Overview
In this unit, there are four main components that relate to the topic of rice and estimation. In working with the population of the world, the main math topics deal with place value of large numbers, notation in powers of ten, rounding and order of magnitude. In the second section, students use the Chinese rice tamale (zong) as a basic unit to estimate for the amount of rice needed to feed a population by using scaling and proportion skills. With the amounts of rice determined, students will find rice storage solutions through exploration of area and volume in the next section. A final section is to apply the proportion skills to find the land that is needed to produce the amount of rice needed. Unit conversion skills are practiced and applied throughout the unit.
School Design
This unit is written for 6 th grade math classes in a San Francisco public K-8 school that offers Chinese language immersion. To put it simply, the immersion education model creates a school environment in which students learn a target language in a natural setting. About 75% of our 550 students are learning Chinese as a second language. All the core subjects, including math, social studies and science, are taught primarily in Cantonese during grades K-3. During 4 th grade to 6 th grade students continue to learn math in Cantonese. I currently teach the Cantonese component of 6 th grade, which covers math and Cantonese language arts. Even though I am writing this unit in English, the activities and lessons will be conducted in Cantonese in my classroom.
Our math curriculum and expectations are no different from other schools. The California math framework guides the implementation of our math classes. One aspect of curriculum planning we add to the material is language objectives and goals. One of the underlying goals in all our school and curriculum is to provide opportunities to use Chinese. The current math curriculums put more and more emphasis on communicating math thinking. By design of integrated curriculum units, students utilize the acquired language across curriculum areas. Talking about math ideas is an authentic and meaningful exercise that builds both math and language skills. This unit on rice relating to our cultural study unit on the Dragon Boat Festival works perfectly for this purpose.
I believe that hands-on experience is one of the best ways to learn. There are many opportunities for exploration for students to make discoveries, to test their assumptions and to affirm learned skills in the classroom. I like students to work in cooperative groups that are supportive and encourage building community and language.
It is my goal to write this unit in a way that another grain or rice dish can be substituted for the Chinese rice tamales (zong). I have chosen a topic and activities that are very specific to fit the needs in my school program. But I also hope the lesson and structures are set up so that the same concepts and similar activities can be adapted to other foods that are of interest to other teachers.
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