Cafeteria Food Debt

This Instructional Activity is a part of the Lesson 4, Unit 5, Grade 7. In this activity, students solve problems about debts that can be represented with addition and subtraction equations. Some problems ask students to calculate the balance after the transaction and some questions ask students to calculate the amount of the transaction, given the starting and ending balances. Students draw number lines to represent each problem. The series of questions involves a running balance after deposits and withdrawals are made. Students may represent this by drawing a new diagram for each question, or by adding on to the same diagram.