Lesson 3

The purpose of this What Do You Know About ____? is for students to share what they know and how they can represent the number \(\frac{3}{2}\). This will be useful when students write equations to represent the relationship between a division expression and a fraction in a later activity. Record answers on a poster because students will revisit their answers to the warm-up during the lesson synthesis.

• Display the number.
• “What do you know about \(\frac{3}{2}\)?”
• 1 minute: quiet think time

• Record responses.
• “How could we represent the number \(\frac{3}{2}\) ?”

• “What diagrams can I draw to represent \(\frac{3}{2}\)?” (Sample responses may include a number line, shaded rectangles, or a tape diagram.)
• Draw the diagrams.
• “How are the diagrams the same and different?”

The purpose of this activity is for students to write and interpret division expressions and equations that represent equal sharing situations. They explain the relationships between the dividend and the numerator and divisor and the denominator. Students may draw diagrams to help them make sense of these relationships (MP1).

The last problem provides an opportunity for students to think critically about a proposed solution to a problem (MP3). Different ways to think about the proposed solution include:

• estimation: with 3 friends sharing 2 liters, each friend gets less than 1 liter
• thinking about the meaning of the numerator (how many liters are being shared) and denominator (how many people are sharing the water)

This activity uses MLR1 Stronger and Clearer Each Time. Advances: Reading, Writing.

• Groups of 2

• 5 minutes: independent work time
• 5 minutes: partner discussion
• As students work, monitor for students who:
  • draw a diagram to determine the amount of water each dancer drinks if 3 dancers share 2 liters of water.
  • revise their solution for how much water each dancer gets after explaining why Mai’s answer doesn’t make sense.

If students write the numbers in the division equation in the wrong order, ask “Can you describe how your equation represents the situation?”

• Invite previously selected students to share.
• If no student mentions it, ask students to explain which part of Mai’s solution doesn’t make sense and why. (It doesn’t make sense for each dancer to get \(\frac{3}{2}\) of a liter of water because \(\frac{3}{2}\) is equal to \(1\frac{1}{2}\) and if the dancers are only sharing 2 liters of water, they don’t have enough water for each person to get \(1\frac{1}{2}\) liters of water.)

MLR3 Clarify, Critique, Correct

• Display the following partially correct answer and explanation:
• Mai said that each dancer gets \(\frac{3}{2}\) liter water because 3 divided into 2 equal groups is \(\frac{3}{2}\).
• Read the explanation aloud.
• “What do you think Mai means?” (She thinks \(3\div2=\frac{3}{2}\) represents the situation.)
• “Is anything unclear?” (The 3 represents the number of dancers, not the amount of water so Mai would be dividing dancers instead of liters of water.)
• 1 minute: quiet think time
• 2 minute: partner discussion
• “With your partner, work together to write a revised explanation.”
• Display and review the following criteria:
  • Specific words and phrases, such as dancers and liters of water
  • Labeled equation or diagram
• 3–5 minute: partner work time
• Select 1–2 groups to share their revised explanation with the class. Record responses as students share.
• “What is the same and different about the explanations?” (Some people labeled the diagram to show what is being divided and some people labeled the numbers in the equation.)

In previous activities, students interpreted diagrams and expressions that represented equal sharing situations. The purpose of this activity is for students to interpret division expressions without the support of diagrams in order to deepen their understanding about the relationship between fractions and division expressions. The activity is designed to highlight the relationship between the number of objects being shared and the numerator, on the one hand, and the number of people sharing and the denominator on the other (MP7).

• Groups of 2

• 5-8 minutes: independent work time
• 5-8 minutes: partner work time
• Monitor for students who:
  • notice and can explain the relationship between the numerator and the number of liters of water and the denominator and the number of dancers.

If students fill in the table according to the order of the dividend and divisor, encourage them to draw a diagram to represent each situation in the table. Ask “How do your diagrams represent the division expressions?”

• Display the table from the activity.
• “What are some of the numbers you used for the last two rows?”
• Record the answers as additional rows to the table.
• “What are some patterns that you notice in the table?”
• Ask previously selected students to share their solutions.