Session 4 GVSU 07/29/08

Opening Activity for The Case of Marie Hanson

The candy jar shown contains 5 Jolly Ranchers (the rectangles) and
13 Jawbreakers (the circles). Use this candy jar to solve Problems 1-3 in two
different ways. For the strategies you use, be sure you are able to label what the
results of your computations represent.

• Suppose you have a larger jar with the same ratio of Jolly Ranchers to
Jawbreakers as shown in the picture. If the jar contains 100 Jolly Ranchers,
how many Jawbreakers are in the jar?

• Suppose you have an even larger candy jar with the same ratio of Jolly
Ranchers to Jawbreakers as shown in the candy jar above. If the jar contains
720 candies, how many of each kind of candy are in the jar?

• Suppose you are making treats to hand out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Each treat is a small bag that contains 5 Jolly Ranchers and 13 Jawbreakers.
If you have 50 Jolly Ranchers and 125 Jawbreakers, how many complete
small bags could you make?

• What is the relationship between the two approaches you used to solve each
problem?

Adapted from Improving Instruction in Rational Numbers and Proportionality

Authors: Smith, Silver, & Stein
Teachers’ College Press (2005)