Lesson Plans

Grades 6 – 8

How These Lesson Plans Were Created

Teams of John Lewis teachers, in collaboration with the Mathematics Teacher Leader and the consultant from University of Landover, utilized the tenets of backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) to plan units of study. Beginning with the adopted curriculum, teachers identified the unit understandings and drafted essential questions to drive the unit of study, created a variety of assessments to assess these unit understandings (including authentic performance tasks), and planned a cohesive sequence of learning experiences. This process included a negotiation between the written curriculum and teachers’ knowledge of their students and the school context to design high-quality, written unit plans. At the daily lesson level, teachers collaborated to plan instruction based on the unit plans, including daily written lesson plans, student materials, and daily assessment opportunities.

Connected Mathematics Project Curriculum

The mathematics curriculum used by the 6th through 8th grades at John Lewis is the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP). The curriculum is problem-centered and promotes an inquiry-based teaching and learning environment. Students explore mathematical ideas by experiencing a series of sequenced problem situations that are aimed at developing meaningful mathematical skills and deep mathematical understanding. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics as well as the Mathematical Practices are embedded within each of the problems presented to students.

The overarching goal of CMP is to support students in developing knowledge, understanding, and skills in mathematics and to foster an appreciation for the connections that exist within mathematics. The curriculum fosters these connections within a single grade level as well as across grades. This provides students with a comprehensive mathematics experience throughout their middle school years at John Lewis.

These courses include: Math 6, Math 7, Math 8, and Regents Algebra 8. All Lower School Math classes occur daily.

6th grade

Selected Units of Lesson Plans and Materials

Go to 6th Grade Collection

In this course, students engage in inquiry experiences to make sense of mathematics while employing the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

The standards of this course align with the NYS Next Generation Learning Standards for Math 6.

Topics include Ratios and Proportional Reasoning, Division of Fractions, Negative Numbers, Expressions and Equations, as well as Area and Volume. At the completion of this course, students are prepared to take Math 7.

7th grade

Selected Units of Lesson Plans and Materials

Go to 7th Grade Collection

In this course, students engage in inquiry experiences to make sense of mathematics while employing the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

The standards of this course align with the NYS Next Generation Learning Standards for Math 7.

Topics include Ratios and Proportional Reasoning, Operations with Rational Numbers, Expressions and Linear Equations, as well as Statistics and Probability. At the completion of this course, students are prepared to take Math 8.

Plus: Five 7th Grade Lesson Plans with Ambitious Mathematics Teaching Annotations

8th grade

Selected Units of Lesson Plans and Materials

Go to 8th Grade Collection

In this course, students engage in inquiry experiences to make sense of mathematics while employing the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

The standards of this course align with the NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Math 8.

Topics include Linear Relationships, Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities, the Pythagorean Theorem, as well as Symmetry and Transformations. At the completion of this course, students are prepared to take Algebra I.