LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

Distribute one carnival ticket to each student as he or she enters the room. On an overhead transparency, display the following advertisement:

Carnival music and/or posters could be used to enhance the theme as students enter the room.

“Suppose we want to figure out the cost of attending the carnival and going on different numbers of rides.”

“What information from the advertisement on the transparency would we need to know and use?”

(admission cost and cost per ride)

“What kind of graphic organizer could we use to show the cost of attending the carnival and going on different numbers of rides?” (chart, graph, table)

“T-charts are often used to display two pieces of information.”

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

“Could we use a t-chart to show the information that we want to find out?” (Yes.)

Draw a t-chart on a transparency.

“How would we label this t-chart?” (number of rides and cost)

Label the t-chart, and ask students to draw one
t-chart each on a sheet of paper.

“How much will it cost just to attend the carnival?” ($5)

“How would we record that information on our t-chart?” (Number of rides would be 0, and cost would be $5.)

“How much would it cost to attend the carnival and go on one ride?” ($7)

“How would we record that information on our t-chart?” (1, $7)

“Now, with a partner, extend the chart to show the total cost for attending the carnival and going on two, three, four, five, and six rides.”

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

Allow time for partners to complete their work, then have students share their results. On the t-chart, record the results that students share.

“What happens to the cost each time one more ride is added?” (It goes up by $2 or costs $2 more.)

“How would you describe in words how to find the cost for attending the carnival and going on rides?” (the number of rides times $2 plus $5)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

“How would you represent with symbols or as a symbolic expression how to find the cost for attending the carnival and going on r number of rides?” ($2r + $5)

It may be necessary to guide students through questioning to arrive at the correct symbolic representation. If they provide an incorrect symbolic representation, use questions to make them look carefully at the t-chart and determine if the representation works for all the rides and costs recorded on the t-chart.

“Can we use this expression to find the cost of attending the carnival and going on three rides?” (Yes.) “Six rides?” (Yes.)

Use the expression to demonstrate to students that it does work for finding the cost of both three and six rides.

“Does it work to find the cost for attending the carnival and going on any number of rides on the t-chart?” (Yes.)

If some students are still not convinced that it works, demonstrate with other examples (of numbers of rides) from the
t-chart.

“Now, work with a partner and use the expression to find the cost of 10 rides, 15 rides, and 25 rides.”

Allow time for students to figure out the costs.

10 rides   =  $25

15 rides   =  $35

25 rides   =  $55

“We’ve represented information about the carnival on a t-chart and as expressions. Now, let’s look at representing the information on a coordinate plane.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

In lesson 3, we discussed how we can use a coordinate grid to graph values for x and y. Let’s draw a new t-chart and relabel number of rides as x and cost as y.”

Draw the following t-chart on the transparency.

“Looking at the relabeled t-chart, what would be our first ordered pair?” (0, 5)

“How many ordered pairs would you have from our t-chart?” (seven pairs—one pair each for rides 0 through 6)

(0, 5) (1, 7) (2, 9) (3, 11) (4, 13) (5, 15) (6, 17)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

Distribute the Quadrant 1 Grid to students.

“Graph the ordered pairs on your grid paper.”

“What title could we give this graph?” (Carnival Costs or Cost of Attending the Carnival, etc.)

“How should we label the y-axis?” (Cost of Admission)

“What numbers should we use as the scale on our y-axis?” (1 through 18 so that we have one value higher than our highest y value of 17)

“How should we label the x-axis?” (Number of Rides)

“What numbers should we use as the scale on our x-axis?” (1 through 7 so that we have one value higher than our highest x value of 6)

Allow time for students to graph the ordered pairs on their grid paper.

“What pattern is represented by the change in the x-value from one point to the next?” (The x-value goes up by 1.)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

TEACHER SUPPORT

“What pattern is represented by the change in the y value each time?” (The
y value goes up by 2.)

“Do the ordered pairs you’ve graphed represent a linear or nonlinear function?”

(linear because there is a constant rate of change in the x and y values.)

Distribute Triangle Trains Assessment for students to complete by the next class period.  Answer key provided.