Ball Game Math

Ball Game Math book cover

Grade 4
5 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.

  • 1Four Equal Sides, One Perimeter
  • 2Ninety-Six Plays, Shared Twenty-Two Ways
  • 3Three Kinds of Shot, One Season Total
  • 4Four Times as Large, and Only Half to Cover
  • 5A Whole Year of Saturdays and Tuesdays

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.

  • 6The Word That Sets the Operation
  • 7The Number Sarah Needs and the Book Never Says
  • 8Where Should the Pitcher Stand?
  • 9Four Times Bigger, Eighteen Hundred More

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.

  • 10Not Again. Touchdown! How Each Section Grabs You First
  • 11A Stat Is a Number That: Definitions Built Into the Sentence
  • 12Down On the Team: What Survives When a Sentence Loses Its Subject
  • 13What Beth Has to Decide: Following a Goal From Wish to Choice
  • 14Pretend You're Playing: Where the Book Stops Telling and Starts Asking
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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. Four Equal Sides, One Perimeter Application · Finding one side of a four-sided figure from its perimeter, then taking three quarters of a length

The book gives the whole way round a softball diamond and says the four sides are equal, and never divides. Students take the 240 feet apart into four sides of 60, then shrink the field to the three-quarter meadow Sarah is actually standing in and find the base spacing and the pitching distance she needs.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Read what the book fixes about the shape (4 min)

    Read the three sentences on the strip and mark on your diamond outline what each one fixes: the whole distance round, the rule that adds the sides together, and the fact that the four sides match. Write 240 along the outside of the outline, not inside it, because it is the trip round and not the field.

    Word preview: perimeter

    Sarah and Sal know that a softball field usually has a perimeter of 240 feet, 73 meters.
    A softball feels perimeter equals the sum of the lengths of its sides.
    The field is shaped like a diamond, so its four sides are always of equal length.
  2. 2. Split the 240 into four matching sides (5 min)

    Four sides that match, and 240 feet round the whole trip. Cut a 240-count strip of squared paper into four equal pieces, count one piece, and write 240 divided by 4 equals 60 on your outline. Label all four sides 60 feet, then add the four back up to check you land on 240.

    Word preview: equal

    The field is shaped like a diamond, so its four sides are always of equal length.
  3. 3. Shrink the field to the meadow (6 min)

    Sarah's meadow is three quarters of the regular field. Take one side, 60 feet, and split it into four quarters of 15. Keep three of them and write 45 feet on your meadow outline. That is how far apart Sarah spaces her bases. Say aloud which number you divided and which number you kept three of.

    Word preview: three-fourths

    The meadow is about three-fourths the size of a regular softball field.
    How far apart should they space her bases?
  4. 4. Put the pitcher where she belongs (5 min)

    The mound is normally 40 feet from home plate, and this field is the same three quarters smaller. Split 40 into four quarters of 10, keep three, and mark 30 feet from home plate on the meadow outline. Then say what stayed the same about the two shrinkings you just did and what changed.

    Word preview: quarters

    Normally the pitchers mound is 40 feet or 12 meters from home plate.
    How far from home plate should you pitch today?

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Read what the book fixes about the shape (4 min)

    Read the three sentences on the strip and mark on your diamond outline what each one fixes: the whole distance round, the rule that adds the sides together, and the fact that the four sides match. Write 240 along the outside of the outline, not inside it, because it is the trip round and not the field.

    Word preview: perimeter

    Sarah and Sal know that a softball field usually has a perimeter of 240 feet, 73 meters.
    A softball feels perimeter equals the sum of the lengths of its sides.
    The field is shaped like a diamond, so its four sides are always of equal length.
  2. 2. Shrink the field to the meadow (5 min)

    Sarah's meadow is three quarters of the regular field. Take one side, 60 feet, and split it into four quarters of 15. Keep three of them and write 45 feet on your meadow outline. That is how far apart Sarah spaces her bases. Say aloud which number you divided and which number you kept three of.

    Word preview: three-fourths

    The meadow is about three-fourths the size of a regular softball field.
    How far apart should they space her bases?

Three levels

Support
Work in feet with the strip already cut into four. Count one piece to find 60, then find three quarters of 60 by taking away one of four equal parts rather than by building the quarters up. The base spacing is the whole task and the pitching distance is left out; the division into four is not reduced.
At Grade
Do all four sides, then both shrinkings, and label the meadow outline with 45 feet between bases and 30 feet to the mound.
Extension
The book says three-fourths the size in one place and one-fourths smaller in another. Work out what distance each phrasing gives for the mound, decide which one the 45-foot base spacing agrees with, and say in a sentence what the two phrasings would have to mean for both to be right.

English learners

The arithmetic here crosses any first language: dividing 240 into four and keeping three of four parts are moves a child can make with cut paper before saying a word. Two English words are the difficulty. Perimeter names the trip round the outside rather than the space inside, and many students meet it here for the first time; and three-fourths the size means the meadow is smaller, while three quarters of the way sounds like almost all. Walk the outline with a finger while saying perimeter, and run one frame all lesson: the whole way round is ___ feet, so one side is ___ feet. Students may reason aloud in their strongest language and give the finished sentence in English.

Materials

  • Diamond outline sheet, one per pair
  • Sentence strip with the book's three perimeter lines
  • Pencil
  • Squared paper strip marked in tens to 240, one per pair
  • Scissors
  • Meadow outline sheet, one per pair
  • Second meadow outline for the alternative reading
  • Word cards: perimeter, equal, three-fourths, quarters

Standards & curriculum

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

2. Ninety-Six Plays, Shared Twenty-Two Ways Application · Multi-step whole-number problems: total a game's plays, share them equally, then subtract what is already done

Shane's coach is fair, so every teammate gets the same number of plays. The book gives four quarters, twenty-four plays each, twenty-two players and eleven on the field at once, and never multiplies or divides any of it. Students build the game's ninety-six plays, work out that eleven of twenty-two on the field means each player gets half, and take off the fourteen Shane has already had.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Count the whole game's plays (5 min)

    Four quarters and twenty-four plays in each. Build four rows of twenty-four counters or draw four bars of 24 on the game sheet, then total them: 4 times 24 is 96. Write 96 in the box marked plays in the whole game.

    Word preview: quarters

    His league's football games are divided into four quarters of ten minutes each.
    Each quarter is made up of twenty-four plays.
  2. 2. Work out one player's share (6 min)

    Eleven players from Shane's team stand on the field at any one moment, and Shane and his twenty-one teammates are twenty-two altogether. So on every play, eleven of the twenty-two are out there and eleven are not: half the team. Ring half of your 96, and write 48 in the box marked plays for each player. Say why fair means every player gets the same number and not that every player gets 96.

    Word preview: equal

    At any given moment, eleven players per team are in the game.
    Shane and his twenty-one teammates never feel short-changed when it comes to time on the field.
    Down on the team participates in an equal number of plays per game.
  3. 3. Take off what Shane has already played (5 min)

    Shane has had eleven plays in the first quarter and three more so far in the second. Add those to get fourteen, then take fourteen off his forty-eight. Write the answer in the box marked plays still to come and check that your three boxes read 96, 48 and the number you just found.

    Word preview: teammates

    In this game, Shane had eleven plays in the first quarter.
    So far, he's also had three in the second.
    How many more times should Shane expect to head onto the field before the game ends?
  4. 4. Say which numbers you never used (4 min)

    Two numbers on the sheet did nothing: the ten minutes in a quarter and the fact that the game is at the second quarter. Cross them out and tell your partner why the answer does not change if a quarter lasts twelve minutes instead of ten.

    His league's football games are divided into four quarters of ten minutes each.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Count the whole game's plays (4 min)

    Four quarters and twenty-four plays in each. Build four rows of twenty-four counters or draw four bars of 24 on the game sheet, then total them: 4 times 24 is 96. Write 96 in the box marked plays in the whole game.

    Word preview: quarters

    His league's football games are divided into four quarters of ten minutes each.
    Each quarter is made up of twenty-four plays.
  2. 2. Work out one player's share (5 min)

    Eleven players from Shane's team stand on the field at any one moment, and Shane and his twenty-one teammates are twenty-two altogether. So on every play, eleven of the twenty-two are out there and eleven are not: half the team. Ring half of your 96, and write 48 in the box marked plays for each player. Say why fair means every player gets the same number and not that every player gets 96.

    Word preview: equal

    At any given moment, eleven players per team are in the game.
    Shane and his twenty-one teammates never feel short-changed when it comes to time on the field.
    Down on the team participates in an equal number of plays per game.

Three levels

Support
Work with the 96 already built on the sheet as four bars of 24. Halve it by dealing the bars into two piles of equal size, then take Shane's fourteen off the 48. The sharing is done by dealing rather than by dividing, and the last step, sorting the used numbers from the unused ones, is left out.
At Grade
Build the 96, find the share of 48, subtract Shane's fourteen, and then name the two numbers on the sheet that changed nothing.
Extension
Coach Brad keeps every player on for the same number of plays. Work out how many plays each player would get if the league added a fifth quarter of the same length, and then how many if the team carried twenty-four players instead of twenty-two. Say which of the two changes moves the number more, and why.

English learners

The multiplying, halving and subtracting all travel without English. What does not travel is the football itself: quarter here is a period of play and not one fourth of something, plays are countable turns rather than actions, and the sentence about being short-changed is an idiom about fairness with no arithmetic in it. Show a quarter on a game clock next to a quarter of a shape once, name the difference, and then use only the game meaning. Run one frame: the whole game has ___ plays, so each player gets ___ plays. Students may work the numbers aloud in their family language.

Materials

  • Game sheet with a bar per quarter, one per pair
  • Counters or unit tiles
  • Pencil
  • Word cards: quarters, equal, teammates

Standards & curriculum

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

3. Three Kinds of Shot, One Season Total Application · Totalling a score from groups of different sizes: ones, twos and threes combined

Coach Mike's playbook records what Jim made but never what he scored. The book supplies the worth of each kind of shot and the count of each, and stops. Students turn six free throws, five close field goals and three long ones into one season total, with each kind of shot kept in its own column so the three groups stay visible inside the answer.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Sort the shots into three columns (4 min)

    Read the playbook line and fill the three columns on your scoring sheet: free throws, field goals inside the three point line, field goals outside it. Write the count at the top of each column. Check that your three counts are six, five and three.

    Word preview: field goals

    Coach Mike says he scored six free throws.
    He also made eight field goals of those five or within the three point line and three were outside the three point line.
  2. 2. Give each column its worth (5 min)

    The book says what each kind of shot is worth. Write 1 point, 2 points and 3 points at the head of the matching column, then lay counters to show the points: six single counters, five pairs, three triples. Do not add anything yet.

    Word preview: worth

    Jim knows that a free throw equals one point.
    Field goals made within the three point line equals two points.
    Field goals made outside the three point line equals three points.
  3. 3. Total each column, then the season (6 min)

    Count each column's points on its own: 6 free throws is 6, 5 twos is 10, 3 threes is 9. Write the three column totals across the bottom, then add them to find what Jim scored last season. Say your answer as a sentence naming all three kinds of shot.

    Word preview: total

    How many points did Jim score last season?
  4. 4. Show that one column is not the biggest count (5 min)

    Jim made more free throws than long shots, but the long shots are not the smallest column of points. Ring the column with the most shots and ring the column with the most points, then tell your partner why they are different columns.

    Coach Mike says he scored six free throws.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Sort the shots into three columns (3 min)

    Read the playbook line and fill the three columns on your scoring sheet: free throws, field goals inside the three point line, field goals outside it. Write the count at the top of each column. Check that your three counts are six, five and three.

    Word preview: field goals

    Coach Mike says he scored six free throws.
    He also made eight field goals of those five or within the three point line and three were outside the three point line.
  2. 2. Total each column, then the season (6 min)

    Count each column's points on its own: 6 free throws is 6, 5 twos is 10, 3 threes is 9. Write the three column totals across the bottom, then add them to find what Jim scored last season. Say your answer as a sentence naming all three kinds of shot.

    Word preview: total

    How many points did Jim score last season?

Three levels

Support
Work with the counters already laid out in the three columns as ones, pairs and triples. Count each column of points by skip counting aloud, write the three column totals, and add them. Sorting the shots from the playbook line is done for the pair, because that line is the hardest reading in the book.
At Grade
Sort the shots, mark each column's worth, total the three columns and add them into the season score, then say why the column with the most shots is not the column with the most points.
Extension
Jim wants to beat his own season next year. Find two different ways he could score exactly five more points than he did last season, each using a different mix of the three kinds of shot, and write both as three counts. Then say which mix takes fewer shots and why.

English learners

Multiplying counts by worths transfers from any first language, and the coloured columns carry the whole structure without words. Basketball vocabulary is the barrier and it is dense: free throw, field goal and the three point line are three fixed English phrases that name shots rather than describe them, and the book's own line about the field goals is garbled in the middle, so it takes a careful read even for a fluent reader. Show a court diagram with the line drawn and the three shots marked before anything is counted. Run one frame: ___ shots worth ___ points each makes ___ points. Students may total aloud in their strongest language.

Materials

  • Scoring sheet with three ruled columns, one per student
  • Counters in three colours
  • Pencil
  • Word cards: field goals, worth, total

Standards & curriculum

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

4. Four Times as Large, and Only Half to Cover Representation · Area of a rectangle, and a rectangle scaled by a whole-number factor

The book gives last year's field as twenty yards by thirty, says the new field is four times as large, and asks how much extra ground a defender covers. Students build both fields on squared paper so four times as large is something they can see rather than a phrase, then take the extra area and halve it.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Build last year's field (5 min)

    Read the two lines and draw last year's field on squared paper: twenty yards along one side and thirty along the other, one square to a yard. Count the squares by rows rather than one at a time, and write 600 square yards inside the rectangle.

    Word preview: area

    Last year, your field measured 20 yards, 18 meters, by 30 yards, 27 meters.
    A soccer field's area is measured in square yards, equals length times width.
  2. 2. Make it four times as large (6 min)

    The new field is four times as large. Lay four copies of last year's rectangle side by side on the second sheet and count the squares: 4 times 600. Write the new area inside. Then look at the two drawings and say what four times as large did to the number of squares.

    Word preview: four times

    The area of the third grade field is four times as large.
  3. 3. Find the extra ground (4 min)

    The extra is everything the new field has that last year's did not. Take last year's area off the new one and write the difference between the two rectangles. Shade the extra on your drawing so you can see the number you just wrote.

    How much extra area will you have to cover on defense this season?
  4. 4. Halve it for a defender (5 min)

    A defender plays on only half the field, so only half the extra ground is theirs to cover. Split the shaded extra down the middle, count one half, and write the answer as square yards. Say in a sentence which number answers the book's question and which one was only a step on the way.

    Word preview: defense

    Fortunately, the defensive players have to play on only half of it.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Build last year's field (4 min)

    Read the two lines and draw last year's field on squared paper: twenty yards along one side and thirty along the other, one square to a yard. Count the squares by rows rather than one at a time, and write 600 square yards inside the rectangle.

    Word preview: area

    Last year, your field measured 20 yards, 18 meters, by 30 yards, 27 meters.
    A soccer field's area is measured in square yards, equals length times width.
  2. 2. Make it four times as large (5 min)

    The new field is four times as large. Lay four copies of last year's rectangle side by side on the second sheet and count the squares: 4 times 600. Write the new area inside. Then look at the two drawings and say what four times as large did to the number of squares.

    Word preview: four times

    The area of the third grade field is four times as large.

Three levels

Support
Work with last year's rectangle already drawn and its 600 squares already counted. Lay the four copies, count them as four sixes of a hundred, and stop there: the extra ground and the halving are left for another day. Seeing four times as large as four whole rectangles is the point and it is not reduced.
At Grade
Draw both fields, count both areas, find the extra and halve it, keeping the four numbers in order on the sheet.
Extension
Four copies of the old field make the new one, but the new field is not four times as long on every side. Find one pair of side lengths that would give the new area, draw that rectangle, and say what happened to each side length. Then say why the extra ground is three times the old field rather than four.

English learners

Squared paper carries the whole idea: a child who counts the squares in four rectangles holds four times as large without a word of English. The language trap is that phrase itself, because four times as large is a comparison in English and reads to many students as four more, and the same sentence is doing multiplication while the next one is doing subtraction. Point at the four drawn rectangles while saying four times as large, and keep one frame: the new field is ___ times as large, so it has ___ more square yards. Defense and cover are football words here and worth saying once with the drawing in front of them.

Materials

  • Squared paper, two sheets per pair
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Word cards: area, four times, defense

Standards & curriculum

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

5. A Whole Year of Saturdays and Tuesdays Application · Multi-step multiplication over a repeating weekly pattern, with a fixed amount added at the end

Beth's coach writes a letter that never counts anything: two seasons, eight weeks each, a game on Saturdays, practice on two weekdays, and four days of camp. Students turn the pattern into a week of three days, a season of twenty-four, a year of forty-eight, and then add the camp Beth would go to only once.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Build one week from the letter (5 min)

    Read the letter lines and colour in one blank week on your calendar strip: one square for the Saturday game and one each for the Tuesday and Thursday practices. Count the coloured squares and write 3 days in a week at the side.

    Word preview: season

    There's a game every Saturday.
    Practice is on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
  2. 2. Stretch one week into one season (6 min)

    A season runs eight weeks and every week looks like the one you coloured. Colour eight weeks the same way, or write 8 times 3, and find the days in one season. Write 24 in the season box and say what the 8 counts and what the 3 counts.

    Word preview: weeks

    Each soccer season lasts eight weeks.
  3. 3. Two seasons, not one (4 min)

    The letter says the school year holds two soccer seasons, one in autumn and one in spring. Double your season figure and write 48 in the year box. Watch for the trap: the camp is not in either season.

    The letter mentions that there are two soccer seasons per school year.
    One is in the fall, one is in the spring.
  4. 4. Add the camp that happens once (5 min)

    Camp is four days in the summer, and it happens once in the year rather than once in a season. Add it to your year box and write the total. Then answer the coach's question in a sentence: this is how many days Beth would end up playing soccer this year.

    Word preview: training camp

    And there's a four-day training camp in the summer.
    If Beth signs up for the team, how many days would she end up playing soccer this year?

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Build one week from the letter (4 min)

    Read the letter lines and colour in one blank week on your calendar strip: one square for the Saturday game and one each for the Tuesday and Thursday practices. Count the coloured squares and write 3 days in a week at the side.

    Word preview: season

    There's a game every Saturday.
    Practice is on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
  2. 2. Stretch one week into one season (5 min)

    A season runs eight weeks and every week looks like the one you coloured. Colour eight weeks the same way, or write 8 times 3, and find the days in one season. Write 24 in the season box and say what the 8 counts and what the 3 counts.

    Word preview: weeks

    Each soccer season lasts eight weeks.

Three levels

Support
Colour the whole eight-week season square by square and count the coloured squares rather than multiplying, then double the season by colouring a second one. The camp days are added last from a card that says four. Counting stays the method throughout and no step is skipped.
At Grade
Build the week, multiply it to a season, double it to a year and add the four camp days, naming what each number counts as you write it.
Extension
Beth wants to know how much of her year soccer really takes. Work out how many days are left in a school year of about 180 days once soccer is out, then work out what happens to the answer if the coach adds a Wednesday practice to both seasons. Say which of the two seasons the extra practice costs more, and why the answer is the same for both.

English learners

The multiplication and the doubling need no English. The calendar does. Days of the week are among the first things a child learns and among the last they stop having to translate, and season here is a block of eight weeks rather than a time of year, which collides directly with fall and spring in the same sentence. Put the two Tuesdays, the Thursday and the Saturday on the strip as words and let students say them in their family language once before the colouring starts. Run one frame: ___ days each week for ___ weeks makes ___ days.

Materials

  • Calendar strip of blank weeks, one per pair
  • Two colours of pencil
  • Word cards: season, weeks, training camp

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.

6. The Word That Sets the Operation Integrated · Students work the book's soccer field twice, once as its own sentence says it and once with four times as large replaced by four more square yards, and show that one phrase turns a 600-square-yard field into 2400 and the other turns it into 604.

Students work the book's soccer field twice, once as its own sentence says it and once with four times as large replaced by four more square yards, and show that one phrase turns a 600-square-yard field into 2400 and the other turns it into 604.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Build the field the book starts from (4 min)

    Students read the two sentences off the strip and draw last year's field on squared paper at one square to a yard, then count it by rows and write 600 square yards inside it.

  2. 2. Build it the way the book's phrase says (6 min)

    Students lay four copies of that rectangle together, count the squares, and write the new area inside the shape. They underline the phrase on the strip that told them to do this.

  3. 3. Build it again the way the swapped phrase says (5 min)

    Students take the second strip, in which four times as large has become four more square yards, and draw what it asks for beside the first: the same field with four squares added. Both drawings stay on the desk.

  4. 4. Say which phrase built which field (5 min)

    Each student writes one sentence about their own two drawings that uses the book's phrase correctly, then reads it to a partner, who checks it against the drawings rather than against the number.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Build the field the book starts from (4 min)

    Students read the two sentences off the strip and draw last year's field on squared paper at one square to a yard, then count it by rows and write 600 square yards inside it.

  2. 2. Build it again the way the swapped phrase says (5 min)

    Students take the second strip, in which four times as large has become four more square yards, and draw what it asks for beside the first: the same field with four squares added. Both drawings stay on the desk.

Three levels

Support
Give the pair last year's rectangle already drawn and counted at 600. Building the two new fields and deciding which phrase produced each one is the whole task, and the first area is handed over so the comparison still has two sides. Neither multiplication is reduced.
At grade
Draw and count all three rectangles, then write the sentence that names what the phrase did to the area.
Extension
Find a second phrase in this book that names an operation without writing it, say which vignette it lives in, and produce the two results its swap would give. Then find a phrase in the book that looks like a comparison but changes no number at all, and say what makes the difference between the two.

English learners

Area, counting squares and multiplying transfer from any first language. The comparison grammar does not. English builds scaling with times as and addition with more than, and the two sit only one small word apart while meaning something as different as 2400 and 604; many languages mark the difference in another place in the sentence or with a case ending, so a student fluent in the arithmetic can still build the wrong field. Put the two strips side by side, have students point at the drawing each phrase demands before saying anything, and rehearse one frame: four times as large means ___ copies; four more means ___ extra squares. Students may argue the difference in their strongest language and write the final sentence in English.

Materials

  • Squared paper, three sheets per pair
  • Two sentence strips per pair, one printed with the book's phrase and one with the swapped phrase
  • Ruler and pencil
  • Coloured pencil for the added squares
  • Last year's twenty by thirty rectangle, drawn where the whole class can see it

Standards & curriculum

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

7. The Number Sarah Needs and the Book Never Says Integrated · The book tells Sarah the whole way round a softball diamond and that its four sides match, then asks how far apart to space her bases and never divides; students find the side the book withholds and prove from the book's own sentences that only one number can be right.

The book tells Sarah the whole way round a softball diamond and that its four sides match, then asks how far apart to space her bases and never divides; students find the side the book withholds and prove from the book's own sentences that only one number can be right.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Find what the book will not tell you (4 min)

    Students read the vignette's sentences off the cards, put every number they find on the diamond outline where it belongs, and discover that the question about the bases has no number to answer it. They mark the outline where the missing number goes.

  2. 2. Sort what fixes it from what does not (5 min)

    Students sort the sentence cards into a pile that pins a number down and a pile that does not, and argue over the borderline ones. Two cards end up in the first pile: the one with 240 in it and the one that says the four sides match.

  3. 3. Undo the addition (6 min)

    Students cut a 240-count strip into four equal pieces, count one, and write 240 divided by 4 equals 60. They then add 60 four times back to 240 and label all four sides of the outline.

  4. 4. Say why sixty is the only answer (5 min)

    Each student writes one sentence naming the two cards that made 60 certain, then tries a fifth number on the outline and says what goes wrong. Partners check that the sentence names cards rather than repeating the answer.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Find what the book will not tell you (4 min)

    Students read the vignette's sentences off the cards, put every number they find on the diamond outline where it belongs, and discover that the question about the bases has no number to answer it. They mark the outline where the missing number goes.

  2. 2. Undo the addition (6 min)

    Students cut a 240-count strip into four equal pieces, count one, and write 240 divided by 4 equals 60. They then add 60 four times back to 240 and label all four sides of the outline.

Three levels

Support
Work with the strip already cut into four equal pieces and the two constraining cards already separated from the rest. Count one piece, write the division, and add the four sides back. Sorting the full set of cards is left out; undoing the addition is not reduced.
At grade
Sort the cards, find the side, check it by adding back, and name the two sentences that made the answer certain.
Extension
Find a second number this book withholds and then decide whether it can be recovered. Two candidates are how far Emmy swims before she leaves and how many yards CJ's ball measures around. One of them the book constrains completely and the other it does not; say which is which, and say what a sentence has to do to a number before that number can be found.

English learners

Dividing a cut strip into four equal pieces is a move a student can make and check before saying anything in English. The reading is the barrier, and it is a specific one: perimeter names the trip round the outside rather than the space inside, and the sentence that carries the whole constraint, that the four sides are always of equal length, hides its force in the word always, which here means in every softball field and not merely in this one. Walk a finger round the outline while saying perimeter, and rehearse one frame: the way round is ___ feet and the sides all match, so one side is ___ feet. Students may sort the cards and argue the borderline ones in their strongest language and give the finished sentence in English.

Materials

  • Sentence cards cut from the softball vignette, one set per pair
  • Diamond outline sheet, one per pair
  • Squared paper strip marked in tens to 240
  • Scissors, ruler and pencil
  • An unlabelled diamond with 240 written along the outside

Standards & curriculum

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

8. Where Should the Pitcher Stand? Integrated · The book describes Sarah's meadow two different ways in two sentences, and the two descriptions put the pitcher in two different places; students compute both, take a side, and defend it from the book's own sentences.

The book describes Sarah's meadow two different ways in two sentences, and the two descriptions put the pitcher in two different places; students compute both, take a side, and defend it from the book's own sentences.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Find the two sentences that disagree (4 min)

    Students read the vignette's sentence cards and find the two that describe the meadow's size. They put them side by side and say, in their own words, what each one would do to a distance.

  2. 2. Work out what each one costs the pitcher (6 min)

    Students fold a forty-count strip into four quarters, then produce both candidate distances: three quarters kept, and one quarter kept. They mark both on the field diagram and label each with the sentence that produced it.

  3. 3. Test each reading against the bases (5 min)

    Students find the meadow's base spacing from the perimeter, forty-five feet, and set each candidate mound beside it. They record which candidate leaves the pitcher a sensible distance inside a diamond of that size and which does not.

  4. 4. Take a side and answer the other one (5 min)

    Each student writes a position naming one distance, quoting the sentence behind it and giving the computation. Then they write one line answering the best thing said for the other side, and read both lines to a partner.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Find the two sentences that disagree (4 min)

    Students read the vignette's sentence cards and find the two that describe the meadow's size. They put them side by side and say, in their own words, what each one would do to a distance.

  2. 2. Work out what each one costs the pitcher (6 min)

    Students fold a forty-count strip into four quarters, then produce both candidate distances: three quarters kept, and one quarter kept. They mark both on the field diagram and label each with the sentence that produced it.

Three levels

Support
Work with the forty-count strip already folded into quarters and both candidate distances already computed and labelled. Deciding which one the base spacing agrees with, and saying so in one sentence with the number in it, is the whole task. The comparison against forty-five feet is not reduced.
At grade
Find the two sentences, compute both candidate distances, test both against the base spacing, and write a position with a quotation and a computation in it.
Extension
Decide what the book would have had to say for one-fourths smaller and three-fourths the size to describe the same meadow, and write the sentence that would have made them agree. Then find one other place in this book where a phrase could be read two ways with different numbers following, and say which reading the surrounding sentences support.

English learners

The arithmetic of quarters travels; the two English phrases are the whole difficulty and they are genuinely hard, not merely unfamiliar. Three-fourths the size names what is left, while one-fourth smaller names what was taken away, and English marks that difference only by which noun the fraction is attached to. Many students will read both as the same kind of shrinking, which is precisely the mistake the lesson is about, so the confusion is worth having openly rather than heading off. Fold the strip and hold up the kept part while saying each phrase once. Rehearse one frame: the meadow keeps ___ of the field, so the distance is ___ feet. Students may debate in their strongest language and write their position in English.

Materials

  • Sentence cards from the softball vignette, one set per pair
  • Forty-count paper strip, one per pair
  • Field diagram at one square to five feet, one per pair
  • Position slips and pencils
  • The two disagreeing sentences, written one above the other

Standards & curriculum

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

9. Four Times Bigger, Eighteen Hundred More Integrated · Two fields, one arrangement of squared paper, and two true sentences about the same pair of numbers: students build both areas and then say the relation twice, once as a scaling and once as an amount, and once in each direction.

Two fields, one arrangement of squared paper, and two true sentences about the same pair of numbers: students build both areas and then say the relation twice, once as a scaling and once as an amount, and once in each direction.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Build both fields on one sheet (5 min)

    Students draw last year's twenty by thirty field, count it by rows to 600, then lay four of that rectangle together and count the larger field. The small rectangle stays drawn inside the large one so both are visible at once.

  2. 2. Say the scaling both ways (5 min)

    Students write the relation using the book's phrase, then write it in reverse about the smaller field, and check each sentence by pointing at the copies. They mark which direction the book itself supplied.

  3. 3. Shade the difference and say that both ways (5 min)

    Students shade everything in the large rectangle that is not the small one, count it, and write the difference relation forwards and backwards. Both sentences go on the record sheet under the two scaling ones.

  4. 4. Answer the book's own question (5 min)

    Students halve the shaded region for a defender and write the number that answers the book. Then each says which of their four sentences the book's question was asking for, and which one it had already told them.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Build both fields on one sheet (5 min)

    Students draw last year's twenty by thirty field, count it by rows to 600, then lay four of that rectangle together and count the larger field. The small rectangle stays drawn inside the large one so both are visible at once.

  2. 2. Say the scaling both ways (5 min)

    Students write the relation using the book's phrase, then write it in reverse about the smaller field, and check each sentence by pointing at the copies. They mark which direction the book itself supplied.

Three levels

Support
Work with the two rectangles already drawn, the small one inside the large one. Count the four copies, count the shaded part, and write one scaling sentence and one difference sentence in the forward direction only. Reversing the relations is left out; counting both quantities is not reduced.
At grade
Build both fields, write both relations in both directions, then halve the difference to answer the book's question.
Extension
A field four times as large is not four times as long on every side. Find a pair of side lengths that gives the larger area, draw it, and say what happened to each side. Then write the scaling sentence about the sides rather than the areas, and say why the two sentences carry different numbers about the same two fields.

English learners

Counting squares and laying four copies carry the comparison without English, and a student can see the relation before saying it. The English is unusually load-bearing here. A multiplicative comparison is built with times as large and an additive one with more than, and both reverse in ways many languages handle with a different word order or a case ending rather than by swapping large for small; times as small in particular is rare or absent in other languages and sounds wrong even to some fluent speakers. Keep all four sentences visible on the record sheet, have students point at the rectangles before each one, and rehearse the two frames: the new field is ___ times as large as the old; the new field has ___ more square yards than the old. Students may work the counting aloud in their family language.

Materials

  • Squared paper, two sheets per pair
  • Ruler and pencil
  • Coloured pencil for the shaded difference
  • Four-line record sheet, one per student
  • The two field areas written where the class can see them, 600 and 2400

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.

10. Not Again. Touchdown! How Each Section Grabs You First Comprehension · Analysing How a Section Opens

Every section of this book opens the same way and it is never with the topic: it opens with a fragment, an exclamation or a question, and only then names the person and the problem. Students compare three printed openings, identify the move each makes, and write an opening of their own for a fourth section. The skill is analysing an author's structural choice at the start of a section.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Read three openings and name the move (6 min)

    Read the three passages below. Each is the start of a different section. For each one, underline the opening words that come before any person is named, and write on your chart whether that opening is a fragment, an exclamation or a question.

    Word preview: opening, fragment, hook

    Not again. CJ's volleyball hits the net for the fifth time today. He's struggling with his serve. His ball isn't clearing the net. Coach Jill shakes her head. Something doesn't make sense. Suddenly, she has an idea. She heads to the ball-cart.
    Touchdown! Shane leaps off the bench in excitement. His football team just scored again. They're well on their way to triumph.
    What does Thai love more than zipping across the ice with his hockey stick? Not much. Perhaps the only thing he enjoys more is facing off against his cousin Pete.
  2. 2. Find where the problem finally arrives (5 min)

    Read the passage below again. Mark the first sentence that names what has actually gone wrong. Say aloud what the sentences before it were doing instead, and why the writer might have put them first.

    Word preview: introduce

    Not again. CJ's volleyball hits the net for the fifth time today. He's struggling with his serve. His ball isn't clearing the net. Coach Jill shakes her head. Something doesn't make sense. Suddenly, she has an idea. She heads to the ball-cart.
  3. 3. Test the opening by removing it (5 min)

    Read the passage below aloud once as printed, then read it again beginning at the second sentence. Tell a partner what the first sentence was contributing, and whether the passage is better or worse without it.

    Touchdown! Shane leaps off the bench in excitement. His football team just scored again. They're well on their way to triumph.
  4. 4. Write an opening for a different section (4 min)

    Read the passage below, which is the plain opening of the lacrosse section. Write a new first line for it that uses one of the three moves from your chart. Read the passage aloud with your line in front of it and say which move you chose and why.

    Helen, Leah and Claire are crazy about LaCross. It's a blend of their favorite sports. LaCross involves skills they use in basketball, soccer, and hockey.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Read three openings and name the move (5 min)

    Read the three passages below. For each, underline the opening words that come before any person is named and say whether the opening is a fragment, an exclamation or a question.

    Word preview: opening, fragment, hook

    Not again. CJ's volleyball hits the net for the fifth time today. He's struggling with his serve. His ball isn't clearing the net. Coach Jill shakes her head. Something doesn't make sense. Suddenly, she has an idea. She heads to the ball-cart.
    Touchdown! Shane leaps off the bench in excitement. His football team just scored again. They're well on their way to triumph.
    What does Thai love more than zipping across the ice with his hockey stick? Not much. Perhaps the only thing he enjoys more is facing off against his cousin Pete.
  2. 2. Test the opening by removing it (4 min)

    Read the passage below aloud as printed, then again starting at the second sentence. Say what the first sentence was contributing.

    Touchdown! Shane leaps off the bench in excitement. His football team just scored again. They're well on their way to triumph.

Three levels

Support
Work with the step 1 passages only. For each one, read the very first sentence aloud and say whether it ends with a full stop, an exclamation mark or a question mark. Then say which one you would want to read on from.
At Grade
Fill in the chart for all three printed openings, then say where the problem arrives in the step 2 passage and what the writer did before that.
Extension
Two of the printed openings hold back the person's name and one does not. Write four sentences on what each choice does to a reader's first impression, quoting the exact printed words.

English learners

Sentence fragments like Not again. and Not much. are deliberate craft in English but read as errors to students taught that every sentence needs a subject and a verb. Name them as a choice, read each one aloud, then read the full sentence it stands for. Invite students to say what Not again. would be in their strongest language and whether it can be a fragment there too. Rehearsable frame: This opening is a ___, and it makes the reader ___.

Materials

  • Ball Game Math, the passage printed in this step
  • pencil
  • opening comparison chart
  • Word cards: opening, fragment, hook, introduce

Standards & curriculum

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

11. A Stat Is a Number That: Definitions Built Into the Sentence Vocabulary · Taking a Word's Meaning From the Sentence That Defines It

This book defines its hard words in the running text rather than in a glossary, and every definition uses the same sentence shape. Students find that shape in three printed sentences, name its parts, and then write a definition of their own in the same pattern. One of the three has a damaged headword and is read exactly as printed so students can see what a broken definition costs a reader.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Find the definition pattern (6 min)

    Read the two passages below. Each defines a word. On your sheet write the word being defined, then the two words that join it to its meaning, then the meaning itself. Say aloud what is the same about both sentences.

    Word preview: define, term, pattern

    A stat is a number that represents a piece of information.
    The diameter is the distance through the middle of the ball from one side to the other.
  2. 2. Read a definition whose word is broken (5 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed and do not repair it. It follows the same pattern as the others, but the word being defined has been mistranscribed. Underline the meaning, which is intact, then say aloud what a reader can and cannot get from this sentence.

    Word preview: precise

    Surcumference is the distance around the edge of a circle.
  3. 3. Say what makes a definition usable (5 min)

    Read the three passages below side by side. Rank them from most usable to least usable for a reader meeting the word for the first time. Tell a partner your ranking and quote the exact words that decided the bottom one.

    A stat is a number that represents a piece of information.
    The diameter is the distance through the middle of the ball from one side to the other.
    Surcumference is the distance around the edge of a circle.
  4. 4. Write a definition in the same pattern (4 min)

    Read the passage below. Choose a word from your own favourite game and write a definition of it using exactly the sentence pattern on your sheet. Read your sentence aloud and let a partner check it against the printed one.

    A stat is a number that represents a piece of information.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Find the definition pattern (5 min)

    Read the two passages below. On your sheet write the word defined, the words that link it to its meaning, and the meaning. Say what is the same about both sentences.

    Word preview: define, term, pattern

    A stat is a number that represents a piece of information.
    The diameter is the distance through the middle of the ball from one side to the other.
  2. 2. Read a definition whose word is broken (4 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed, without repairing it. Underline the meaning, which is intact, and say what a reader can and cannot get from this sentence.

    Word preview: precise

    Surcumference is the distance around the edge of a circle.

Three levels

Support
Work with the step 1 passages only. In each, put your finger on the word being defined and then on the word is. Read the part after is aloud. That part is the meaning.
At Grade
Fill the pattern sheet in for both step 1 definitions, then read the damaged one in step 2 and say what a reader loses.
Extension
The step 2 passage defines a word that is spelled wrongly at the very moment it is introduced. Write four sentences on why that particular position makes the damage worse than it would be anywhere else, quoting the printed sentence.

English learners

This definition pattern, term plus is plus meaning, is one of the most useful shapes in academic English, and it is worth naming explicitly rather than letting students infer it. Read each printed definition twice, once with a pause after is, so the two halves are heard apart. Tell students plainly that Surcumference is a transcription error, so they do not learn it as a spelling. Rehearsable frame: A ___ is a ___ that ___.

Materials

  • Ball Game Math, the passage printed in this step
  • pencil
  • definition pattern sheet
  • Word cards: define, term, pattern, precise

Standards & curriculum

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

12. Down On the Team: What Survives When a Sentence Loses Its Subject Comprehension · Deciding What a Damaged Sentence Can Still Tell You

Three sentences in this book have been damaged in transcription, and each is damaged in a different way: one has lost its subject, one has swapped a word for a word that means something else entirely, and one has lost a word from an idiom. Students read all three exactly as printed, say what each was probably meant to say and what evidence they have, and rank them by how much meaning survives. Nothing is corrected on the page.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Read a sentence with no subject (6 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed and do not repair it. This sentence is missing the words that would say who does the participating. Underline the part that still works. Then write in your damage log two different words that could be missing, and say what evidence in the sentence supports each.

    Word preview: subject, evidence, recover

    Down on the team participates in an equal number of plays per game.
  2. 2. Read a word swapped for another real word (5 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed. Here the damage is harder to spot, because the wrong word is a real word that means something else. Circle it. Say aloud what a reader who did not notice would picture, and what the sentence is actually describing.

    Word preview: idiom

    Coach Sue is also impressed. She tells Anne that she flips and swings between two raised bars like a circus trapezoid.
  3. 3. Read a saying with a word gone wrong (5 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed. It uses a well-known English saying about how quiet a place is, and one word of the saying is wrong. Underline the saying. Say aloud what the saying normally is, and how the rest of the passage helped you know.

    It's so quiet on the tennis court that Mark and Paul could hear a pin draw. The only noise is the soft thunk of their racquets hitting the ball.
  4. 4. Rank the three by what survives (4 min)

    Read the three passages below again as printed. Rank them in your damage log from the one whose meaning survives best to the one that survives worst. Tell a partner your reason for the bottom one, quoting its exact printed words.

    Down on the team participates in an equal number of plays per game.
    Coach Sue is also impressed. She tells Anne that she flips and swings between two raised bars like a circus trapezoid.
    It's so quiet on the tennis court that Mark and Paul could hear a pin draw. The only noise is the soft thunk of their racquets hitting the ball.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Read a sentence with no subject (5 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed, without repairing it. Underline the part that still works, then write two words that could be the missing subject and the evidence for each.

    Word preview: subject, evidence, recover

    Down on the team participates in an equal number of plays per game.
  2. 2. Read a saying with a word gone wrong (4 min)

    Read the passage below exactly as printed. Underline the saying about how quiet a place is, and say what the saying normally is and how you knew.

    It's so quiet on the tennis court that Mark and Paul could hear a pin draw. The only noise is the soft thunk of their racquets hitting the ball.

Three levels

Support
Work with the step 1 passage only. Read it aloud, then answer in one sentence: does this sentence tell you WHO takes part? Say what it does tell you instead.
At Grade
Log a likely missing subject for the step 1 passage with your evidence, then identify the wrong word in the step 3 saying and say how the passage helped you.
Extension
The step 2 passage stays perfectly grammatical while meaning something absurd. Write four sentences on why that kind of damage is more dangerous for a reader than a sentence that is obviously broken, quoting both printed passages.

English learners

Students building English are the readers most likely to assume a strange sentence is their own gap rather than the text's error, so say plainly at the start of every step that these three sentences are damaged and are not models. The step 3 saying is an idiom and cannot be worked out word by word; give it whole, then let students hear the wrong word inside it. Rehearsable frame: The sentence says ___, but it probably means ___.

Materials

  • Ball Game Math, the passage printed in this step
  • pencil
  • damage log
  • Word cards: subject, evidence, recover, idiom

Standards & curriculum

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

13. What Beth Has to Decide: Following a Goal From Wish to Choice Comprehension · Tracing a Person's Goal Through a Section

One section of this book follows a girl deciding whether to join a team, and the writer lays the decision out in stages: what she loves, what else is competing for her, what she needs to know, and what she will decide once she knows it. Students trace those stages across two printed passages, then compare them with a second person whose goal is stated in a single sentence. The skill is tracking a stated purpose through a text.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. List what is competing for her time (6 min)

    Read the passage below. Underline everything Beth cares about, including the things that are not sports. Write them in the first column of your goal tracker. Say aloud which single sentence tells you these things are in competition with each other.

    Word preview: compete, goal

    Beth can't get her mind off soccer. It is her favorite sport. But she also likes golf, volleyball, and swimming. And sports are only part of the big picture. Beth has school and homework too.
  2. 2. Find what she needs to know and why (5 min)

    Read the passage below. Two sentences here separate a thing Beth needs to find out from the decision she will make afterwards. Underline each one in a different colour. Write in the second column of your tracker what she must know before she can decide.

    Word preview: decide, purpose

    So she needs to find out just how much time soccer will take this year. Then she can decide whether she has time for any other sports.
  3. 3. Compare with a goal stated all at once (5 min)

    Read the passage below, where a different person's goal arrives in a single sentence with no stages at all. Tell a partner one advantage of stating a goal that way and one advantage of stringing it out the way the earlier passages do.

    Martin plays Little League Baseball, yet he has far bigger plans for his future. Martin dreams of being a professional baseball player.
  4. 4. Say Beth's goal in one sentence (4 min)

    Read the passage below one more time. Using your tracker, say Beth's goal in a single sentence the way the book stated Martin's. Then say aloud what your one sentence leaves out that the printed passage kept.

    So she needs to find out just how much time soccer will take this year. Then she can decide whether she has time for any other sports.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. List what is competing for her time (5 min)

    Read the passage below. Underline everything Beth cares about, sports and not, and write them in the first column of your tracker.

    Word preview: compete, goal

    Beth can't get her mind off soccer. It is her favorite sport. But she also likes golf, volleyball, and swimming. And sports are only part of the big picture. Beth has school and homework too.
  2. 2. Find what she needs to know and why (4 min)

    Read the passage below. Underline what Beth must find out and, in another colour, the decision that depends on it.

    Word preview: decide, purpose

    So she needs to find out just how much time soccer will take this year. Then she can decide whether she has time for any other sports.

Three levels

Support
Work with the step 1 passage only. Underline Beth's favourite sport, then underline the three other sports. Say aloud one thing she likes that is not a sport at all.
At Grade
Fill both columns of the tracker from the two printed passages and say what Beth must know before she can decide.
Extension
The step 2 passage puts find out before decide, in that order. Write four sentences on why the writer could not have reversed them, quoting the printed words.

English learners

Find out and get her mind off are multi-word verbs whose meanings are not built from their parts, and both carry real weight in these passages. Read each printed sentence, then restate it with a single-word equivalent, so the phrase is heard as one unit. Invite students to say what Beth has to choose between in their strongest language before filling the tracker. Rehearsable frame: Beth must find out ___ before she can decide ___.

Materials

  • Ball Game Math, the passage printed in this step
  • pencil
  • goal tracker
  • Word cards: goal, decide, compete, purpose

Standards & curriculum

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

14. Pretend You're Playing: Where the Book Stops Telling and Starts Asking Language · Noticing When a Text Turns and Speaks to You

This book keeps switching between telling a story about somebody else and turning to speak directly to the reader, and it signals the switch with a small set of words. Students find the switch inside two printed passages, mark the exact sentence where it happens, and say what the writer gains by moving the reader onto the field. The skill is tracking point of view across a text.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

  1. 1. Mark the sentence where the book turns to you (6 min)

    Read the passage below. It starts by telling you about other people and ends by putting you in the game. Draw a line across the page at the exact sentence where the switch happens. Say aloud the first word of that sentence and what it asks a reader to do.

    Word preview: switch, imagine, reader

    Pretend you're playing with Sarah and her friends. You're pitching first. You know how to throw a mean curveball. What you don't know is where to stand.
  2. 2. Read a passage that never turns (5 min)

    Read the passage below. This one stays with other people the whole way through. Circle every name and every he, she or they. Say aloud what would have to change for this passage to speak to you instead.

    Word preview: narration

    She and her friends had planned to play softball at the park today, but her brother's Sal and his pals already have a game going on the field. Should Sarah pack up and head home? Sal says no.
  3. 3. Find the switch at the very end of the book (5 min)

    Read the passage below, which is near the end of the book. It switches to you in its very first word. Underline that word. Tell a partner how this switch is different from the one in the earlier passage, where the book named other people first.

    Do you feel like heading to the nearest batting cage, tennis court or ice rink? Well, you can start doing your favorite sports activities in a minute. First though, get ready to solve a few final problems.
  4. 4. Rewrite one sentence in the other voice (4 min)

    Read the passage below again. Choose its opening sentence and rewrite it so that it speaks to you instead of about Sarah. Read both aloud to a partner and say which version makes a reader more likely to keep going, and why.

    She and her friends had planned to play softball at the park today, but her brother's Sal and his pals already have a game going on the field. Should Sarah pack up and head home? Sal says no.

Short version — 9 minutes

  1. 1. Mark the sentence where the book turns to you (5 min)

    Read the passage below. Draw a line at the exact sentence where the book stops telling about other people and starts speaking to you, and say what its first word asks you to do.

    Word preview: switch, imagine, reader

    Pretend you're playing with Sarah and her friends. You're pitching first. You know how to throw a mean curveball. What you don't know is where to stand.
  2. 2. Read a passage that never turns (4 min)

    Read the passage below. Circle every name and every he, she or they, and say what would have to change for it to speak to you.

    Word preview: narration

    She and her friends had planned to play softball at the park today, but her brother's Sal and his pals already have a game going on the field. Should Sarah pack up and head home? Sal says no.

Three levels

Support
Work with the step 1 passage only. Circle every you and your. Then say aloud who the passage is talking to by its last sentence.
At Grade
Mark the switch in the step 1 passage, then contrast it with the step 2 passage that never switches, saying what would have to change.
Extension
The step 1 passage switches after naming other people and the step 3 passage switches in its first word. Write four sentences on what each placement does to a reader, quoting the exact printed words from both.

English learners

English uses the bare imperative Pretend to move a reader into a scene, with no subject and no marker of politeness, which can sound abrupt to students from languages that mark this differently. Read the sentence, then read it as I want you to pretend ___, so the invitation is heard. Invite students to describe a game in their strongest language and say whether they used you or a name. Rehearsable frame: Here the book stops telling about ___ and starts speaking to ___.

Materials

  • Ball Game Math, the passage printed in this step
  • pencil
  • voice switch strips
  • Word cards: narration, switch, imagine, reader

Standards & curriculum

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

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