THE ROUND-UP HOEDOWN

ROUNDING THROUGH THE ARTS: THE ROUND-UP HOEDOWN

Learning Description

Students will participate in a Readers Theatre script to tell an engaging metaphorical story about rounding numbers up and down, using the setting of a cattle roundup and the metaphor of cows as differently-valued numbers.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can determine whether a number should be rounded up or down.
  • I can work collaboratively to participate in a Readers Theatre activity.

Essential Questions

  • How do we round numbers up and down?
  • How do we tell a story together through Readers Theatre?
  • How does place value relate to rounding multi-digit whole numbers?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

3.NR.1.3  Use place value understanding to round whole numbers up to 1000 to the nearest 10 or 100.

Arts Standards

TA3.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3.NSBT.1 Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

    • Ones place - The last or right digit. Ex: In 784, 4 is in the ones place
    • Whole number - A number without fractions or decimal parts
    • Greater than - A symbol used to compare two numbers, with the greater number given first. Ex: 5 > 3 shows that 5 is greater than 3
    • Place value - the numerical value that a digit has by virtue of its position in a number.
    • Thousands place - The value of where the digit is in the number. Example: In 1,352, the 1 is in the "thousands" position, so it shows a value of 1,000
    • Hundreds place - The value of where the digit is in the number. Example: In 1,352, the 3 is in the "hundreds" position, so it shows a value of 300
    • Tens place - The value of where the digit is in the number. Example: In 1,352, the 5 is in the "tens" position, so it shows a value of 50
    • Rounding - Making a number simpler but keeping its value close to what it was. The result is less accurate, but easier to use. Example: 73 rounded to the nearest ten is 70, because 73 is closer to 70 than to 80
    • Less than - A symbol used to compare two numbers, with the lesser number given first. For example: 5 < 9 means 5 is less than 9
    • Number line - A line with numbers placed in their correct position. Useful for addition and subtraction and showing relations between numbers

Arts Vocabulary

  • Readers Theatre – A theatrical style in which actors read a script aloud with vocal expression but without the use of props, costumes, or scenery
  • Script - The written version of a play, movie, or other acted performance
  • Voice – Actors use their voice to be heard by the audience clearly. Actors must also apply vocal choices such as pitch, tempo, and volume to the character they are dramatizing.
  • Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound
  • Tempo - The speed of the beat
  • Poise – Posture, position: a dignified, self-confident manner or bearing.
  • Character – An actor or actress in a specified role

 

Materials

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Have students stand straight, with feet flat on the ground, and arms by their sides.
  • Lead students in repetitions of a series of syllables, such as “La-la-la-la-la” and “Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo”.
  • Practice a familiar phrase, such as “Twinkle twinkle little star” or “Mary had a little lamb” varying the pitch, volume, and tempo: High and low, loud and soft, fast and slow.
  • Lead students in several tongue twisters, such as:
    “She sells seashells by the seashore”
    “Unique New York, Unique New York”
    “If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck?”
    Others by teacher choice or student suggestion.
  • Discuss which aspects of voice (pitch, volume, and tempo) help with clear communication.

Work Session

  • Introduce Readers Theatre to students.
    • Explain that the class will be reading a script aloud; all students will participate; and they will have a chance to practice their parts individually and together.
    • Explain that it will be like a performance, except there won’t be any audience (unless the teacher chooses to prepare it for performance).
  • Explain that the Readers Theatre script is about place value and rounding numbers up and down. Discuss what it means to round up or round down. Give examples of situations where people might round up or down (e.g., someone might owe someone else $19, so they round it up to $20 for simplicity; someone asks what the temperature is, and instead of saying 72 degrees, the other person answers that it is about 70; etc.).
  • Explain that the script is about numbers although it is set in a cowboy town where the ranchers are sorting their livestock.
    • As appropriate, discuss that the script uses a metaphor in which the cows are like numbers (or discuss after reading the script).
  • After distributing the script, do an initial read-through.
    • Read through the script with students in sequence reading the next speech when their turn comes; i.e., establish an order (Jesse, then Ariel, then Kayden, then Valerie, etc.), and have each student read a single speech before moving on to the next reader. Assist students with reading as needed.
  • Discuss the script and how place value, rounding up, and rounding down are conveyed.
  • Assign roles. Depending on class size, assign multiple students to a role, have a single student play multiple roles, and/or combine roles, as needed.
  • Using lines from the script, model standing tall, holding the script out in front of the chest (not in front of the face, and not down at the waist), and reading aloud with expression. Ask students how your voice helps to convey the meaning of the lines.
  • Give students a chance to practice their lines out loud, all simultaneously. Assist individual students as needed.  Encourage students to find the meaning of their lines, and to have fun with how they say them.
  • Line the students up in a sensible sequence according to the script. Read through the script at performance level, with strong poise, and loud, clear expressive voices.

Closing Reflection

  • Reflect on how classmates helped make the meaning come through clearly; and on how the script presents the concepts of rounding up and rounding down.
  • Ask students how the script communicated the concept of rounding.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • The teacher will observe how:
    • Students practice and deliver their lines in the Readers Theatre piece.
    • Students demonstrate understanding of the mathematical concepts in the lesson.

Summative

  • Students stand with poise and speak with expression.
  • Students can articulate the meaning of place value, rounding up, and rounding down.

 

Differentiation 

Accelerated: 

  • Give advanced students more difficult roles in the script.
  • Have students add gestures and movement to the reading.
  • Have students write a sequel addressing rounding up to hundreds and thousands.

Remedial:

  • Give less advanced students simpler roles in the script.
  • Assign multiple students to each role.
  • Edit script as needed to simplify.

 

Additional Resources

Instructional video on Readers Theatre (for teachers)

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning
Ideas contributed by: Barry Stewart Mann, MFA

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules