Lesson Plan
Animal Kingdom Comparisons
How much longer is a blue whale than an orca? Teach your students to use bar models and number sentences with variables as they solve these wild word problems!
Grade:
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Learning Objectives
Students will be able to solve comparative word problems using bar models and number sentences with variables.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Show students two identical items and six different identical items (i.e. two blue markers and six red markers). Explain that there are three times as many red markers as blue markers because six is two times three. Write 6 = 2 x 3 on the board.
- Explain that sometimes multiplication can be used to compare two numbers. When a multiplication equation is used to make a comparison, it is called a multiplicative comparison.
- Tell students, "Today we are going to solve comparative word problems using two strategies: bar models and equations with variables."