Jerry Qiao

November 13th, 2015

Activity Summary
Students will work on a problem relating the number of tables to the number of seats:
one table seats 2 people, two tables seat 4 people, three tables seat 6 people,
etc. Extension: one table seats 4 people, two tables seat 6 people, three tables seat 8
people, etc.
Number of Students Target Audience Length of Activity
3-5 4th Grader 30-45 minutes
Common Core Standards

CCSS.Math.Content.4.OA.C.5
Generate a number or shape pattern that follows a given rule. Identify apparent
features of the pattern that were not explicit in the rule itself. For example, given the
rule "Add 3" and the starting number 1, generate terms in the resulting sequence and
observe that the terms appear to alternate between odd and even numbers. Explain
informally why the numbers will continue to alternate in this way.
Student Learning Objectives
To understand how arrangements of tables changes the function relating
number of tables and number of available seats. 
To practice finding patterns and creating rules in order to solve a problem. 
To use a T-chart to record data and help with finding patterns. 
To introduce algebraic notation by substituting variables for
words. Materials Handout, Pencils, Paper, Board Plan 1. 2. 3. 
Framing of the problem: The Linden STEAM Academy is hosting a holiday party and
they want the students to help to plan how many guests will sit together at tables that
have been pushed together into a long row.
Introduce the seating arrangement. Students observe and discuss how many people can
be seated at 1 and 2 tables. Students will orally share their responses with the group.
Using their handout guide, students will draw additional dining tables and figure out how
many people can be seated. Record this information on the board/flip chart paper to
scaffold the use of a t-chart.
How many people can sit at three tables, four tables, five tables...? What about 10
tables? 100 tables?

4. Should we continue filling out the Show How column in the handout when we get
down to 100? What happens each time I add another table? How many more guests can
be seated?
Generalization: How can we find the number of people that can be seated if we know the
number of tables? What happens each time I add another table? What operation(s) can
we use to get from the number of tables to maximum number of people that can be
seated at the tables?
Students will describe the rule using their own words. Give time (1-2 minutes)
for students to write down responses on their own pieces of paper. Discuss as a
group what each student has written. Record rules on the board. If students have
different responses, give students time to argue if each others rules are correct
or lacking some criteria. (Potential answers: repeated addition, multiplication by
2) 
Suggest writing the rule as a formula, still using words. (i.e. number of tables x
2 = number of people seated) 
Suggest replacing the words with letters to shorten the formula,
introducing algebraic notation. (i.e. t = number of tables, p = number of people, t x 2 =
p) Extension: Once students have established a rule for the first problem (2n), introduce
additional seating on the two ends of the tables so that rule becomes 2n + 2. Repeat
steps 2 - 4 for this problem. How many people can sit at three, four, five tables...? 10
tables? 100 tables? How is this seating arrangement different to the last one? How many
more people are there per table than before? Can we use a rule to find the number of
people if we know the number of tables? Extension 2: Applying the function in reverse
(could be used with either type of table arrangement, depending on students
understanding of the problem). If X people have signed up to the holiday party, how
many tables would we need?