How Many in Each Group?

10 min

Narrative

The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit the idea that many different questions could be asked about a situation, which will be useful when students solve problems in a later activity. 

Launch

  • Groups of 2
  • Display the image.
  • “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
  • 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
  • “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
  • 1 minute: partner discussion
  • Share and record responses.

Student Task

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

An apple orchard.

Sample Response

Students may notice:
  • Some apples are in boxes.
  • Some apples are still on the tree.
  • There are 9 boxes of apples
Students may wonder:
  • How did the apples get into the boxes?
  • How many apples are in boxes?
  • Does each box have the same number of apples?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
  • If not mentioned in students’ responses, ask: “What mathematical questions could we ask about this picture?” (How many apples are in each box? Are there more apples in the boxes than on the trees? How many apples are in the boxes altogether?)
Standards
Building Toward
  • 3.OA.3·Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
  • 3.OA.A.3·Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.<span>See Glossary, Table 2.</span>

15 min

10 min

10 min