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Girl Hiking in Mountains

Oral Language Activity

Oral Language Development – How can we get students speaking?
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*What does it need to include?*
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Grade level: Fourth Grade

 

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Content Area: Mathematics

 

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Colorado Academic Standard: 

      Fourth Grade, Standard 2. Algebra and Functions

               4.OA.A. Operations & Algebraic Thinking: Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.

                                 A. Multiply or divide to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison, e.g., by using drawings                                                        and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem, distinguishing                                                                    multiplicative comparison from additive comparison. (See Appendix, Table 2) (CCSS: 4.OA.A.2)

 

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WIDA Can Do Descriptor: Specifically using ELP Standard 4, Expanding: 

  • Elaborating on statements of others to extend ideas.

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Go to the button below to see all of the different Fourth Grade Can Do Descriptors

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Overview of Activity (explanation/instructions) - Be detailed enough for a substitute to use this in your absence:

 

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Problem of the Day

The teacher will pull up on the projector the math problem of the day. The problem for the day (as an example) is: “Jessie made 24 cookies, and James made 8 times more cookies than Jessie. How many cookies did James make?”. Read the problem to the students. Ask the students about what words are used in the problem. Then, give the students 5-10 minutes to work on the problem. The students will work individually on the problem first, and do their best to figure out the problem with many different methods. They will draw pictures, use strategies from class (multiplicative comparison, which you can encourage them to try and use), and work out the problem by showing their work. Then, the students will get with their pre-picked partners and discussed what they each did for the problem. They will both talk about the answer they got, and then decide whether they agree on their answer or not. If they do not agree, they should try to solve the problem again together. Give the students 5 minutes to discuss and collaborate. When the five minutes is up, have the students get into groups of 5-6 (you can have them count off or they can pick themselves if they are good for the day). They will discuss with these groups about the problem of the day. Have the groups pick one student to lead the discussion (they will know what to do, and there is a sheet that is also attached that shows the questions to ask and what steps to do in the group). The student will ask another student to read the question out loud for the group. Then, the student would pick another student in the group to share the words that are important or unknown from the problem. Then the students would have a discussion about whether they agree or disagree with the words chosen. Then, all of the students will share their work to the group. All of the students will share what they think the person did well on for their work, and then will share what they could work on. Then, they will all share if they agree or disagree with the answer they came up with. For the next step, the students will all collaborate to come up with the correct answer to the problem as a group, with their work shown on a a separate piece of paper. When they are finished, all of the groups will show their work and their answer to the class. From these answers, the teacher will create an anchor chart about what strategies they uses, and ones that they have previously talked about in class. This will help the students with their math work later on. 

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Artifacts: All materials and documents needed to deliver your activity (instructions for students, handouts, photographs of realia, technology, examples, etc.).

 

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Math Group Discussions

  1. Pick someone to read the problem by asking “Would someone like to read the problem?”.

  2. Have a different student share what they found to be the important or unknown words in the problem by asking “What are the important or unknown words in this problem?”.

  3. Now, have everyone share their work with the group.

  4. Have the students all share what they think the glows and grows for each person’s work. 

  5. Have all of the students discuss whether they agree or disagree with the student’s work (in a polite way).

  6. Then, discuss what the correct answer might be. Go through the problem again to find the solution as a group to the problem. Make sure that everyone is sharing their ideas with the group. 

 

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Problem of the Day (example)

Jessie made 24 cookies, and James made 8 times more cookies than Jessie. How many cookies did James make?

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Why Is This Developing Oral Language?:

This activity allows for the students to work on their math skills, and then orally speak about math. Emergent Bilinguals will use vocabulary previously and will speak with their peers. They will speak in groups, and then also in partners. They will first work individually on the problem, and then will discuss with a partner in order to go over misconceptions and work together on the problem. They also get the same chance in groups as well. This activity makes sure to give students many opportunities to work through the same problem. This allows for time to work on it, so they will be able to feel like they can understand. It also has the students really collaborate, so that they can get the problem solved correctly. So, this activity requires them to speak with others and then in front of the class at the very end. It also makes sure to have the students feel comfortable talking with others and also with the content that they are going over.

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Citations:

Sharing Student
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