Virginia SOL 5.CE.4.a.iv
The Standard
expressions should not include braces, brackets, or fraction bars.
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will simplify numerical expressions with whole numbers using the order of operations.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students choose the next operation by doing parentheses first, then multiplication and division from left to right, then addition and subtraction from left to right. They rewrite the expression after each step until one value remains.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student simplifies an expression accurately and shows one clear change per line. The student can explain why a chosen operation comes next and keeps multiplication and division, or addition and subtraction, in left-to-right order.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may work strictly from left to right and add before multiplying. Some think multiplication always comes before division, instead of handling them from left to right. Others skip parentheses or change several parts of the expression at once.
How to Assess It
- Give this exit ticket: Simplify 48 ÷ (8 - 2) × 3 + 4. Show each step and circle the operation completed first.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs operation cards and a printed expression; students cover all but the next operation, solve it, then replace that part with its value.
Ask students to compare 24 ÷ 6 × 2 and 24 ÷ (6 × 2), then write why the values differ.
Play Order of Operations Relay: teams solve one step at a time, passing the paper after each correct simplification.
Use a class party budget: calculate the cost of four $6 snack packs plus three $2 drinks.
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Related Standards
- 7.PFA.2.a
Use the order of operations and apply the properties of real numbers to simplify numerical expressions. Exponents are limited to 1, 2, 3, or 4 and bases are lim...
- 5.CE.4.a.i
expressions may contain no more than one set of parentheses;
- 3.CE.1.d
Identify and use the appropriate symbol to distinguish between expressions that are equal and expressions that are not equal (e.g., 256 - 13 = 220 + 23; 457 + 1...
- 5.CE.3.c.i
quotients do not exceed four digits with or without a decimal point;
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