This Warm-up prompts students to carefully analyze and compare features of expressions and equations. When students compare the drawing, expression, and equations, they must use language precisely to describe how the representations are alike (MP6). Listen to the language students use to describe the different characteristics of the multiplication expression and equation. After the new terms “factor” and “product” are introduced in the Synthesis, connect students’ descriptions to those terms.

This is the first time students experience the Which Three Go Together? routine in IM Grade 3. Students should be familiar with this routine from a previous grade. However, they may benefit from a brief review of the steps involved.

• “¿En qué se diferencia C de las otras formas en las que hemos representado grupos iguales antes?” // “How is C different from the other ways we’ve represented equal groups before?” (It has an equal sign. It’s an equation.)
• “C es una ecuación de multiplicación porque tiene un signo de multiplicación y el signo igual” // “C is a multiplication equation because it contains a multiplication symbol and the equal sign.”
• “Hay palabras que nos ayudan a hablar sobre las diferentes partes de una ecuación de multiplicación. Los factores son los números que se multiplican. El producto es el resultado de multiplicar esos números. En la ecuación que vimos en C, los números 2 y 5 son los factores. El producto es 10. Recuerden esas palabras hoy mientras trabajamos con otras ecuaciones de multiplicación” // “There are words that help us talk about different parts of the multiplication equation. The factors are the numbers being multiplied. The product is the result of multiplying some numbers. In the equation in C, the numbers 2 and 5 are the factors. The product is 10. Keep these words in mind today as we work with other multiplication equations.”