Dear Family,
Many families enjoy exploring their own towns and cities instead of going far 
away on vacation. Some of those activities may include visiting a movie 
theater, a local museum, or community theater. Making sure you have enough 
money to take the outing is important.
Before you head out to watch your favorite movie on the Big Screen, you can 
use an expression to estimate the cost. For example, if one ticket costs you 
$7, you can use the expression, 7x, where x is the number of tickets you will 
need, to determine the amount of money you will need to take to the theater.
You and your student can discuss how to calculate the amount of money that 
will be needed to enjoy the following local family activity. For example, you 
might ask your student:

“A family is going to visit the local art museum. The cost for children 
is $5.50. The cost for adults is $8. What is the expression used to 
determine how much money it costs for a child to visit the museum? 
What is the expression used to determine how much money it costs 
for an adult to visit the museum?” Your student may answer, “The 
expressions will be 5.5x, where x is the number of children attending, 
and 8y, where y is the number of adults attending.”

“A family has 3 children and 2 adults visiting the museum. How much 
money will the family spend on each type of ticket?” Your student may 
answer "The cost for the children is 5.5 × 3, which is $16.50. The cost 
for the adults is 8 × 2, which is $16.”
You and your student can then talk about how to find the total cost of visiting 
the art museum. This process can be used to find the cost of visiting a 
number of other family activities. Have your student practice finding the 
cost of visiting other local attractions. Which attraction costs the least? 
Which attraction costs the most?
Enjoy exploring your city as a family

 

Mrs. Lounsbury