten to one with no cards, then start a backward count at a number the teacher calls and stop at another number the teacher calls, and say how many number words were said between the two.

English learners

The number words one to ten arrive early in every language of schooling, and the row of cards means the same thing whichever language a child counts it in. The English carrying the work here is forward and backward, and neither is a number word: a child can count perfectly and still not know which way to go. Teach them with the row under a finger, the finger travelling one way for one word and the other way for the other, before either word is said. Give the frame I am starting at ___ and going ___ . Invite the first count in the student's strongest language along the same cards, then the same count in English.

Materials

A strip of ten cards numbered 1 to 10 per pair of students
Printed source passage in this step
Word cards: backward, next

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

4. House Two, House Four, House Six Application · Counting forward and backward by twos within 10

Molly walks Eddie down a street where the houses run two, four, six, eight and asks what the next one has to be; the book then walks them past the lollipop tree and proves it. Students build that street in cards and count it by twos, turn it around and count back down by twos alongside the Ferris wheel numbers, and then build the street that starts at one instead.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Walk the street (5 min)
Lay out four cards, 2, 4, 6 and 8, spaced along the table like houses on a street. Touch each and count aloud by twos. Then say what the number on the next house has to be, and put that card down before anybody checks it.
That first house is number two. The next is four, then six, then eight.
2. Check it against the book (4 min)
Read the sentence in this step. Compare the number the book's street arrives at with the card each pair put down. Any pair whose card is different says which jump of their count went somewhere else.
Right after we pass the lollipop tree, Eddie spots number 10 sweet tooth lane.
3. Turn the street around (6 min)
Start at 10 and count back down the same houses by twos, touching each card: ten, eight, six, four, two. Then lay out the Ferris wheel numbers 10, 8, 6 and 4 and do it again, saying the rule while the fingers move. Read the printed rule in this step and check it holds on the four numbers written under it.
Word preview: backward
Rule. Count backward 2. 9, 7, 5, 3.
4. Start at one instead (5 min)
Build the boat ride run, 1, 3, 5 and 7. Count it by twos out loud and put down the card that comes next. Say what is the same about this street and the house street, and say what is different about where each of them starts.
He spots them at the boat ride. What is the next number in this pattern? 1, 3, 5, 7.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the street (4 min)
Lay out four cards, 2, 4, 6 and 8, spaced along the table like houses on a street. Touch each and count aloud by twos, then put down the card the next house has to carry.
That first house is number two. The next is four, then six, then eight.
2. Turn the street around (5 min)
Start at 10 and count back down the same houses by twos, touching each card. Then lay out the Ferris wheel numbers 10, 8, 6 and 4 and do it again, saying the rule while the fingers move.
Word preview: backward
Rule. Count backward 2. 9, 7, 5, 3.

Three levels

Support: Stay on the house street and go no further than eight, with two counters sitting in each gap so the size of the jump is something to see between the fingers. Count up the four cards, then count the same four back down, and stop there.
At Grade: Count both streets by twos in both directions, put down the card that comes next on each, and say the rule that put it there.
Extension: Start a by-twos count at a number neither street has used, such as three or six, run it up to ten, and say which of the book's two streets it lands on and why it could never land on the other one.

English learners

Counting by twos is a rhythm before it is English, and cards spaced along the table carry the jump without a word being said. Two phrases do the work in English and they run together in speech: by twos names the size of the jump, and to ten names where it stops. Say them apart, the hand moving for the first and stopping flat for the second. Give the frame I am counting by ___ , starting at ___ . Invite the count in the student's strongest language first along the same cards, then in English.

Materials

A strip of ten cards numbered 1 to 10 per pair of students
Printed source passage in this step
Word cards: pattern, backward

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

5. The Card That Is Face Down Representation · Placing a missing number in an ordered row

The book's whole trick is a number nobody can see: a sign too far off to read, a prize with nothing written on it. Students build a row of cards that follows one rule, turn a card over, and hand the row to another pair, who have to say what is underneath and what in the rest of the row decides it. The row is the representation and the rule is what makes the blank readable; neither one does it alone.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Turn one over (5 min)
Each pair builds a row of five cards that follows one rule, then turns a card in the middle face down without telling anyone which rule they used. Slide the row across to another pair. Nothing is said out loud yet.
One prize doesn't have a number, but when Eddie wins, he calls out, seven please.
2. Say it before you turn it (6 min)
The pair who received the row says two things before touching the face-down card: the number under it, and the rule the row follows. Then turn it over. If it is wrong, leave it face up and find the pair of neighbours where the rule they guessed fell apart.
There's a big number one on the other side of that sign.
3. The one at the front (5 min)
Build a new row and this time turn the very first card face down. Swap rows again. The receiving pair has to run the rule the other way to get back to the front of the row, and say out loud which direction they went to get there.
Word preview: backward
I spy something green with the number nine on it.
4. Draw your road (4 min)
Each student draws their own row of five signs along a road, writes a number on four of them and leaves one sign empty. A partner says the missing number and the rule. Keep the drawing; the empty sign is the point of it.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Turn one over (4 min)
Each pair builds a row of five cards that follows one rule, turns a card in the middle face down without saying which rule they used, and slides the row across to another pair.
One prize doesn't have a number, but when Eddie wins, he calls out, seven please.
2. Say it before you turn it (5 min)
The pair who received the row says the number under the face-down card and the rule the row follows, and only then turns it over. If it is wrong, find the pair of neighbours where the guessed rule fell apart.
There's a big number one on the other side of that sign.

Three levels

Support: Work with rows of three cards, counting by ones only, with the face-down card in the middle. Both neighbours stay visible, so the hidden number sits between two numbers the student can already say without help.
At Grade: Read a face-down card in the middle and then at the front of a five-card row built by another pair, naming the rule out loud each time before turning anything over.
Extension: Turn two cards face down in one row, not next to each other, and hand it over. Say both numbers, then say which of the two you were sure of first and what made that one easier than the other.

English learners

The row of cards does the explaining here, and a student who cannot yet say the rule can still put a finger on the two neighbours that decide the blank. The English this lesson wants is a sentence about something that is not there, which is harder than it sounds: under this one is ___ . Rehearse that frame while the card is still face down, so the words come before the evidence rather than after it, and let the reason be given in the student's strongest language while the pointing carries it in English.

Materials

A strip of ten cards numbered 1 to 10 per pair of students
Printed source passage in this step
Paper and pencils for each student
Word cards: pattern, order

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.