Backward Design Math Mini Unit Planning Guide

Complete THIS FORM and turn it in along with your lesson plans.

Using FL BEST mathematics benchmarks, and following VCS math pacing guide, identify a
mathematical concept that would fit a five-day mini unit.
- This mini unit might be an entire math unit from the designated curriculum or
might be a smaller section of a larger unit.
- The mini unit must be 5 consecutive days of instruction (pre and post assessment
NOT included).
Name: Lauren Sanchez
Grade: 5th grade
Curriculum Unit: Adding and Subtracting Decimals
# of Lessons: 11
Pre-Assessment Date: 9/11 (pre-assessment must be given a week prior to instruction and
results should be used to differentiate content for students)

Post-Assessment Date: 10/2

Complete the following template IN ORDER

Pre/Post Assessment
1. You need to create a pre/post assessment for your mini unit (this can be one you
design yourself or can come from the given curriculum).
2. Before you begin your unit planning, complete the pre/post assessment YOURSELF
first and then give it to your students.

1. Complete the Pre-Assessment Yourself

 UPLOAD A COPY/IMAGE OF YOUR COMPLETED PRE/POST ASSESSMENT HERE!

Based on your completed pre-assessment, answer the following questions.

What specific questions do you predict might come “easy” for your students? (Describe
what might come easy and WHY; provide specific reference to question number and
specific students)
● I think the first two questions will come quite easy to my students because I hope
they will see that it is just basic adding and subtracting. I know my higher students
will do well on these, specifically Kate and Nate because I believe they will see it as
money.

What specific questions do you predict might come as a “challenge” for your students?
(Describe the challenge you foresee and WHY; provide specific reference to question
number and specific students)
● So I believe questions 8 and 10 will be at the frustration level for all students,
because they have not really come in contact with this type of questioning. I still
would like for them to try it, but if it becomes to frustrated I might ope for them all
to skip it during the pretest. I know a few of the students would just shut down
and not finish the rest of the assessment if they get too overwhelmed. Specifically
Jenzel , Cole, and Brody.
 2. Give the Pre-Assessment to Your Students

Based on your students’ pre-assessment results, answer the following questions.

How did your students do on the pre-assessment? Which questions did they get correct?
Incorrect? What surprised you? How will the results impact your planning? How will you
plan to differentiate your instruction based on the assessment results?
● I was actually pleasantly surprised with the overall results. The class average was
64% which was higher than anticipated. As expected, questions 8 and 10 pushed a
lot of students to that frustrational level and they were getting overwhelmed, so I
ended up just omitting those on the pretest. I was pleasantly surprised about the
last word problem because the class as a whole really struggle with word problems
but 77% got it right on the pretest. I want to make sure I really give explicit
instruction on the modeling and problems where you find the missing number
because I want them to not feel as frustrated on them for the post test. I also think
those are two very important skills they need to have to help their knowledge.
Stage 1: Desired Results
1. You can pull (copy) each of these straight from your curriculum.
2. These are what will guide all your lessons for this mini unit.

Unit Benchmarks (copy entire benchmark/standard)

● MA.5.NSO.2.3- estimate sums and differences of decimals.
● MA.5.NSO.2.2- Evaluate multi-step numerical expressions using order of operations
● MA.5.M.2.1 Solve real-world problems involving money

Unit Objectives for each Lesson : Essential Content Question(s):

● 3.1 SWBAT- estimate sums and ● How do you find the sum and
differences of decimals. difference of decimals?
● 3.2 SWBAT- use models to add and
subtract decimals
● 3.3 SWBAT- add decimals and
check whether the sum is
reasonable.
● 3.4 SWBAT- subtract decimals and
check whether the difference is
reasonable.
● 3.5 SWBAT- use addition and
subtraction to evaluate
expressions involving decimals.
● 3.6 SWBAT- use mental math to
add or subtract decimals
 ● 3.7 SWBAT- solve multi-step word
problems involving money

ESOL Language Objectives:

● Clarify language that may be difficult or confusing for English Learners.
● Connect real-world and math concepts.
● Differentiate student comprehension while completing practice exercises.
● Target Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced English learners, which corresponds
to WIDA language mastery levels.

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

1. Your assessments should align with your learning objectives.
2. You can create these on your own or use the ones from the curriculum.

Describe the formative assessment(s): in class work, class discussions, exit tickets,
journals, quizzes, etc. that will be added to your lesson plans (include: type of assessment,
what it will be used for, when it will be given, and what you are looking for in responses):
● We will have two formative assessments that the students will take before their
summative assessment. I will use these five question quizzes to help me to
understand the groups I will need to pull for remediation. I will also be utilizing
their homework (for the few that will actually turn it in) to understand where they
are in their understanding. I also really am enjoying using white boards to see
everyone’s answers. For whiteboards I always utilize those in the beginning of my
lessons to see what I am starting off with and how I should direct my lesson. For
the 5 question formative assessments they will do one about 3 sections into the
chapter, and the second one will be towards when they take the summative.

Include the summative assessment rubric from “Pre/Post Assessment” (how each
question will be scored—i.e., what are you taking as evidence that the student “got it”?):
● Pre Test is out of 11 points
● Post Test is out of 13 points
o I do not believe any of these questions would warrant half points.
o However, if they show work on the post test and get it wrong, I will let
them redo the singular problem. If they get it wrong, but have no work to
show, I will not.
● They have been given explicit instruction throughout every math lesson about the
importance of showing work.

Stage 3: Learning Experiences and Instructional Planning

 1. All 5 completed daily lessons must be submitted using Stetson Lesson Plan
Template.

Describe specific differentiation strategies for each lesson based on Pre-Assessment data:
● 3.1- I figured that this would overall be the easiest lesson for the students to
understand and I was correct in that assumption. I still pulled both Jenzel (ELL) and
Alexis just to make sure they understood the content and went over some extra
questions with them while the rest of the class were on reflex.
● 3.2- Models I spent a lot more explicit time on because I knew they were going to
be a little more tricky for the students to understand since we were looking at
ones, tenths and hundreths. I had the students complete a few problems on their
whiteboard towards the end of the lesson, and if they got all three problems
correct, I had them go do problems in their book, and if they did not, they sat on
the carpet with me to do some extra explicit practice. I knew this concept would
be a little harder for them since they struggled with the problem on the pretest.
● 3.3 and 3.4- The same thing as with 3.2, I knew this concept was going to be a little
easier to teach since they all did fairly well on the pretest for this concept. I still
ended up pulling about 5 students who I could tell were struggling and went
through step by step explicitly with modeling. I also made sure to emphasize that
we always line up our place values and the decimal.
● 3.5 and 3.6- these lessons were kind of combined and students struggled
exponentially on mental math. I knew the students were going to struggle with
that concept and I tried to provide strategies for them to be able to work out
some, but I could tell during my lesson they were getting very frustrated. I ended
up just focusing on making sure the students could solve the problem.
● 3.7- as a whole, these students are struggling with word problems as a whole.
However, with the aspect of money being included, you could almost see the
lightbulb go off. I could still tell they struggled with the concept of the word
problem, but I made sure to be explicit with my instruction and include the aspects
of breaking down a word problem. I was 50/50 on the idea of whether they would
do well on this because I was thinking with money it might help the problem make
more sense, but I also could see how it might not have clicked also.
Describe explicit integration of the math content to other disciplines and life experiences:
● The main aspect I related back to this entire lesson was money. The students really
like talking about money and seemed to grasp the concept a little better when
money was brought into the equation.
Stage 4: Reflection (after you teach!)
1) Reflect on student learning and your instructional decisions by answering the
following questions.
● How did your students do on the post-assessment? Which questions did they get
correct? Incorrect? Include student data. How do you know they learned what you
intended? What areas of learning were more/less successful, why do you think that is?
Did anything in the data surprise you? How will you reteach students who need
remediation?
o I was very, very happy with the post test overall. The students still struggled a
lot with the models, but I also believe they just simply did not like the models,
and did not see the importance of them which led to them just not doing
them. I feel like in this chapter as a whole they grew exponentially on word
problems and we really took the time to break down the word problems so
they are not as overwhelming. There are a few students who need
remediation, but I believe they are almost on the brink of getting it fully and
just a little small push is what they would need for the lightbulb to go off. I
plan to pull them on the flex day, just so they have that time to sit down
one-on-one with me to work out the kinks and all of the students who
struggled have a 504 or are ESE, so they will have the opportunity to retake
the test.

● Reflect on your instructional decisions. How do you think your content instruction
went (as opposed to your management) during the unit? What instructional decisions
were more/less successful, why do you think that is?
o I really liked incorporating students on their whiteboards before every lesson. I
feel like this is super important to see where their thinking is, and to also
check their understanding of the previous day’s lesson. I struggled a lot with
students talking through my lesson, but I do think I am getting somewhat
better at bringing them back together. I also feel like I was very animated a lot
during my lessons which helps with engagement and can sometimes get the
kids excited, which is helping some of the ideals to stick in their minds even
further.