Lesson 5

One- and Two-step Comparison Problems

Lesson Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to solve multiplicative comparison word problems with one or two steps.

Lesson Narrative

In this lesson, students apply what they learned about interpreting and representing multiplicative comparison situations to problems in context. The numbers students encounter here are larger, encouraging them to transition from discrete diagrams to more-abstract tape diagrams in which each section is labeled to represent a quantity (MP2).

Students continue to write equations with symbols representing the unknown and to describe the meaning of their equations in the context of the word problems. In both activities, they extend their understanding of multiplicative comparison and tape diagrams to solve a two-step problem.

  • Representation

Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Multiply or divide to solve one- and two-step problems involving multiplicative comparison.

Student Facing

  • Let’s solve multiplicative comparison word problems.

Required Preparation

CCSS Standards

Addressing

Lesson Timeline

Warm-up 10 min
Activity 1 20 min
Activity 2 15 min
Lesson Synthesis 10 min
Cool-down 5 min

Teacher Reflection Questions

What idea were students grappling with most in this lesson? What question do you wish you had asked to best support students in working through these ideas?

Suggested Centers

  • How Close? (1–5), Stage 6: Multiply to 3,000 (Addressing)
  • Five in a Row: Multiplication (3–5), Stage 2: Factors 1–9 (Supporting)

Print Formatted Materials

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.

Additional Resources

Google Slides

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.
PowerPoint Slides

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.