Lesson: Turkey Isn't Trash

Play the video “Going to Waste.” Then, before or after reading the article, spark a discussion based on the following questions:

• If you end up with a food item that you don’t like, what could you do with that unwanted food?
• How many pounds of food do you think your family throws away in 1 week? Explain.

• Display or write 24 × 8 = ? What strategy would you use to solve this problem? (Answers will vary. Possible answers: distributive property, traditional algorithm, use an area model, draw an array.)
• We can decompose each factor by its place value to help us solve. How would you decompose 24? (20 and 4)
  
• If we multiply each of these numbers by 8, it will give us our partial products.
  
• An area model is a helpful model that can help us find each partial product to solve. Model how to fill out the area model for 24 × 8 and solve as a class. (20 × 8 = 160, 4 × 8 = 32, 160 + 32 = 192)

• How are the factors 56 and 29 represented in the area model? (Answers will vary. Possible answer: Each factor is decomposed into its tens and ones with one factor written on the left side of the model and the other on the top.)
• Is there another way that this area model could have been set up? (Yes, the factors could have switched places.)
• How was the final product determined? (by adding together the 4 partial products)
• How would this area model change if you were multiplying by a number in the hundreds? (You would need to add another column or row to the model.)
  

Have students complete problems 1 through 4 on page 11 of the article.

Skills Sheets: Level Down: Area Model Multiplication (4.NBT.B.5) | On Level: DynaDash: Multiplying With Area Models (5.NBT.B.5) | Level Up: Area Model Division (4.NBT.B.6, 5.NBT.B.6)

SEL (Social-emotional learning activity/prompt): This article discusses some of the negative impacts that food waste has on our environment. Have students create a flyer, write a script, or record a video for a public service announcement about practical ways to reduce food waste.

Dynamath@Home: Have students select an item from their pantry, such as a cereal box, bag of chips, canned good, etc. Have them identify the item’s net weight on the packaging. Then have students use the net weight to determine what a bulk set would weigh for 10, 30, and 72 of the items by using area models to calculate the total.