The Kung Fu Puzzle

$The Kung Fu Puzzle book cover$

Grade 3
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.

1How Long Until Four O'Clock
2Counting Forward to the Pick-Up Time
3Twenty Minutes a Mile
4The Clock Faces in the Journal
5Six Minutes, or Five Minutes Twice

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.

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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. How Long Until Four O'Clock Concept · Finding the minutes between a stated time and the hour that follows it

It is 3:38 and somebody proposes a break until four. A second child immediately names the gap: twenty-two minutes. The book does not show the subtraction, so the gap is the whole lesson. Children find the minutes to the next hour from eight stated times, counting on round the face in fives and then ones. The idea under it: a child comes to see the gap as a count from where the hand is to where twelve is, rather than as a sum somebody hands them.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Count on to the next hour (5 min)
Set your clock to 3:38. Count on round the face to four o'clock out loud, in fives to the nearest five-minute mark and then in ones. Say the number you reach.
Word preview: until
3:38 P.M. WHY DON’T WE TAKE A BREAK UNTIL 4 O’CLOCK?
2. Check it against the book (5 min)
Read what the child in the book says the gap is and compare it with your count. If the two disagree, count again with your partner watching the hand, and say where the count went wrong.
THAT WILL GIVE US 22 MINUTES TO WORK ON THE PUZZLES IN THE BOOK.
3. Eight more gaps (6 min)
Find the minutes to the next hour from each of the eight times on your sheet. Set the clock for each one before you count.
4. The two that add to an hour (4 min)
Find a pair of times on your sheet whose two gaps add to sixty minutes, and say what is true of those two times.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count on to the next hour (5 min)
Set the clock to 3:38 and count on round the face to four o'clock, in fives and then ones, saying the number reached.
3:38 P.M. WHY DON’T WE TAKE A BREAK UNTIL 4 O’CLOCK?
2. Check it against the book (4 min)
Compare your count with the gap the child in the book names, and count again if they disagree.
THAT WILL GIVE US 22 MINUTES TO WORK ON THE PUZZLES IN THE BOOK.

Three levels

Support: Four times, each at a five-minute mark, so the whole count is in fives. Checking against the book and counting on the clock stay.
At Grade: 3:38 counted and checked against the book, eight further gaps found on the clock, and a pair of gaps that add to sixty identified.
Extension: Work out the gap to the next hour for a time given only as so many minutes past, without setting the clock, and say what you counted instead.

English learners

Counting round the face transfers. The English that does not is until, which marks the end of a stretch of time rather than a moment in it — a break until four o'clock does not happen at four o'clock. Put a card reading until on the twelve and run a finger from the minute hand to it while saying the word. Rehearsable frame: It is ____, so there are ____ minutes until ____. Children may count in their strongest language and then say the frame in English with the clock set.

Materials

A geared demonstration clock per pair
An eight-row gap sheet per pair, ruled for the time and the minutes to the hour
A pencil
Word cards: until, gap, minutes, past

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

2. Counting Forward to the Pick-Up Time Application · Counting forward whole hours and then minutes from a starting time

A child in the book works out when to be collected: three hours until the drive home, and five minutes for the drive itself. The answer he says out loud is 5:20, and the starting time is on the clock in the picture rather than in the words. Children count forward three hours and five minutes from eight different starting times, using a clock they move by hand. The work gets applied as a two-stage count, hours first and then minutes, on times that do not fall on the hour.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read what has to be added (5 min)
Read the sentence about the drive and write the two amounts of time it names. Say which one you would add first and why.
Word preview: hours, minutes
SIFU SAID SHE'D DRIVE US BACK TO THE KUNG FU SCHOOL IN 3 HOURS, AND IT TAKES 5 MINUTES TO DRIVE THERE.
2. Count on the hours (5 min)
Set your clock to the first starting time and move the hour hand forward three hours, watching what the minute hand does. Write the time you land on in the second column, then do the same for the other seven starts.
3. Then count on the minutes (6 min)
From each of your eight times, move the minute hand forward five minutes and write the result in the third column. Ring any row where adding the five minutes changed the hour.
CAN YOU PICK ME UP AT 5:20?
4. Work backwards from the answer (4 min)
A child in the book says to be collected at twenty past five. Take that time and undo both amounts to find what the clock must have said when he spoke. Set your clock to your answer and show it to your partner.
Word preview: backwards

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count on the hours (5 min)
Set the clock to each of four starting times and move the hour hand forward three hours, writing each landing time down.
2. Then count on the minutes (4 min)
Move the minute hand forward five minutes from each of those times and ring any row where the hour changed.
CAN YOU PICK ME UP AT 5:20?

Three levels

Support: Four starting times, all of them at a five-minute mark, so the minute hand lands cleanly. Both stages of the count and the backwards question stay.
At Grade: Eight starting times carried through both stages, rows where the hour changed ringed, and the backwards question answered on the clock.
Extension: Find a starting time for which adding three hours and five minutes crosses both a new hour and midday, and say what you had to watch that the other rows did not need.

English learners

Moving the hands transfers. The English that does not is in three hours and at 5:20 — in measures a length of time and at names a point on the clock, and learners routinely swap them, which turns a three-hour wait into three o'clock. Keep two cards, one reading how long and one reading when, and sort each number onto a card before any counting. Rehearsable frame: It starts at ____, and in ____ it will be ____. Children may count in their strongest language and then say the frame in English with the clock in front of them.

Materials

The sentence about the drive, enlarged
A geared demonstration clock per pair
An eight-row recording sheet per pair, ruled for start, after the hours, and after the minutes
Word cards: hours, minutes, in, at

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

3. Twenty Minutes a Mile Fluency · Multiplying minutes per mile by a number of miles, and renaming sixty minutes as one hour

The children work the whole calculation on the page: three miles to walk, twenty minutes to a mile, so twenty times three, and the answer arrives as an exclamation — sixty minutes, that's one hour. Children compute six journeys from the same rate, write each answer in minutes and then in hours and minutes. Practised until the rate multiplication is quick and the renaming into hours is done every time, not only when the number is round.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Work the book's own journey (5 min)
Read what the children found out and write the multiplication they used. Work it out, then write the answer a second way, in hours.
Word preview: rate, per mile
It takes 20 minutes x 3 to walk 3 miles.
60 MINUTES! THAT'S 1 HOUR!
2. Six more journeys at the same rate (6 min)
The sheet lists six distances. Keeping twenty minutes to a mile, find the minutes for each one and write them in the second column. Do all six before you rename anything.
3. Say each answer in hours and minutes (5 min)
Fill the third column, writing each of your six answers as hours and minutes. Ring the one that comes out as whole hours with no minutes left over.
Word preview: hour
The trip will take 60 minutes.
4. Which journeys are too long (4 min)
The children decide an hour is too long for their plan. Ring on your sheet every journey that would take an hour or more, and say how many of the six that is.
AN HOUR IS TOO LONG. THEY'LL BE GONE BEFORE WE GET THERE.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Work the book's own journey (5 min)
Write and work the multiplication the children used for three miles, then write the answer again in hours.
It takes 20 minutes x 3 to walk 3 miles.
60 MINUTES! THAT'S 1 HOUR!
2. Six more journeys at the same rate (4 min)
Find the minutes for four of the distances on the sheet, keeping twenty minutes to a mile.

Three levels

Support: Use the three shortest distances, all under four miles, and supply a twenty-minute number line to count along instead of multiplying. Renaming into hours stays.
At Grade: All six journeys computed in minutes and renamed in hours and minutes, the whole-hour journey ringed, and the count of journeys of an hour or more given.
Extension: Work out the longest journey that stays under one hour at this rate, and say what would change if the walk took fifteen minutes a mile instead.

English learners

The multiplication transfers. What does not is the English of a rate: per mile, a mile takes, twenty minutes to a mile all say the same thing three different ways, and a learner who has met only one of them will not recognise the other two. Write all three phrasings on one card at the start and point at whichever the sentence uses. Rehearsable frame: One mile takes ____ minutes, so ____ miles take ____. Children may compute in their strongest language and then say the frame in English with the sheet in view.

Materials

The two journey sentences, enlarged
A six-row journey sheet per pair, ruled for miles, minutes and hours and minutes
A pencil
Word cards: rate, per mile, hour, minutes

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

4. The Clock Faces in the Journal Representation · Reading clock faces to the minute and putting the times in order

The grandfather's journal sets a puzzle: clock faces each paired with a word, and the times decide the order the words go in. The children read faces to the minute and notice that one time appears twice. Children read ten faces, write each as a time, and order them. What gets built is the written time beside the face: the step that makes a drawn clock into something a child can sort.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Write the time on every face (6 min)
Read each of the ten clock faces on the sheet and write the time underneath it, hours first and then minutes. Where the minute hand sits between two marks, count on in ones from the mark before it.
Word preview: clock face, minute hand
THE FIRST CLOCKFACE SAYS 3:13, SO THE WORD SIX GOES FIRST.
2. Put the times in order (5 min)
Lay the faces in order from earliest to latest using the times you wrote. Read the words in that order and say whether they make a sentence.
Word preview: order
THE SECOND CLOCKFACE SAYS 12:47, SO MINUTES IS THE SECOND WORD.
3. Find the time that appears twice (5 min)
The children in the book find one time on two different faces. Find the repeat on your sheet, put the two faces side by side and check that the hands really do match.
THE NEXT-TO-LAST CLOCK IS 12:47 TOO, SO MINUTES IS IN THE SENTENCE TWICE.
4. Draw the missing face (4 min)
One word on your sheet has no face. Draw the hands for a time that would put that word in the right place in the sentence, and say why no other time would do.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Write the time on every face (5 min)
Read six of the clock faces and write each time underneath, counting on in ones where the minute hand sits between marks.
THE FIRST CLOCKFACE SAYS 3:13, SO THE WORD SIX GOES FIRST.
2. Put the times in order (4 min)
Lay the six faces in order from earliest to latest and read the words in that order.
THE SECOND CLOCKFACE SAYS 12:47, SO MINUTES IS THE SECOND WORD.

Three levels

Support: Six faces, all of them at five-minute marks. The child still writes every time and still orders the faces.
At Grade: Ten faces read and written, laid in order, the repeated time found and checked hand against hand, and the missing face drawn and justified.
Extension: Change one face so the sentence would come out in a different order, and say which two words swapped and why.

English learners

Reading hands transfers. The sticking point is that English says a clock time in an order that is not the order the hands are read in — twelve forty-seven starts with the short hand, but a child watching the long hand move may say the minutes first. Number the two hands on a card, one and two, and point at them in order every time a time is said. Rehearsable frame: The short hand is past ____, the long hand is at ____, so it says ____. Children may read the face in their strongest language and then say the frame in English.

Materials

A sheet of ten drawn clock faces per pair, with word cards attached
A pencil
A long strip for laying the faces out, per pair
A blank clock face per child
Word cards: clock face, minute hand, hour hand, order

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

5. Six Minutes, or Five Minutes Twice Reasoning · Adding two equal stretches of time and comparing the total with a single longer stretch

The book opens with a claim that sounds arithmetically wrong: six minutes without stopping beats five minutes twice. Ten minutes is more than six, so children have to work out what the claim is counting and what it is not. They time both versions of an exercise, add the two fives, compare, and take a position. The demand is the child holding a total they computed against a claim the book makes and saying what the two are measuring.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Add the two stretches (5 min)
Write five minutes twice and add them. Write six minutes beside your total. Say out loud which of the two numbers is larger.
Word preview: twice, total
STOPPING IS BETTER THAN FIVE MINUTES TWICE.
2. Time both versions (6 min)
Hold a low stance for five minutes, rest, then hold it for five minutes again. On another day, or with another group, hold it once for six minutes. Record what the timer said at every stop.
You must do the exercise for the entire time...
3. Say what the claim is counting (5 min)
The book says the longer single stretch is better, even though your total says the other way is more minutes. Say what the book's claim is counting that your total is not.
You have to do the exercise correctly.
4. Take a position (4 min)
Decide whether you agree with the book, and say it aloud with both of your numbers in the sentence.
YOU HAVE 10 MORE SECONDS.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Add the two stretches (5 min)
Add five minutes twice, write six minutes beside the total, and say which number is larger.
STOPPING IS BETTER THAN FIVE MINUTES TWICE.
2. Take a position (4 min)
Say whether you agree with the book, with both of your numbers inside the sentence.
YOU HAVE 10 MORE SECONDS.

Three levels

Support: Use one minute and two half minutes so the timing fits inside the lesson and the addition is small. The comparison and the position stay.
At Grade: Both totals written and compared, both versions timed and recorded, an account of what the claim counts, and a position stated aloud with both numbers.
Extension: Find the pair of stretches with a rest between them whose total would have to be beaten for the book's claim to fail on minutes alone, and say what that total is.

English learners

Adding and timing transfer. The English that does not is twice, which can mean two times as much or on two occasions — and the whole argument turns on it meaning the second. Act the two readings out with the timer: five doubled to ten in one go, then five, stop, five again. Rehearsable frame: Five minutes twice is ____ minutes, but it is ____ turns. Children may compute in their strongest language and then say the frame in English with the card in front of them.

Materials

A recording card per child, ruled for two totals and a position
A pencil
A timer the class can see
Word cards: twice, total, without stopping

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.