Factoring Lesson Plan: Number and Operations

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Factoring, and supports the standard of determining factor pairs for prime and composite whole numbers. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display multiplication and division number sentences, like the ones shown below:

3 x 4 = 12

12 ÷ 4 = 3

Ask students:

• What do you notice about the number sentences? What do they have in common?
• How are the numbers 3 and 4 related to the number 12?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Factoring topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the six Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Factoring Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about factoring while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Produce a tutorial that explains how to find the common factors of two numbers.
• Make-a-Map: Use factor trees to identify the greatest common factor of 18 and 21. 
• Creative Coding: Code a math problem that involves factoring, and challenge a classmate to solve.

More to Explore 

Numbers and Operations Unit: Continue to build understanding around number systems by exploring more BrainPOP math topics.

Sortify: Factoring: ​​Demonstrate knowledge of factoring by sorting by attributes, such as common factors, prime factors, and more.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.