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Averages and The Phantom Tollbooth

Lesson Plan Items

• Activity Sheet
• Lesson Plan

Averages and The Phantom Tollbooth

Created By: NCTM Illuminations

Reference:

Overview:
Students participate in activities in which they focus on connections between mathematics and children's literature. Using The Phantom Tollbooth as a literature basis, students explore the concept of averages.

Goals/Objectives:
Students will: * explore and interpret the concept of averages

Time Required: 1 period

Materials:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Can It Be? Activity Sheet Newspapers or online newspaper resources

Skills/Knowledge Gained by Learners:
understanding of averages

Procedure:
Story Summary Milo and his watchdog, Tock, travel through Dictionopolis and Digitpolis in these delightful fantasy. Milo's mission is to reunite the princesses of Dictionopolis (Rhyme) and Digitopolis (Reason) so that the world will once again have rhyme and reason. While completing his mission, Milo and his companions experience many language and mathematical concepts. Structuring the Investigation This lesson should be completed after students have had the opportunity to read The Phantom Tollbooth. Teachers may wish to read portions of the story aloud in class each day, or students may be assigned the book as independent reading. Discuss the meaning of averaging as a "leveling" process. Ask students to identify situations when they have experienced averaging the past (grades, baseball statistics, and so one). For complete procedures please follow the lesson plan link

Closure: (How to draw the project to a close)
1. Ask students to find other discussions of averaging the The Phantom Tollbooth and to decide if Milo's friends are telling him the truth. 2. Students can use almanacs and online resources (such as census information) to research the current average number of children per family. How does this number compare to the number found in the story?

Assessment:
See activity sheet