Show the class the math mouse you prepared prior to
the lesson. See Materials Preparation. Pass out construction
paper and ask each student to draw one
mouse to start. Each mouse has 3 gray lines for the
sides, 6 black whiskers, 5 red dots for the mouth, 2
blue dots for the eyes, 1 brown tail, and 1 pink nose.
See Content Note.
- How many sides did you draw to make your mouse? (3)
- How many sides will two mice have? How do you
know? (Possible response: 6; I doubled three.
3 + 3 = 6 sides)
- How many sides will three mice have? Four mice?
How can you find out? (9 sides; 12 sides; I can
group and count by threes.)
- Point to the number line and show skip counting by
threes 3 times and 4 times. (See Figure 2.)
Asking students to draw a Math Mouse several times helps
them conceptualize the math behind skip counting. While
drawing groups of 6 whiskers on each mouse, students will
make the connection that 2 mice have 6 + 6, or 12, whiskers
and 3 mice have 6 + 6 + 6, or 18, whiskers. This repetitive
process may frustrate some students who see it as an
inefficient strategy, but it will help them begin to understand
the efficiency behind repeated addition.
Draw attention to other features of the math mouse.
Ask a few ongoing questions as students are drawing.
- Look closely at the math mouse. How many
whiskers does it have? (6)
- How many whiskers will two mice have? How do
you know? (12 whiskers; I can double 6.)
Remind students of all the features to be drawn in and
how many of each. When they finish one mouse, have
them draw 3 more for a total of 4 mice on their paper.
