Objective

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to apply arithmetic skills to solve horse-related math problems.

Materials and Prep

• Pencil and paper
• Calculator (optional)

No prior knowledge or preparation is required for this lesson.

Activities

1. Activity 1: Horse Treats

   Ask the student to imagine they have a bag of horse treats. Tell them that for every horse they encounter on their imaginary horseback riding adventure, they will give each horse 3 treats. Ask the student to determine how many treats they would need if they meet 5 horses, 8 horses, and 12 horses. Have them write down and solve the arithmetic equations for each scenario.

2. Activity 2: Horse Race

   Explain to the student that there is a horse race happening, and they are responsible for keeping track of the race times. Provide them with the race times of 4 different horses: 45 seconds, 55 seconds, 1 minute 10 seconds, and 1 minute 25 seconds. Ask the student to order the horses from fastest to slowest by converting the times to seconds and comparing them.

3. Activity 3: Horse Jumping

   Tell the student that they are participating in a horse jumping competition. Give them the heights of 3 different jumps: 1.2 meters, 1.5 meters, and 1.8 meters. Ask the student to arrange the jumps in ascending order by converting the heights to centimeters and comparing them.

Fourth Grade Talking Points

• "Arithmetic is the branch of mathematics that deals with numbers and their operations."
• "In our first activity, we will practice multiplication by giving treats to multiple horses."
• "In the second activity, we will compare race times using seconds as our unit of measurement."
• "In the third activity, we will order jump heights by converting them to centimeters."