How Many Groups?

10 min

Narrative

The purpose of this How Many Do You See? is for students to subitize or use grouping strategies to describe the images they see.

Launch

  • Groups of 2
  • “How many do you see? How do you see them?”
  • Flash the image.
  • 30 seconds: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
  • Display the image.
  • “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
  • 1 minute: partner discussion
  • Record responses.

Student Task

How many do you see? How do you see them?

Sample Response

Sample responses:
  • 16: 4 rows (or columns) of 4.
  • 16: I multiplied 8×28 \times 2.
  • 23: I see 4 groups of 4, and I see 7 more apples in the other crate, which makes 23.

Synthesis

  • “How did the organization of the apples help you see how many there were?” (I saw 2 rows of 4, which I knew was 8, and then I doubled 8 to find how many apples were in the crate. I saw groups of 4 so I multiplied 4×44 \times 4 then added the other apples.)
  • Consider asking:
    • “Who can restate the way ___ saw the apples in different words?”
    • “Did anyone see the apples the same way but would explain it differently?”
    • “Does anyone want to add an observation to the way ____ saw the apples?”
Standards
Building Toward
  • 3.OA.3·Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
  • 3.OA.A.3·Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.<span>See Glossary, Table 2.</span>

20 min

15 min