Project Objective: Let’s Carpet a Small House
Related to Standards of Colorado Certificates of Accomplishment
ABE II, 2M19

 

Lesson plan created by Leecy Wise, 4Corners Virtual Resource Center
Support materials developed by Sandra Watkins, Adult Educator, Dolores, Colorado

 

 Back to Lesson Plans Page | HOME | Related on-line lesson plan

(Two lesson plans (approximately 2-hours each) for adult learners, designed to appeal to multiple intelligences.)

Objectives: At the end of these two sessions, students will be able to…

1.     visualize rectangular spaces and attribute measurements to lines and spaces

2.     calculate square footage and convert inches to feet to yards and vice-versa

3.     measure areas of a house and calculate the amount and price of carpet needed

Materials and Handouts – Click here to access materials and handouts in PDF files. I highly recommend that you use Adobe Acrobat Writer so that you can easily navigate the materials using the program’s Navigation Plane. Remember that you can select the Text Tool in Acrobat to select text. Copy and paste into your word processing program, and, voila, you are ready to print out and make copies.

The PDF file you may download contains the following items:

Ø    Introduction

Ø    History

Ø    How to Measure a Carpet

Ø    Floor Plan Exercise

Ø    Figuring the Amount of Carpet Exercise and Answer Sheet

Ø    Match the Word Exercise and Answer Sheet

Crossword Puzzle and Answer Sheet

LESSON PLAN  – Let’s Carpet a Small House

Activity

Method (Leecy’s 5 P’s)

Introduce Objectives

 

 

 

 

 

Preparation (P1)

State the objectives. Discuss the need for knowing how to carpet a house. Have students estimate how much the carpet in their environment cost. Talk about the price of carpet and how it differs depending on quality and use. Show students feel different carpet samples and let them estimate which ones are the least or most expensive. Have students choose the samples they like best.

 

Discuss vocabulary

Go over the vocabulary words listed in introduction of the lesson and have students offer suggestions as to what they mean.

Have students group the words into different parts of speech. Help them notice endings that might give clues as to the parts of speech. As they group words, have them use different colors for each group.

Have students write and spell the words. Have them write sentences with the words, combining as many as possible in a sentence. Compare results.

  (Some teachers prefer to work with vocabulary as part of the reading, which is fine. Adopt whatever works for you!)

 

Read the History Passage

Presentation (P2)

As you or the student reads the passage, pause after each paragraph and relate the material to real life. Ask questions about the place, the year, the vocabulary, anything that will help student relate. How far back were the 1800’s? What does anyone know about that time?

Develop a conversation around the time frame in history. Have students compare realities between then and now. Talk about why people started using carpets. Maybe talk about how other cultures view our use of carpeting in our houses. (Some believe we are very dirty for doing that.)

After going through the passage once, have students read aloud with you, without getting ahead or behind. Establish a reading rhythm that students can follow. If possible, have a soft music background.

Additional reading assignments:

 http://www.greatfloors.com/ for on-line segments of buying and maintaining carpets.

Articles of Interest

World Book Encyclopedia, Volumes 15, 20, and 22

Ø     Child craft How and Why Library, Volume 11

Ø     Encyclopedia Britannica, Volumes 20, 22

Ø     Looms Introduction of Power Looms, SCSU Library Nathan Appleton

Ø     From Craft to Industry, Esther M. Goody

Ø    The Story of Weaving, Louise Lamprey

Introduce the “blue print” for the house to be carpeted.

Distribute the floor plan for the house to be carpeted in the lesson. Discuss each area. Talk about differences in how people use different areas: kitchen, living room, yard, etc… (Careful talking about more private spaces… ;-)   Do they want to carpet everything? Why or why not?

Talk about measurements and review previous lessons on how to find areas and perimeters. Follow the procedure in the “Measuring Flooring” handout.

Discuss inches, feet, and yards. Have students draw their own yardstick with blue lines for feet and red lines for inches.

Convert inches to feet to yards and vice-versa until students get the idea. Find perimeters and areas of spaces.

You might assign 1 drumbeat for a yard, 3 drumbeats for feet, and 36 drumbeats for inches.

Show students how math segments relate to music. One musical measure in ¾ timing would equal 1 yard. Three quarter notes equal 1 foot each. Beat it out!

 

Problem solve

 

 Practice 1(P3) (You practice with student's help)

When they are ready, have students give the answers as you solve several problems converting measurements and finding perimeters and areas in among spaces in the environment.

 

Problem solve again

 

 Practice 2 (P4) (Student practices with your help)

Assign students a few problems and help them solve them, using the skills you modeled. Students can help each other also. Remember to give them word problems as well as equations.

 

Home assignment

Where’s the Value?

 

Have students stop by a carpet retail store and price different types of carpet. Develop a list of questions that can use to inquire about prices and values of carpets. Have students report on findings at the next session.

 

LESSON PLAN 2– Let’s Carpet a Small House

Review 

Use as many different learning approaches as possible to review the objectives covered in the last session.

Discuss the home assignment, comparing notes and conclusions from visiting a carpet store.

 

Complete the Floor Plan assignment for “Let’s Carpet a Small House.”

 Performance (P5) (Students perform without your help)

Handout the exercise “Figuring Square Feet and Square Yards for Carpet Installation” and have students follow the instructions given. If students want to leave out certain areas, the total yardage needed will vary, of course. Have students work with each other or alone, as they prefer.

After the activity is completed, compare student answers to the answer sheet.

Assign different prices to three different types of carpet, according to the samples you used. Students decide what carpet they want and come up with a total price to carpet the rooms they chose.

Have students discuss choices and values.

 

Reinforcement Activities

 

Ø     Complete the crossword puzzle and check the answers.

Ø    Match the Word with the Definition

Ø     Play “Hangman” with vocabulary words. (No handout on this one)

Reinforcement Exercise

Have students develop a floor plan together. Add the dimensions for each room. Take the plan home and determine the amount of carpet to be purchased and the price of the carpet at an assigned amount per yard.

[Power Point allows users to draw different figures, adding text, colors, and sounds to them. Students can develop simple floor plans using PP capabilities.]

 

Review

Use as many different learning approaches as possible to review the objectives covered. Refer students to additional sources in books, people or Internet links to reinforce needed skills.