This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about selecting the quotient using given statements.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about finding the incorrect equations.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about identifyinging common factors.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about identifyinging prime or composite numbers.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to interpret percent increase and decrease, and in particular, to identify and help students who have the following difficulties: translating between percents, decimals, and fractions; representing percent increase and decrease as multiplication; and recognizing the relationship between increases and decreases.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about inequalities.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about listing common multiples.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about multiple rounds of division - long division word problems.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about dividing 3 and 4 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about dividing 3 and 4 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers.

In this math escape room lesson, students work in teams to solve a series of math puzzles and riddles to "escape" a themed room. Each puzzle is designed to reinforce key math concepts such as fractions, geometry, and basic algebra. As students solve each problem, they receive clues that lead them to the next challenge, promoting critical thinking and collaboration. The activity concludes with a debrief where students discuss the strategies they used and the math skills they applied.

Equations and Inequalities

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals.
Use the symbols <, >, and =.
Evaluate expressions for specific values of their variables.
Identify when two expressions are equivalent.
Simplify expressions using the distributive property and by combining like terms.
Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world problems.
Order rational numbers.
Represent rational numbers on a number line.

Lesson Flow

In the exploratory lesson, students use a balance scale to find a counterfeit coin that weighs less than the genuine coins. Then continuing with a balance scale, students write mathematical equations and inequalities, identify numbers that are, or are not, solutions to an equation or an inequality, and learn how to use the addition and multiplication properties of equality to solve equations. Students then learn how to use equations to solve word problems, including word problems that can be solved by writing a proportion. Finally, students connect inequalities and their graphs to real-world situations.

Four full-year digital course, built from the ground up and fully-aligned to the Common Core State Standards, for 7th grade Mathematics. Created using research-based approaches to teaching and learning, the Open Access Common Core Course for Mathematics is designed with student-centered learning in mind, including activities for students to develop valuable 21st century skills and academic mindset.

Getting Started

Type of Unit: Introduction

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Understand ratio concepts and use ratios.
Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world problems.
Identify and use the multiplication property of equality.

Lesson Flow

This unit introduces students to the routines that build a successful classroom math community, and it introduces the basic features of the digital course that students will use throughout the year.

An introductory card sort activity matches students with their partner for the week. Then over the course of the week, students learn about the routines of Opening, Work Time, Ways of Thinking, Apply the Learning (some lessons), Summary of the Math, Reflection, and Exercises. Students learn how to present their work to the class, the importance of students’ taking responsibility for their own learning, and how to effectively participate in the classroom math community.

Students then work on Gallery problems, to further explore the resources and tools and to learn how to organize their work.

The mathematical work of the unit focuses on ratios and rates, including card sort activities in which students identify equivalent ratios and match different representations of an equivalent ratio. Students use the multiplication property of equality to justify solutions to real-world ratio problems.

Students use ratio cards to find equivalencies and form partnerships for the week. As a class, students discuss and decide on classroom norms.Give each student a ratio card. Instruct students to find a classmate whose card has a ratio that is equivalent to theirs. Classmates with equivalent ratios are now partners for the week. With the class, discuss and decide on classroom norms, or rules. Tell students how to access the application they will use this year.Key ConceptsStudents understand that ratio relationships are multiplicative. They use ratio tables to show ratio relationships.Goals and Learning ObjectivesDistinguish between ratio tables and tables that do no show equivalent ratios.Understand how ratio tables are used to solve ratio problems.Use the basic features of the application.Create and understand the classroom norms.Use mathematical reasoning to justify an answer.

Working With Rational Numbers

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Compare and order positive and negative numbers and place them on a number line.
Understand the concepts of opposites absolute value.

Lesson Flow

The unit begins with students using a balloon model to informally explore adding and subtracting integers. With the model, adding or removing heat represents adding or subtracting positive integers, and adding or removing weight represents adding or subtracting negative integers.

Students then move from the balloon model to a number line model for adding and subtracting integers, eventually extending the addition and subtraction rules from integers to all rational numbers. Number lines and multiplication patterns are used to find products of rational numbers. The relationship between multiplication and division is used to understand how to divide rational numbers. Properties of addition are briefly reviewed, then used to prove rules for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

This unit includes problems with real-world contexts, formative assessment lessons, and Gallery problems.

Students use number lines to represent products of a negative integer and a positive integer, and they use patterns to understand products of two negative integers. Students write rules for products of integers.Key ConceptsThe product of a negative integer and a positive integer can be interpreted as repeated addition. For example, 4 • (–2) = (–2) + (–2) + (–2) + (–2). On a number line, this can be represented as four arrows of length 2 in a row, starting at 0 and pointing in the negative direction. The last arrow ends at –8, indicating that 4 • (–2) = –8. In general, the product of a negative integer and a positive integer is negative.The product of two negative integers is hard to interpret or visualize. In this lesson, we use patterns to help students see why a negative integer multiplied by a negative integer equals a positive integer. For example, students can compute the products in the pattern below.4 • (–3) = –123 • (–3) = –92 • (–3) = –61 • (–3) = –30 • (–3) = 0They can observe that, as the first factor decreases by 1, the product increases by 3. They can continue this pattern to find these products.–1 • (–3) = 3–2 • (–3) = 6–3 • (–3) = 9In the next lesson, we will prove that the rules for multiplying positive and negative integers extend to all rational numbers, including fractions and decimals.Goals and Learning ObjectivesRepresent multiplication of a negative integer and a positive integer on a number line.Use patterns to understand products of two negative integers.Write rules for multiplying integers.

Students solve division problems by changing them into multiplication problems. They then use the relationship between multiplication and division to determine the sign when dividing positive and negative numbers in general.Key ConceptsThe rules for determining the sign of a quotient are the same as those for a product: If the two numbers have the same sign, the quotient is positive; if they have different signs, the quotient is negative. This can be seen by rewriting a division problem as a multiplication of the inverse.For example, consider the division problem −27 ÷ 9. Here are two ways to use multiplication to determine the sign of the quotient:The quotient is the value of x in the multiplication problem 9 ⋅ x = −27. Because 9 is positive, the value of x must be negative in order to get the negative product.The division −27 ÷ 9 is equivalent to the multiplication −27 ⋅ 19. Because this is the product of a negative number and a positive number, the result must be negative.Goals and Learning ObjectivesUse the relationship between multiplication and division to solve division problems involving positive and negative numbers.Understand how to determine whether a quotient will be positive or negative.

Students use properties of multiplication to prove that the product of any two negative numbers is positive and the product of a positive number and a negative number is negative.Key ConceptsMultiplication properties can be used to develop the rules for multiplying positive and negative numbers.Students are familiar with the properties from earlier grades:Associative property of multiplication: Changing the grouping of factors does not change the product. For any numbers a, b, and c, (a ⋅ b) ⋅ c = a ⋅ (b ⋅ c).Commutative property of multiplication: Changing the order of factors does not change the product. For any numbers a and b, a ⋅ b = b ⋅ a.Multiplicative identity property of 1: The product of 1 and any number is that number. For any number a, a ⋅ 1 = 1 ⋅ a = a.Property of multiplication by 0: The product of 0 and any number is 0. For any number a, a ⋅ 0 = 0 ⋅ a = 0.Property of multiplication by −1: The product of −1 and a number is the opposite of that number. For any number a, (−1) ⋅ a = −a.Existence of multiplicative inverses: Dividing any number by the same number equals 1. Multiplying any number by its multiplicative inverse equals 1. For every number a ≠ 0, a ÷ a = a ⋅ 1a = 1a ⋅ a = 1.Distributive property: Multiplying a number by a sum is the same as multiplying the number by each term and then adding the products. For any numbers a, b, and c, a ⋅ (b + c) = a ⋅ b + a ⋅ c.In this lesson, students will encounter a proof showing that the product of a positive number and a negative number is negative and two different proofs that the product of two negative numbers is positive. Two alternate proofs are as follows.Proof that the product of two negative numbers is positive:Represent the negative numbers as −a and −b, where a and b are positive.(−a) ⋅ (−b)Original expression= ((−1) ⋅ a) ⋅ ((−1) ⋅ b)   Property of multiplication by −1= (−1) ⋅ (a ⋅ (−1)) ⋅ b   Associative property of multiplication= (−1) ⋅ ((−1) ⋅ a) ⋅ b   Commutative property of multiplication= ((−1) ⋅ (−1)) ⋅ (a ⋅ b)   Associative property of multiplication= 1 ⋅ (a ⋅ b)   Property of multiplication by −1= a ⋅ b   Multiplicative identity property of 1Because a and b are positive, a ⋅ b is positive.Proof that the product of a positive number and a negative number is negative:Let a be the positive number. Let −b be the negative number, where b is positive.a ⋅ (−b)Original expression= a ⋅ ((−1) ⋅ b)     Property of multiplication by −1= (a ⋅ (−1)) ⋅ b     Associative property of multiplication= ((−1) ⋅ a) ⋅ b     Commutative property of multiplication= (−1) ⋅ (a ⋅ b)     Associative property of multiplication= −(a ⋅ b)     Property of multiplication by −1Because a and b are positive, a ⋅ b is positive, so −(a ⋅ b) must be negative.Goals and Learning ObjectivesReview properties of multiplication.Explain why the product of two negative numbers is positive and the product of a negative number and a positive number is negative.

Students critique and improve their work on the Self Check. They then extend their knowledge with additional problems.Students solve problems that require them to apply their knowledge of multiplying and dividing positive and negative numbers. Students will then take a quiz.Key ConceptsTo solve the problems in the Self Check, students must apply their knowledge of multiplication and division of positive and negative numbers learned throughout the unit.Goals and Learning ObjectivesUse knowledge of multiplication and division of positive and negative numbers to solve problems.