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KITES: The Snow is Falling! The Snow is Falling!, PreK - K
Description:
Using problem simulations, students will explore the pattern of snow accumulation and possible variations to develop an understanding of functional relationships. As the activities proceed through the grade levels, various methods of describing, representing, and extending patterns will be introduced.
Author:
Adapted from the NYS Department of Education publication, A Toolkit for Mathematics Educators: Key Idea Tasks to Enhance Success (KITES)
Related Activities:
  1. Pose the snowfall problem as described in the Activity Sheet to explore the pattern of snow falling.
  2. Have students brainstrom different ways of solving the snowfall problem. Ask "How can we figure this out?" Discuss the problem and their experiences with snowstorms. In this instance, the snow falls at a constant rate over a period of several hours. There is no snow accumulation when snowfall begins.
  3. As a whole group, have students explore the pattern of snowfall each hour. Break it down one hour at a time: "In the first hour, how much snow fell?"
  4. Model the use of manipulatives to help solve the problem: "If we use unifix cubes for the centimeters of snow, here's one cube for the first hour, here's another cube for the second hour..."
  5. As a class, discuss the pattern of snowfall that the students observe.
  6. Have students predict the amount of snow at 6 hours, 7 hours, and 8 hours if the snowfall continues at a constant rate.
Grade Level(s): PreK, K
Support Materials:
Activity Sheet

Related Standards:
Bullet MST3.PK.PS1.06 Students experience teacher-directed questioning process to understand problems.
 
Bullet MST3.PK.PS1.07 Students compare and discuss ideas for solving a problem with a teacher and/or students to justify their thinking.
 
Bullet MST3.PK.PS1.08 Students use manipulatives (e.g., tiles, blocks) to model the action in problems.
 
Bullet MST3.PK.RP2.03 Students explore guesses, using a variety of objects and manipulatives.
 
Bullet MST3.PK.NO6.02 Students count out (produce) a collection of a specified size (1 to 10).
 
Bullet MST3.KN.PS1.06 Students experience teacher-directed questioning process to understand problems.
 
Bullet MST3.KN.PS1.07 Students compare and discuss ideas for solving a problem, with a teacher and/or students, to justify their thinking.
 
Bullet MST3.KN.PS1.08 Students use manipulatives (e.g., tiles, blocks) to model the action in problems.
 
Bullet MST3.KN.RP2.03 Students explore guesses, using a variety of objects and manipulatives.
 
Bullet MST3.KN.NO6.02 Students count out (produce) a collection of a specified size, 1 to 10.
 

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