3 Act: Gatorade is Thirst-Aid (4.MD.A.1)

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My very first 3 Act Tasks inspired by a trip to Walgreens for a sick teenager!  Here is the link to the lesson on Nearpod.

Act 1:

How many cups are in the bottle of Gatorade?  Write an estimate that is too high and one that is too low.

Act 2:

What information do you need to help you find a solution?

collage-2016-03-22 (3)

1 cup = 8 ounces

The Gatorade bottle has 28 fl oz.

Act 3: 

Please give me feedback as these are the first two I have tried on my own.

Thank you to Melissa Plunk for suggesting the video edits!

10 thoughts on “3 Act: Gatorade is Thirst-Aid (4.MD.A.1)”

    • Yes, I agree with Melissa that having the third act, where you see if your answer is actually right, makes a big difference. I do wonder how seeing four cups in the beginning will affect guesses though. For example, would they guess 10 cups when only 4 are visible.

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      • And I should add that this looks really fun. I can imagine some interesting conversations about approaches such as dividing 28 by 8 and getting 3.5, or setting up proportions, or repeated subtraction… great stuff!

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      • That is a great point about the measuring cups in the beginning. My thought process was that they might wonder if it would fill all four. I wonder how I might set up act 1 to allow for a wider range of estimation.

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  3. I did this with my 4th grade class today. I had an extension ready that was perfect for students that solved it quickly:

    How many pints are in the bottle of Gatorade?
    How many quarts are in the bottle of Gatorade?
    How many gallons are in the bottle of Gatorade?

    It was a great opportunity for them to work with fractions with different size wholes.

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