Chelsea

Ansari
Choral Counting Lesson Design
This instructional activity asks teachers to engage a group of students in counting together, to discuss patterns in the
number system and to connect written and verbal language. The task requires that teachers choose a counting sequence
that would be productive and accessible for their students. It also requires that teachers manage choral response,
participation, and responding to student comments, questions. The counting task can be a springboard for the upcoming
mathematical work in the lesson.

Grade Level: 5
Standards: 5.NBT.1 - Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much
as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left

Lesson Objective: Students can identify and predict patterns with decimals in the thousandths place.

The Choral count with work with decimals in the thousandths
place. The count will start at 0.005 and 0.004 will be added to the
number as you move down the row to the right.
Step 1: Choose a counting sequence The completed chart should look like this:
.005 .009 .013 .017 .021
Consider where to start and what number to count .025 .029 .033 .037 .041
by, keeping in mind where the counting sequence .045 .049 .053 .057 .061
should end. .065 .069 .073 .077 .081
.085 .089 .093 .097 .101
.105 .109 .113 .117 .121

Today we will be choral counting numbers. Does anyone

know what choral counting is?
Talk to students about what the task is and clarify by
Step 2: Introduce counting task to students starting the count together.
Explain the choral aspect of the task (counting
together, some think time in between numbers, etc.)

Write the count on the board as the students call out the
numbers.
Start with writing 0.005, 0.009, 0.013 on the board or on
Step 3: Start the counting sequence together
a piece of chart paper.
Write numbers horizontally, creating 5 columns. After the
first 5 numbers are listed, begin a second row.
Make sure to align numbers down columns and rows.

Ask the students what number are we counting by.

Step 4: After first 4 or 5 counts check in then
continue counting until you reach .121 Students should say you add four-thousandths as their
response.
The goal here is to make sure that students each have Ask students how they know this and what numbers may
a way to figure out what number comes next and can come next. Since students will know what a choral
participate as well as to highlight the mathematics count is from the introduction to the lesson, they should
going on. know that they will be saying the numbers together (Give
 enough think time to give all students access to the
learning objective)
Do not write each number until all of the students have
determined (in unison) what they predict the next
number to be. Fill in every number until you reach .121.
Note: Students will be challenged working in the
thousandths and this should help them better grasp the
patterns of place value which they will discuss in the
summary.

Support: If students are having trouble with the count...

You can change the number you are counting by
You can give the students some time to count on their
own on a piece of paper and then come back together to
count as a group

Ask what kind of patterns the students noticed, and WHY the
patterns occurred.
o What patterns do you notice going down the columns?
o What patterns do you notice going across the columns?
Step 5: Discussing the patterns Record the identified patterns on the choral chart by circling the
or highlighting the numbers that show a pattern. Ask students to
Now you want to know what come up with a rule or conjecture after each pattern is identified
students notice about the counting and record the rule on the bottom of the chart
sequence. This is where a lot of
mathematical ideas will emerge for Ask: What decimal would come next?
you to ask questions about and build o Thumbs up if you have an answer.
upon. Ask what might have happened had we chose different numbers
or set up the numbers in a different way?
Invite students to think about other numbers that may form
patterns and how you could display those patterns through choral
counting.

Close the choral count by repeating some of the patterns shared
Ask students to turn and talk: what overall pattern or relationship
do you see with all the number differences that were identified
(ex: the numbers increased by .020 going down the columns then
another student saw the left to right diagonal increase by .024
Step 7: Closing the task going down). Students should come to the conclusion that the
numbers are all multiples of four.
Tell students it is important to understand these patterns as we
work with decimals
Leave the recorded count up for students to refer back to.