Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

This foldable is very specific to lesson 3 of Saxon, Course 3.  I wanted something this year that was more concrete and organized than what I did last year.  Classifying the problems comes up a lot it feels like during the beginning lessons of the book.  So I felt that it was important that the kiddos have something simple and straight forward to refer back to when needed.  I started with a square and folded the corners into the center.  I found it helpful to fold the square along it's vertical and horizontal lines of symmetry so that I could get the corners to match in the center better.  A little color and labeling and the outside was completed.

The inside is all organized the same.  I said if this classification was for addition or subtraction word problems, wrote the equations in words the same way the book did, and wrote the formula.  Then I made up an example similar to the book's example and solved it.  I also color coded the parts of the equation. 

I consistently used the same colors.  I am torn about that because the colors don't stand for the same thing each time.  It is just about position in the problem.  I don't want them just memorizing the position of the numbers in the problem and I am wondering if that will happen.  We'll see what happens when I teach it.
 

Properties of Numbers

Today I was working on making a chart for my 7th grade kiddos about the commutative, associative, identity properties of addition and multiplication and the zero property of multiplication.  What I created is in the photo below:
 

It is just your basic table of properties and I wasn't in love with this.  I thought color would help and it did, but not enough for me to be satisfied.  I liked that this year I was going to have the kiddos decide how they would remember the property whether it was by a key word, picture, phrase, etc.  It will be more meaningful to them if they come up with something like "changes places" for the commutative properties than if I just tell them a key word.

I just remembered somewhere in the back of my head doing an activity that was actually interactive.  So the hunt through the computer files began.  I did come across an activity that I did a couple of years ago.  It was an information gap.  If you aren't familiar with an information gap, students are partnered up and each partner has missing information on their sheet.  The other partner has the information that each one needs, so through questioning each other they learn how to fill in their gaps.  It is an ELL technique that I learned several years ago.  It is actually really hard for the students to figure out how to ask for the information that they need.  They want to just copy each others' paper.

Here is the information gap that I developed for Lesson 2 of Saxon Math, Course 3.  Saxon doesn't write the property out in words, but I think that there is great value in knowing how to say and write the math in words.  Therefore, I added the words section.  Also, the first page is the full chart completely filled.  The following two pages are for the students.


I like this idea much better than just filling out and color coding a chart.  I am also thinking that this activity would be good to try using an inside-outside circle.  Since it is early in the year, it would give them a chance to talk to everyone in the class.

If you liked the format that I used at the beginning, you are welcome to it.  Here it is:

Sometimes Mistakes Aren't that Bad..

I made this simple little foldable to teach finding the value of an expression given the values of the variables.  My only problem after finishing it and looking at it for a second was that I made an equation not an expression!  After a big sigh I was back to the drawing board and did come up with something.  However, this got me thinking a lot.

I started thinking about what I liked about this.  I liked that it was a hands on manipulation of an equation.  It involved thought and planning to create.  It required an understanding of input and output to be able to create.  Students also had the freedom to customize the values on their foldable.  I likes how it laid out a mapping of a function.

There seemed like my "opps!" had a lot of good surrounding it, so I didn't want to let it go.  Then it hit me!  Linear equations are always tough.  Especially when they first start to learn about two variables.  When we make tables, there doesn't always seem to be a connection between how one variable changes and its affect on the other.  So, I went back to the drawing board again and here is what I created.

I really like it, especially for my 7th grade math kiddos.  The first introduction to equations with two variables will be this year.  Hopefully, this will help solidify the idea of what is happening in two variable equations.

Now, here is what I originally set out to create:

As students replace the "a" with a value, the value of the expression can be calculated and moved into position.  A couple of tips: 1) Think about how you want it to look in the INB, especially composition notebooks.  My first one was too big for the notebook and I had to downsize.  2) I found it was easier if I traced the yellow strips width onto the paper and then determined where to cut the openings.  It was also way easier to change the size of my strips than to try and open the openings more. 

Order of Operations

 I have been thinking about two lessons in my text that are three lessons apart from each other.  The first is a basic review of the order of operations and the other is about nested grouping symbols.

My thoughts have been very focused on how to make a quality graphic organizer or foldable that will help my kiddos think through the order of operations.  They tend to work from left to right which causes a problem in so many ways.

So the pictures are my graphic organizer for the review lesson.  I loved how Sarah at Math=Love (http://mathequalslove.blogspot.com) organized the letters to PEMDAS.  So I decided to use that as the left hand side of my table and then have 3 examples that come after it.  I wanted the kiddos to think about each letter of PEMDAS and decide if they had parentheses or exponents in the problem and not just start at the left and work right.

I am going to have them color code the letters of PEMDAS which are on their sheet already and add the  L –> R above multiplying/dividing and addition/subtraction.  Then, using their colors, I want them to color code the steps on the problem before we begin to solve anything.  Again, I am hoping to stop them from simply working left to right.

After we have done all of this, we are going to work the problem.  The students will fill in one box at a time as they work the problem following the order of operations.  My other goal of this graphic organizer is to have them see what showing their work looks like.  Sneaky, huh? :)  Also, if you like this graphic organizer, you can download it at the end of this post.

The next lesson on nested grouping symbols always seems difficult for the kiddos.  I think it is terminology.  They don't use "inner most" in their vocabulary often and "inner most" changes position in problems.  I wanted a foldable that would help them to see that they start at the inner most parentheses and work their way out.

To do this, I took a fairly simple problem and three different colored pieces of paper.  I folded them over about an inch and then glued them together at the fold.  I wrote the problem so that each part was on a different color.  I also number the order in which to do the parts.

Students will then lift the flap to reveal the value of the expression.  Then, they will work the second part. 

Lifting that flap reveals that the value of the green section's expression and the rest of the expression is solved using the order of operations.  The value of the entire expression is circled after all of the operations are preformed.

This last picture is how the page in the students INB will look.  After the initial foldable, I decided not to make another for the notebook.  However, if time, I would love to give them a problem in the next day or so and ask them to make the foldable for their problem.  It would be neat to display them in the classroom.

Anyway, I elected to have the students write two additional examples and highlight the step they are going to calculate before writing the next line.  The text also throws in the absolute value symbol as a grouping symbol, so I need to say something about it.  Thus, the note about absolute value at the end.