First Day in Mathland 2014

Ms. V likes to refer to today as "the day we go back to kindergarten." Today, we learned a short lesson about solving equations with two variables. In these problems, you will always have at least as many equations as you have variables. First, you have to rearrange one equation so that one variable is isolated (e. g. x=y-3), then substitute that same variable in the other equation with the other side of your rearranged equation so that the equation contains only one variable. Then, solve for the variable in the equation you just created. Finally, use the value(s) of that variable to find the value of the other variable. I don't think I was learning this level of math in kindergarten, but it was nice to take a step back for the first day after break.