Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
A Grade 3 class is holding a paper airplane contest. Last year, one student flew his plane once, it went really far, and he said, "Mine is the best design ever!" The next week it nose-dived every time. This year the judges want proof, not one lucky throw. Your team's job: build two designs, measure every flight, and use your data to decide which design is really better.
Teams of three, with jobs that rotate: Pilot (throws), Measurer (finds where the plane stopped and reads the tape), Recorder (writes every distance).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- Our design
- Our flights (metres and centimetres)
- What did we find?
- Our report for the judges
- Exit ticket
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 / C$25 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Measures distance
- Finds the middle value
- Uses data in a claim
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Can we design the best paper airplane?” take?
55–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
15 minutes: book a hallway, gym or open floor at least 8 m (26 ft) long. Tape a launch line for each runway and lay a measuring tape (or metre sticks end to end) out from it along the floor. Fold one dart yourself so you can demonstrate. Draw a blank line plot from 0 to 8 m in half-metre steps on chart paper.
What materials do I need?
Sheets of printer paper, all the same size (letter or A4); measuring tape, 5 m or longer, or metre sticks; masking or painter's tape; paper clips (optional, for designs); chart paper and sticky dots or a marker for the line plot. Cost: about $10 for tape if you have measuring tapes; add about $3 per measuring tape you need.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
Common Core Math (US): 3.MD.B.4.
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”, “Our design”, “Our flights (metres and centimetres)”, “What did we find?”, “Our report for the judges” and “Exit ticket”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 (C$25) for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$79 (C$109) a year.