The purpose of this activity is for students to physically represent the difference between making 2 groups and making groups of 2. Ten students will put themselves into 2 groups and then groups of 2. The rest of the students observe how the groups were made to highlight the difference between “how many groups?” problems and “how many in each group?” problems.

• Ask students who observed to share what they noticed.
• Highlight ideas that help clarify differences between “how many groups?” and “how many in each group?”

The purpose of this activity is for students to match a division situation to a drawing of equal groups. Students should be able to explain why the situation matches Drawing A, which shows 2 groups of 6, and why it does not match Drawing B, which shows 6 groups of 2.

This activity uses MLR1 Stronger and Clearer Each Time. Advances: reading, writing.

• “Share your response with your partner. Take turns being the speaker and the listener. If you are the speaker, share your ideas and writing so far. If you are the listener, ask questions and give feedback to help your partner improve their work.”
• 2–3 minutes: structured partner discussion
• Repeat with 2 different partners.
• “Which drawing did you decide matches? How do you know?”
• “How do you know the other drawing does not match this situation?” (Drawing B is 6 groups of 2 colored pencils. That would be like if she had 6 boxes, not 2 boxes.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to relate division situations and drawings of equal groups (MP2). Each given drawing matches two different situations. Students learn that the same drawing can represent both a “how many groups?” problem and a “how many in each group?” problem because the drawing shows the end result, not how the groups were made. When students interpret one diagram as representing two different story types, they state clearly how each part of the diagram corresponds to the story, including what corresponds to the unknown in the story (MP6). 

• Invite students to share which drawing matches each situation.

• Focus on one drawing and the two situations it can represent, such as:

  

  Mai has 8 markers. She puts 4 markers in each box. How many boxes of markers are there?

  Lin has 8 colored pencils. She puts them into 2 bags. Each bag has the same number of colored pencils. How many colored pencils will be in each bag?

• “How can the same drawing represent both situations?” (We didn’t see how the groups were made, but in the end, the same number and size of groups were made in both situations. The drawing can represent putting 8 markers into boxes with 4 markers in each box and finding that they fit into 2 boxes. It can also represent putting 8 pencils into 2 bags with the same number of pencils in each bag and finding that you can put 4 pencils in each bag.)