options: Operations & Algebra: students learn to solve problems using algebraic thinking and operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They may learn to identify and explain arithmetic patterns, evaluate or manipulate numerical expressions, and reason with equations and inequalities.

Modeling: students learn to choose and use appropriate mathematics and statistics to analyze real-world empirical situations, improve decisions, and report on their conclusions and the reasoning behind them.

Ratios & Proportional Relationships: students learn to recognize, describe, represent, and reason with ratios, rates, proportional relationships, and percent.

Number & Operations - Fractions: students learn to understand fractions as numbers and may work with them using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Number & Operations in Base Ten: students learn to work with the base-ten system and build place value understanding.

Number Systems and Quantity: students learn to understand the complex number system and reason quantitatively.

Counting & Cardinality: students learn to know number names and the count sequence, count to tell the number of objects, and compare numbers.

Functions: students learn to define, use, and evaluate functions to model relationships between quantities.

Measurement & Data: students learn to work with data and measure attributes such as time, money, length, area, and volume. They may learn to compare measurements to operations and convert between different units of measure.

Statistics & Probability: students learn to analyze and produce data distributions, and build understanding of univariate and bivariate data. They learn to interpret data, make statistical inferences, justify conclusions, understand rules of probability, and use probability to make decisions.

Geometry: students learn to classify geometric figures by their properties, and understand and compare the relationships between them. Students develop and use formulas to compute lengths, areas, and volumes, and they use transformations to generate new shapes and compare existing ones. Geometry can be studied with and without coordinates.
problem_activity: Activity
In this activity, students get a chance to practice applying their skills in representing situations symbolically, and finding and interpreting solutions.
The structure of a row game supports students to check their thinking because their partners should get the same answer to different questions. When students’ answers disagree, they must make sense of each other’s questions and thinking to figure out whose answer is correct.
The practice prepares students to solve equations and solve for one variable in terms of another in their Algebra 1 lessons.
Monitor for students:
calculating some specific values before generating an equation
analyzing the quantities and relationships in the text
looking for and using mathematical structures, such as
\(ax + by\)
or
\(mx + b\)
Launch
Students will work independently to complete their designated column, and will work with their partners in the event that an answer is different from what their partners got.
Student Facing
Partner A completes only column A, and partner B completes only column B. Your answers for each problem should match. Work on one problem at a time, and check whether your answer matches your partner’s before moving on. If you don’t get the same answer, work together to find your mistake.
Column A:
Lin’s teacher has a daughter that is
\(\frac13\)
of his age. Write an expression to represent the daughter’s age. Let
\(z\)
represent the teacher’s age, in years.
Han wants to save
$
40. He hasn’t met his goal yet. Write an expression to represent how far Han is from his goal, in dollars. Let
\(q\)
represent the amount of money, in dollars, he’s saved so far.
Priya has some money to spend at a fair. It costs
$
6 to get in and
$
0.50 per ride ticket. Write an expression to represent how much Priya spends at the fair, in dollars. Let
\(x\)
represent the number of ride tickets Priya buys.
Diego is inviting some friends over to watch movies. He is buying popcorn and peanuts. Popcorn costs 6 cents per ounce and peanuts cost 17 cents per ounce. Write an expression to represent the total cost of peanuts and popcorn, in cents. Let
\(j\)
represent how many ounces of popcorn Diego buys and
\(k\)
represent how many ounces of peanuts he buys.
Column B:
Jada leaves the beach with some seashells. One out of every three of the shells turns out to contain a hermit crab. Write an expression to represent the number of hermit crabs Jada found. Let
\(z\)
represent the total number of seashells she collected.
Tyler started the school year with 40 pencils, but he’s lost some. Write an expression to represent how many pencils Tyler has left. Let
\(q\)
represent the number of pencils he’s lost so far.
When Clare bought her plant, it was 6 inches tall. Each week, it’s been growing
\(\frac12\)
of an inch. Write an expression to represent how tall Clare’s plant is, in inches. Let
\(x\)
represent the number of weeks since Clare bought her plant.
Mai is packing care packages. She is putting in boxes of granola bars that weigh 6 ounces each and paperback books that weigh 17 ounces each. Write an expression to represent the total weight of a care package, in ounces. Let
\(j\)
represent the number of boxes of granola bars and
\(k\)
represent the number of books.
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
The goal of this discussion is for students to name and clarify strategies they have for writing algebraic expressions to describe given situations.
Strategies students might have include:
calculating some specific values before generating an expression
analyzing the quantities and relationships in the text
looking for and using mathematical structures, such as
\(ax + by\)
or
\(mx + b\)
Call on previously identified students to share their strategies for writing expressions, and support students to share insights or tips that will help other students. Possible questions for discussion include:
Why did you do calculations with some specific numbers first? How did that help you?
How did you record your calculations? What patterns did you notice?
When you read the situation, how many times did you read it?
What did you notice the first time you read the situation?
What did you notice when you looked at it again?
How did you decide what operations to use in your expression?
What made you think that your final expression would look like
\(mx + b\)
(or whatever structure is appropriate)?


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