Lesson 12

The purpose of this lesson is for students to represent and solve one- and two-step story problems. Students use representations to make sense of problems, support their calculations, and explain their thinking.

In previous lessons, students represented and solved one- and two-step story problems in a way that made sense to them. They have used tape diagrams to represent comparisons and part-part-whole relationships.

Since students are familiar with centimeters and inches, the stories in this lesson include both. In the first activity, students hear the story read multiple times and make sense of the story without considering the question or necessary calculations. Then they work independently to solve, representing the story in whatever way is helpful to them. In the second activity, students work with a partner to read and interpret the stories and solve independently.

Reflect on how comfortable your students are asking questions of you and of each other. What can you do to encourage students to ask questions?