Kindergarten Task: The Four-Leaf Clover

Kindergarten Task: The Four-Leaf Clover

Standards & Objectives

Essential and guiding questions: 

Assessing Questions:

  • How did you determine the number of clovers that Max has?
  • How did you determine the number of clovers that Max will need to have 10 clovers?
  • Describe your drawing or equation. How did this help you determine your solution?
  • What do the 5 and 2 represent in your equation?
  • How did you determine the number of clovers that Max has?
  • How did you determine the number of clovers that Max will need to have 10 clovers?
  • Where did you start counting? How do you know where to stop counting?
  • What do the 5 and 2 represent in your equation?
  • Describe the story problem.
  • How many clovers does Max have after he visits the park and his yard?
  • How can you model this story problem with cubes?
  • How many more clovers will Max need to find so that he has 12 clovers?
  • If Max finds 5 clovers and 2 clovers, but then loses 1 clover. How many more will he need to have 10 clovers?

Whole Group Questions:

  • Describe how you found the total number of clovers that Max found at the park and in his yard?
  • How can a tens frame, cubes or a number line help us model this problem?
  • How can we represent this problem with an equation?

Activity/Task Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 

Advancing Questions:

  • You have determined that Max has 7 clovers. How can you determine how many more he needs to have 10?
  • Can you write an equation to represent this situation? (for students who did not write an equation)
  • You have determined that Max has 7 clovers. How can you determine how many more he needs to have 10?
  • Can you write an equation to represent this situation? (for students who did not write an equation)
  • How can a number line be used to model this situation? 

Helpful Hints

Teacher Notes:

Cubes, counters, or other manipulatives should be available for students to use as needed. A part‐part‐whole map or a tens frame may be helpful for some students to

visualize and to make sense of the problem. The term “number sentence” is used instead of “equation”. Teachers should model the term “equation” but students may

continue to use the term “number sentence”. Students may choose not to write an equation, but should be able to explain how they found the answer with a drawing or

model. If students do not write an equation, the teacher may choose to model this in the whole group discussion.