Lesson 2
Partners Make Pairs
Lesson Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for students to pair all of the objects in a group and understand that some numbers of objects can be paired without any objects left over.
Lesson Narrative
In a previous lesson, students determined whether a group of objects could be split into 2 equal groups and discovered that for some numbers of objects, there will be 1 leftover.
In this lesson, students learn that some numbers of objects can be split into multiple groups of 2 (pairs) without any incomplete pairs. In the lesson synthesis, students compare the charts from this lesson and the previous lesson that show no leftovers or one leftover. They notice that the lists of numbers are the same. The terms even and odd are introduced and added to the charts.
Students should have access to connecting cubes or counters throughout the lesson, including the cool-down.
- Engagement
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Determine if a group of objects can be arranged into groups of 2.
Student Facing
- Let’s make pairs with groups of objects.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Required Preparation
Activity 1:
- Each group of 2 needs a container of 4 to 15 counters.
- Create a t-chart on a large piece of chart paper to display in the activity synthesis.
- Use “Making Pairs” as the title.
- Label the t-chart with “no leftovers” and “one leftover” as the categories.
Lesson Timeline
| Warm-up | 10 min |
| Activity 1 | 20 min |
| Activity 2 | 15 min |
| Lesson Synthesis | 10 min |
| Cool-down | 5 min |
Teacher Reflection Questions
What was the best question you asked students today? Why would you consider it the best one based on what students said or did?
Suggested Centers
- Target Numbers (1–5), Stage 7: Subtract Hundreds, Tens, or Ones (Supporting)
- Five in a Row: Addition and Subtraction (1–2), Stage 8: Add within 1,000 with Composing (Supporting)
- How Close? (1–5), Stage 4: Add to 1,000 (Supporting)