Students use the Expression Exchange simulation to consider expressions with coins, generate equivalent expressions, and combine like terms.

Students use the Expression Exchange simulation to propose conjectures for the role of coefficients, variables, and terms when working with collections of objects, and expressions.

Students learn about how executive functions like working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control might be involved in expressions, and play the game Equivacards to develop their fluency with equivalent expressions.

Students play the game Equivacards to develop their fluency with equivalent expressions and manage various scenarios designed to develop their executive function skills.

This lesson uses a grocery store context to motivate ways to organize purchases using symbols, variables, and coefficients. Equivalent expressions are discussed along with ways to use variables to represent prices of items.

Students describe orally and in writing how to simplify expressions that represent real-world situations by combining terms with the same variable using sequencing language. The last 15 min of this lesson includes the launch of the Equivacards Game.

This lesson focuses on simplifying expressions that represent (un)healthy fast food purchasing decisions; the distributive property with expressions is also explored in problem contexts.

This lesson uses a grocery store context to motivate ways to organize purchases using symbols, variables, and coefficients. Equivalent expressions are discussed along with ways to use variables to represent prices of items, and the distributive property to represent multiples of the same group of terms.

Introduction of the hanger model to support pre-formal work with equality of weighted shapes. Hangers are translated into expressions/equations and rewritten as equivalent and related statements. Students solve a math problem in different ways to consider the role of executive function skills in math and relevant strategies.

Students evaluate expressions and solve equations using a hanger model; propose methods to solve one step equations; and create a hanger model and its related code.

Students compare and contrast methods for solving equations using the hanger model and formal approaches.Students compare and contrast methods for solving equations and inequalities using arrow diagrams, the hanger model, and formal approaches.

Students compare and contrast methods for solving equations with rational numbers using the hanger model and formal approaches.

Introduce the idea of bartering and how it connects to equality and proportional reasoning.

The balance model and the PhET simulation, Equality Explorer, are used to investigate and find solutions to one step equations.

Students transition from finding solutions with support from the simulation with the scale/balance model to paper and pencil methods for solving equations.

Students summarize methods for solving one-step equations, and reflect on how they use executive function processes to support work in mathematics and other daily activities.

Material is provided to support a daily workshop over 3 weeks that is separate from the core math class. These materials are adapted from the full Unit 3 to make them work for shorter periods of time. Like Unit 3, students will have the opportunity to explore and engage with Spark Math’s curriculum, activities, games, PhET simulations and with Saga Skye, an online program for math practice.