The purpose of this lesson is for students to practice writing equations to define sequences given tables or visual patterns. The problems in this lesson are relatively unscaffolded compared to the work up until this point, which gives students ample opportunities to persevere in problem solving (MP1) and use appropriate tools strategically (MP5). For example, given a visual pattern, students are asked to write definitions for two different sequences within the pattern, but they are not given any direct guidance on how to start. This leaves the choice to make a table or graph, or use another method to make sense of the relationship, up to the student. Students also translate between their equations and the situations to answer questions beyond the scope of the provided representations (MP2).

Technology isn't required for this lesson, but there are opportunities for students to choose to use appropriate technology to solve problems. We recommend making technology available.

Math Community
Today’s math community building time has two goals. The first is for students to make a personal connection to the math actions chart and to share on their Cool-down the math action that is most important to them. The second is to introduce the idea that the math actions that students have identified will be used to create norms for their mathematical community in upcoming lessons.