Integer Word Problem Practice with My Twist

I have been procrastinating by digging through my folder on my desktop labeled, "7th Grade Math".  Clever, huh?  I came across some integer problems in there that had a lot of promise as in-class practice.  It was a freebie that I had downloaded awhile back and it took a little research to find the author.  Anyway, I found that it came from Lisa at Teacher's Notebook.  I really liked the problems that were on the worksheet, but I was bummed that it was a worksheet.  There had to be a way to rework it, so that it would be more intriguing to my middle school kiddos.

photo credit: www.ew.com

I started thinking about the old game show from the 80s, "Classic Concentration".  If you haven't seen the show, contestants make matches on the game board to win prizes and slowly uncover a puzzle.  The person who solved it got a bigger prize. (See sample to the left)

Since the worksheets eventually lead students to do a coloring sheet, I thought that maybe I could use the idea of uncovering a puzzle. 

The first thing that I did was take the answer sheet and resize it to be 20 cm by 25 cm.  I then printed it out and glued it to a piece of card stock.

Next, I made a 5 x 4 grid.  Then I wrote the 12 correct answers in the boxes and 8 incorrect answers.  All of the solutions and incorrect solutions came from the answer key.

Then I cut it apart into 25 separate squares. 
                                                              

So this is the starting point of the activity.  I have the template for the answer sheet that students fill in at the end of this post.  The basic idea is that students would start like the above picture.  As they solve a problem, they will look at the board and then flip over the piece with their answer.  If they don't see their answer, they will need to check their work for errors.

As students continue to solve problems and flip over pieces, they will start to see the pieces of the answer sheet in the incorrect order.

Students will also realize that there are 8 unused answers.  Students will be asked to write a question/problem that has the unused answers as an answer.  

After the questions/problems are written, all of the pieces can be flipped over.  Students then have the job of getting the pieces into the correct order and making the picture.

The students' pictures will look like this when they are finished!

OK, so it's not exactly "Classic Concentration".  While making this activity though, I did have a few thoughts about how to make another activity that would resemble the actual game more.  I'm working on that one!





Here is the answer template that the students will be completing during the activity.  Before the activity, I would type in the questions from Lisa's worksheet or I am thinking to change "Problem" to be "Important information to solve the problem".  Then, I could just pass out the questions or put them on index cards.  

Mathematical Conversations

Mathematical conversations are a technique that I learned over a year ago, but never put it into practice.  This year I am going to give it a go and I am hoping that it helps some students solidify vocabulary and procedures.

The technique is pretty simple.  The teacher writes a script that the students will read in partners or triads.  The students then put on their best acting abilities and read the script with each other.  The script should be read through at least twice and students should change roles.  The script does not have to be long, but should be focusing on key vocabulary, procedures, or concepts that students aren't understanding.

After students are comfortable with the way a mathematical conversation should be in the class, they can try their hand at writing their own for the class to read or acted out by the authors.  It is a great way to get writing happening in the math classroom!  Student written or teacher written scripts could make a possible activity for a station.  Several scripts as stations could be a review activity as well.

My first attempt at trying to write a mathematical conversation is below this paragraph.  I picked the topic of subtracting integers because it is reviewed in the text and I know that this was hard for the kiddos last year.  As Algebra students,
they have to be comfortable with the subtracting integers.  My conversation is longer than what it should be.  In reality, it should be less than a page.  I just wanted to try and bring in some conceptual understanding too.  I am also debating if I should go with the traditional rule of "add the opposite" or stick with the "keep, change, change" rule that I went with last year.  For consistency, "keep, change, change" really is the better choice.  If the conversation would be useful to you, you are welcome to it.

123 Switch! (Game to Practice Adding/Subtraction Integers)

 I found another great game to practice adding and subtracting integers.  The game really forces students to be flexible in how they think of number combinations.  I know that is an area that my kiddos struggle at times and they need to be much more flexible than they are.  So, when I found 123 Switch! on Tom DeRosa's blog, I Want to Teach Forever, I was thrilled!

Tom has a hand made template that students drew in their notebooks.  I see the value in that and would prefer that, but I know my kiddos and they need a game board.  So I made a template for addition and subtraction.  I am going to print them out on some fun colored paper and then glue them back to back.  With some quick lamination, they should be ready for the next school year! 

The first thing you do is pass out 7 cards to each player.  The black cards are positive and the red are negative.  The first player puts down a true equation based on the cards in their hand.  If they can't, they need to select cards from the draw pile until they can.

The next player can change 1, 2 or 3 cards by placing a card on top of one already on the board with one from their hand.  In the picture below, I could replace the 6 of diamonds with the six of hearts.  I could replace the 9 of spades with a 7 of clubs.  Then replace the 6 of diamonds with a 4 of diamonds and still have a true statement without changing the 3.  I could also just replace all three cards.  The goal is to be the first person to get rid of all of his/her cards.

The game becomes more challenging when you have to make subtraction equations.  I like that the game is challenging and competitive enough to keep the students interest.  Not to mention, it's  a great way to practice!

Here are my templates for the game boards.  I also made a direction sheet for the students.

Zero!

As my fellow Saxon Algebra I (2009) know, Lesson 5 combines absolute value and addition of integers into one lesson.  In the past, I have taught the two ideas separate from each other and practiced the skills separately.  This year, I wanted to practice the skills together and I started hunting around the internet for a possible activity that I didn't have to create.  Well, I found it!  It is a game called ZERO! and I found it on the blog, "I Speak Math" written by Julie Reulbach.

The game is basically blackjack with the goal being to get 0, not 21.  The red cards are negative and the black cards are positive.  The student with the number closest to 0 when the cards are added is the winner of the round.  Students calculate the absolute value of each of their round totals, then at the end of the game, they add up the absolute value column.  The student with the number closest to zero, is the winner of the game.  This sounds like a blast!  I think my kiddos will love it and it reinforces addition of integers and absolute value all in one game!!

There is a link above to Julie's explanation of the game at "I Speak Math".  Her direction and score sheets are there as well.  I don't subscribe to Scribd, so I recreated the direction sheet and score sheet myself.  It is basically what Julie has, but I added learning goals, supplies, an example on the score sheet, and a reminder to turn it in for credit.  It is below if you'd like it.

Integer Idol

Integer Idol is not something that I can take credit for creating.  It was something that I found going through you tube videos for songs about the integer rules.  Integer Idol caught my eye because middle schoolers are very into their music and I wanted to tap into that.  The original video just has the students create a song (or parody) for multiplication and division rules, but I raised the stakes by asking them to include all 4 integer rules in their song (adding and subtracting are the bigger challenge to work into a song).  I did this in January because Saxon breaks the integer rules up over multiple lessons and the final integer lesson wasn't until January.  So, needless to say, this served as a review and memorization strategy.

To do the project, I had them form small groups of 2-4 people.  I also gave the option of doing the project individually.  I gave a little over a week to develop the song and practice.  I gave them 2 class periods to get going with the song.  We went to the computer lab and the students pulled up you tube videos of the songs they wanted to make parodies and got to work writing their lyrics.  We used Google docs to share verses and ideas back and forth.

Then, on the due date, we set the stage and preformed our songs.  We did a vote for the best song, but they only won bragging rights.  The competition did help them work harder at getting the best song, group look, etc.  All of the details are below and a grading rubric is there as well.  Are your students the next Integer Idol?



* Just one note- I work at a small school, so when I say that it might be in front of the entire 7th grade that was about 50 students.