Algebra Readiness Made Easy Grade 5

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Birthday Boggle

Overview

Students use clues and reason logically to figure out birth dates of famous people.

The birth dates, the unknowns, are represented by letters.

Algebra

Solve for values of unknowns • Replace letters with their values

Problem-Solving Strategies

Make a list of possible solutions • Test possible solutions with clues • Use logical

reasoning

Related Math Skills

Compute with whole numbers • Identify factors of numbers • Identify odd and

even numbers

Math Language

Difference • Digit • Even number • Factor • Odd number • Product •

Remainder • Sum • Symbols: Not equal to ≠, Less than <, Greater than >,

Less than or equal to ≤, Greater than or equal to ≥

Introducing the Problem Set

Make photocopies of “Solve the Problem: Birthday Boggle” (page 33) and distribute to

students. Have students work in pairs, encouraging them to discuss strategies they

might use to solve the problem. You may want to walk around and listen in on some of

their discussions. After a few minutes, display the problem on the board (or on the

overhead if you made a transparency) and use the following questions to guide a

whole-class discussion on how to solve the problem:

Look at Clue 1. What is the least number that M can be? (5)How did you figure it

out? (If M + M + M is greater than or equal to 15, then M is greater than or equal to 15÷3,

or 5.)

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