Capacity  (Pints & Quarts)

PEPE Lesson Plan Format

(Alabama Professional Education Personnel Evaluation Program)

written by: Chanda Campbell chanda_campbell@hotmail.com, 

Athens State University (Fall, 2001)

editing, graphics, & formatting by:  Dr. Beth McCulloch Vinson

Gallon = Green, Quart = Crimson, Pint = Pink, Cup = Blue

I.  Preparing (to plan for instruction):

·        Materials:

Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics, page 26, number 29; children’s literature: Capacity by Henry Pluckrose, and Room for Ripley by Stuart J. Murphy; one cup container, one pint container, one quart container; beans; pictures of cups, pints, and quarts; worksheet; overhead projector

·        Objectives:  The students will:

·        (Evaluation) estimate capacities.

·        (Analysis) compare pints and quarts.

·        (Comprehension) identify pints and quarts.

·        Grade Level:  second

II.  Orienting (to establish purpose, build background, sustain motivation, and provide directions):

·         Anticipatory Set: The teacher will ask the students if they have ever played with sand, packed it into a sand bucket, and made a sandcastle.  The teacher will ask why the sand takes the shape of the bucket.

·         Purpose: The teacher will say, “The purpose of this lesson is for you to be able to identify pints and quarts, so when you help your family cook or shop, you will be able to pick them out."

·        Connection to previous learning/Build background knowledge: The teacher will say, “Yesterday we measured cups, and saw items that are usually measured in cups.  Today we are going to use cups to make pints and quarts, and see items that come in pints and quarts.”

III.  Presenting (to use sequential direct instruction):

·        Teaching Procedures:

·        The teacher will define “capacity.”  The teacher will say, “Capacity is the most that a container can hold.”  The teacher will show various containers.

·        The teacher will say, “Containers hold things.  Inside a container there is space.  The space inside a container can hold solids, liquids, or just air.”

·        The teacher will show the students a cup, a pint, and a quart container. 

·        The teacher will fill the cup with beans and say, “I have a cup of beans.”

·        The teacher will fill the pint with beans and say, “I have a pint of beans.”

·        The teacher will fill the quart with beans and say, “I have a quart of beans.”

·        The teacher will ask which of the containers holds the most beans, and which holds the least.

·        The teacher will ask, “How many cups of beans would we use to fill the pint container?”  The teacher will measure the cups it takes to fill the pint while the students count aloud.

·        The teacher will ask, “How many cups of beans would we use to fill the quart container?”  The teacher will measure the cups it takes to fill the pint while the students count aloud.

·        The teacher will say, “If it takes two cups to fill a pint, and four cups to fill a quart, we can say that it takes two pints to fill a quart.” 

·        The teacher will write the findings on the overhead projector.

·        The teacher will choose a volunteer to come up and measure the pints into the quart to see if the hypothesis is true.

·        The teacher will say, "Instead of saying two cups, you can simply say one pint, and instead of saying two pints, you can say one quart.”

·        The teacher will say, “When you help your family cook, you will know that two cups is equal to one pint, and two pints is equal to one quart.”

IV.  Practicing and Summarizing (to reinforce and extend ideas):

·        Review:

·        (Application) The teacher will call on volunteers to use the word “capacity” in a sentence.

·        (Analysis) The teacher will call on volunteers to tell us the difference between a “pint” and a “quart.”

·        (Comprehension) The teacher will review the measurements of pints and quarts.

·        Guided Practice:

·        The teacher will show the students different containers and ask them to estimate the capacity in pints and quarts.

·        The teacher will record their estimations on the board and fill the containers to find the true capacities.

·        The teacher will present a worksheet on the overhead projector.  The students will answer the problems while the teacher completes the problems with them on the overhead projector.

·        Independent Practice:

·        The teacher will put the students into groups of two.

·        The teacher will give each group a cup, pint, and quart container.

·        The teacher will give each group problems to answer.  The students will use the containers to find the equivalent capacities listed in the problems.

·        Summarizing:

·        The teacher will say, “Today, we learned about pints and quarts.  I want everyone to go home and find containers that hold pints and quarts and bring them to school tomorrow.  You can either bring the empty container or write down what it is."

V.  Assessment: (to check for attainment of objectives):

• The teacher will use a rubric to assess the guided and independent practice activities.  The rubric will have the objectives listed as column headings.  Checks and minuses will be used to determine attainment.

• For enrichment, those students will be given a quart container labeled $.90, a pint container labeled $.60, and a cup labeled $.40.  The students will figure out the price per cup for each container and decide which is the best buy.

• For remediation, those students will stay on the concrete level by using containers labeled cup, pint, and quart, and use beans to measure given capacities.  

  Also see the "Capacity & Volume" Slide Show at:

http://www.athens.edu/pt3/vinson/capacity.ppt