Lesson 4

Interpret Division Expressions

Lesson Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to interpret division expressions and understand that the same division expression can be used to represent both types of division situations.

Lesson Narrative

Students first match a division expression to a situation that it could represent. Then, students learn that the same division expression can match both “how many groups?” and “how many in each group?” problems depending on how the divisor, the number we are dividing by, is interpreted. Students then have a chance to match drawings and expressions to situations before they write their own division expressions in a subsequent lesson.

  • Representation
  • MLR2

Activity 3: Stacks of Blocks

Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Interpret division expressions.
  • Understand that the same division expression can be used to represent both types of division situations.

Student Facing

  • Let’s make sense of division expressions.

Required Preparation

CCSS Standards

Addressing

Lesson Timeline

Warm-up 10 min
Activity 1 10 min
Activity 2 10 min
Activity 3 15 min
Lesson Synthesis 10 min
Cool-down 5 min

Teacher Reflection Questions

What aspects of today’s lesson allowed each of your students to see themselves as productive mathematical reasoners?

Suggested Centers

  • Capture Squares (1–3), Stage 6: Multiply with 1–5 (Supporting)
  • Five in a Row: Multiplication (3–5), Stage 2: Factors 1–9 (Supporting)

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Additional Resources

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