M.6.R.EE.3

Moves the properties students have used with numbers over to expressions with letters.

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Builds on

Where to go for intervention

Grade 6

M.6.R.EE.2Students need to read expressions with letters and name their parts before they can rewrite them.Read, and evaluate expressions efficiently, flexibly, and accurately.M.6.R.NS.4Using the distributive property to write a sum of whole numbers as a multiple of a sum is the same move later made with letters.Find the greatest common factor of two whole numbers less than or equal to 100 and the least common multiple of two whole numbers less than or equal to 12. Use the distributive property to express a sum of two whole numbers 1–100 with a common factor as a multiple of a sum of two whole numbers with no common factor.

Grade 5

M.5.R.OA.1What parentheses do to an expression.Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols.M.5.R.OA.2Seeing 3 x (18932 + 921) as three times a sum, without working it out, is the reading an equivalent expression depends on.Write expressions that record calculations with numbers and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them. For example, express the calculation “add 8 and 7, then multiply by 2” as 2 x (8+7). Recognize that 3 x (18932 + 921) is three times as large as 18932 + 921, without having to calculate the indicated sum or product.

Grade 3

M.3.Q.OA.5Properties of operations first show up here, as strategies for multiplying and dividing with numbers.Use strategies to multiply and divide by applying and extending understanding of the properties of operations.

M.6.R.EE.3

Priority

Apply the properties of operations (including the distributive property) efficiently, flexibly, and accurately to generate equivalent expressions.

Common Core: 6.EE.A.3

Resources1 IM taskWIDAOSPI

Illustrative Mathematics tasks1

Anna in D.C.

From the Illustrative Mathematics task library, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

WIDA language connections1

Explain · Expressivespeaking, writing and representing

ELD-MA.6-8.Explain.Expressive · Language for Mathematics, Grades 6-8

Construct mathematical explanations that…

State reasoning used to generate solution through conditional conjunctions to propose future options (if/so, if/then) and generalized relationships (if/will, If we follow the order of operations, we will show that…)

OSPI's example connections to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework. How to read these

From OSPI

Washington OER Hub · Free, openly licensed materials for M.6.R.EE.3

Smarter Balanced interim assessment

Grade 6: Algebraic Expressions · Focused interim block, items 6, 9, 10*

A star marks an item aligned to Smarter Balanced claims 2, 3 or 4: problem solving, reasoning or modeling on this content.

On the SBA

PRISM's read

A small share of the block: three items, one starred. Expect rewriting an expression with the properties, or choosing which ones are equivalent.

Smarter Balanced target

Claim 1 (Concepts and Procedures), Target E: Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions.

Major work of the grade, DOK 1, 2.

OSPI's interim connections

Grade 6: Algebraic Expressions · items 6, 9, 10*

A star marks an item aligned to Smarter Balanced claims 2, 3 or 4: problem solving, reasoning or modeling on this content.

Smarter Balanced publishes its claims and targets in its content specifications, written to the Common Core. A 2026 standard reaches them through OSPI's crosswalk. Check them before anything official.

Builds to

Where it goes next

Grade 6

M.6.R.EE.4After generating equivalent expressions, students decide whether two given ones are equivalent for every value.Identify whether two expressions are equivalent (including expressions with one or more variables) as both expressions will always yield the same outcome for any value of a given variable.

Grade 7

M.7.R.EE.1The same properties, now with rational coefficients, to add, subtract, factor and expand.Efficiently, flexibly, and accurately use properties of operations as strategies to add, subtract, factor, and expand linear expressions with rational coefficients.M.7.R.EE.2PriorityRewriting stops being only a procedure: a new form can show something about the problem.Understand that rewriting an expression in different forms in a problem context can bring awareness to parts of the problem and how the quantities in it are related.

Grade 8

M.8.R.EE.7PrioritySolving linear equations takes the distributive property and combining like terms.Efficiently, flexibly, and accurately solve linear equations in one variable.