The purpose of this True or False? is to elicit the understanding students have for the meaning of the equals sign. Students may reason about whether the expressions on either side of the equals sign are the same, without finding their values, by using the properties of operations or their understanding of place value (MP7).

• “How can you explain your answer without finding the value of the sum on both sides of the equals sign?”

The purpose of this activity is to connect 30 minutes to telling the time at the half hour. Students learn that there are 30 minutes in half an hour by counting the intervals around an analog clock that represent the minutes. Some students may count by ones, but others may notice a pattern and count by 5 or 10 (MP7). Although some students may point out that 30 is half of 60, this relationship is beyond grade-level expectations.

The purpose of this activity is for students to write the time to the hour and the half hour, based on clocks with one or both hands.