Tape Diagrams and Equations

Welcome Students

Number Sense: I notice... I wonder....

I notice.... I wonder.... is a tool to help students

Understand the story, the quantities, and the relationships in the problem. Understand what the problem is asking and what the answer will look like. Have some ideas to begin to solve the problem.

I notice.....I wonder....

Open Ended

I notice.....

Open Ended

I wonder......

Learning Intention:

I can represent multi-step problems involving the four operations using strip diagram and equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. 4.5A

Success Criteria:

• I can explain how an equation represents a word problem.

• I can represent multi-step problems using an equation.

• I can represent multi-step problems using a strip diagram.

• I can explain what variable can be used to represent the unknown quantity.

Mini Lesson:

In this lesson you will learn how to represent a multi-step problem as a strip diagram, an equation and a variable that can represent an unknown quantity.

Spiderman And The Elevator Rescue

Multiple Choice

Spiderman catches the elevator after it falls 128 floors. But the elevator is too heavy and it fall twice as many as the first time. Spiderman catches it again, but the elevator still continues to fall an additional 12 floors. Which strip diagram and equation can be used to find F the amount of floors the elevator went down.

Common Mistake:

Not Reading Carefully, Not Drawing a Picture, taking time to understand what the numbers represent

Spiderman catches the elevator after it falls 128 floors. But the elevator is too heavy, and it falls twice as many as the first time. Spiderman catches again, the elevator continues to fall an additional 12 floors. Which strip diagram and equation can be used to find F the amount of floors the elevator went down.

First we read the problem carefully and underline or highlight important information. A common mistake: is exactly this.

Next, draw a model. A common mistake: is not drawing your own model to try to understand the problem.

In this Mini Lesson you have learned how to represent a multi-step problem using a strip diagram, an equation, and a variable representing an unknown quantity.