Finding Equivalents

Recent investigations in math have focused on student justification of equivalent multiplication and division expressions. Students have been writing story problems and creating visual representations to prove these equivalencies. The process has been challenging but fun! 

Sammy's Story Problem

Justifying that 6 x 9 = 18 x 3 

"There are 6 houses with 9 cats in each house. 3 houses get burnt down so the 9 cats from the burnt down houses move in the other 3. So there are 18 cats in the other 3 houses." 

Chase's Story Problem 

Justifying that 2 x 9 = 6 x 3

"There were 2 fishermen that each caught 9 fish. When they ate dinner, there were 6 people so they each had 3 fish."

Macy's Story Problem

Justifying that 2 x 9 = 6 x 3

"There are 2 monkeys and each have 9 bananas. 4 more monkeys come, and then they have to split them with 6 monkeys. So they decide each monkey will get 3 bananas." 

For Behavior Bucks, brainstorm a story about ants invading a picnic   and sharing sandwiches for this equation: 2 x 6 = 4 x 3

Happy Brainstorming!