Teacher: Abby Hull

Subject Area: Math

Grade Level: 1
st

Lesson Title: Intro to Probability
Objectives: Students will obtain a basic understanding of probability
Students will learn to interpret data and make predictions based on probability.
Standards: CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.C.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three
categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each
category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
Materials: Plastic Easter eggs of varying colors
Easter egg coloring pages
Red, blue, pink, green, orange, and purple crayons
Duration: 30-60min.
Anticipatory Set: Students will be given a coloring page of an Easter egg. They will be asked to
choose from the colors red, blue, pink, green, orange and purple and color in the egg. They will be
asked to only choose one color, their favorite of the six choices.
Input: During the input, students will be taught a short introduction to probability and statistics. The
teacher will explain to them that the eggs that they colored will be used to explain something new to
use in math. The teacher will say the following:
Alright class, today were going to talk about something called probability. Thats a big word, but
its not as complicated or scary as it sounds. What it actually means is the chance that something
will happen. For example: I could say what is the probability that school will end at 3:30pm
today? I could then answer that by saying that its pretty likely, but of course something could
happen to make school close early.
Another example that some of you might have heard is, what is the probability that it is going to
rain tomorrow? Weather men are able to study the current weather, and lots of other parts of the
weather to come up with a probability. They will usually say something like there is a 60% chance
of rain which also means theres a 40% chance it wont rain. We use probability to help us make
predictions about what is going to happen. Does anyone know what the word prediction means? It
basically means a guess or an estimate of what is going to happen. Probability helps us to make
decisions and understand all sorts of things!
Modeling: The teacher would then collect all of the students coloring pages and sort them by the
colors that the students chose. The teacher would then put them up on the board so that the students
could see them. Then, the teacher would say this aloud:
Altogether there are how many Easter eggs? 1,2,3 (counting up)....we have 25 Easter eggs! Now let
me count how many pink Easter eggs we have? 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. 7 Pink Easter Eggs.
The teacher would continue counting and writing the total number of each color on the board. Then
she would ask herself, how many more pink Easter eggs do I have than red Easter eggs, and
questions such as this. Then she would say aloud: If I have more pink Easter eggs than red Easter
eggs that means there is a higher probability that if I were to randomly pick an egg, I would pick a
pink one! The teacher would say other statements such as this about the other colors as well.
Check for Understanding: During this part of the lesson plan, the teacher would ask questions of
the students to assess whether they are ready to continue on in the lesson or if they need more help.
Examples of questions that might be asked would be: Is there a higher probability that if we chose
an Easter egg by random it would be blue or pink and have the students write on their white boards
either blue or pink. This will help to understand if students are understanding what the term
probability means as well as what the lesson is asking of them.
Guided Practice: Once students have a good understanding of the concept the teacher will move
forward and get out the plastic Easter eggs. These are much more hands on and will encourage
student participation. As a class we will take a sack full of Easter eggs. The teacher will then pull out
the eggs one by own and allow for students to make tally marks on the board to help us organize
how many of each color Easter egg we have.
The students will then figure out which colors have higher probabilities than others, which there are
more of, etc.
Closure: The teacher will sum up the lesson by explaining how we use probability all of the time but
may not realize it. She then will ask for student suggestions of ways probability is used. Following
that she will ask for each student to write an example of probability use in their journal.
Independent Practice: Students will be given a homework assignment to complete outside of
school. This will be similar to the activities done within class but use marbles instead of Easter eggs.
The homework worksheet can be found on the following page.

Worksheet found at: http://media-cache-
ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7b/f1/95/7bf195738372ef7644fce187aea4d892.jp