Lesson 21
Different Ways to Solve Problems
Lesson Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for students to represent and solve multi-step contextual problems involving multiplication and division, including division with remainders.
Lesson Narrative
In this lesson, students analyze and use various strategies and representations to reason about multi-step problems. They use their knowledge of multiplication and division, including the ideas of factors and multiples, to represent situations. Students also interpret products, quotients, and remainders in context (MP2).
- Representation
- MLR7
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Interpret products, quotients, and remainders in terms of a situation.
- Solve multi-step problems in ways that make sense to students.
Student Facing
- Let’s reason about and solve multi-step problems.
Required Materials
Materials to Copy
- Going on a Field Trip
Required Preparation
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
In the first activity, students had to make sense of strategies, explanations, and representations that were not their own. What did students say or do that showed the exercise was effective in expanding their view of problem solving?
Suggested Centers
- Compare (1–5), Stage 7: Multi-digit Operations (Addressing)
- Watch Your Remainder (4–5), Stage 1: One-digit Divisors (Addressing)
Print Formatted Materials
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| Student Task Statements | docx | |
| Lesson Cover Page | docx | |
| Cool Down | Log In | |
| Teacher Guide | Log In | |
| Teacher Presentation Materials | docx | |
| Blackline Masters | zip |