A Quick Way to Make Sets of Game Cards

I got this game PEMDAS war game from Brittany at Math Made Gr8 blog. 

Whenever I make task cards for the classroom, I usually just copy them onto different colored pieces of paper or card stock, whichever is handier.  However, when I am making card games or game pieces, especially those that are done up so cute, I don't want to just copy them onto colored paper.  So, I invested in the big pack of scrapbook paper from Michael's that is 8.5 x 11" when it was on sale, of course!  Then I print out the cards/pieces.  I then just glue the two sheets together (be sure to put the glue all over the sheet) and let it dry for a bit.  Then, when I cut out the cards/pieces, all of the same set have the same back.  The final step for me is to laminate the cards/pieces.  It is very easy to sort when one piece is lost from the group.  It also looks more like playing cards when it is a card game.  I will admit, it takes a bit more work, but in the end, I think it is worth it!

Practicing Expressions and Their Vocabulary

Opps!  Should have had the "s" in coefficients in parentheses. 

The next lesson in the text is about the different parts of an expression and is very vocabulary heavy.  My challenge has been how to practice the vocabulary and do something more than just memorize the definitions. 

With some thought, I came up with two different ideas.  One of them is in the picture at the left.  I had these numbers left over from when I was "The Mathematical Wonder" superhero for the day last school year.  They got me thinking that I could have the kids make expressions and define the different parts of the expression to a partner.  It wasn't a bad idea, but I didn't feel like I was stretching them.  Then, brilliance struck and I thought, "what if their expression had to meet specific criteria?".  That would challenge them to create an expression and understand the vocabulary words! 

I created some simple task cards which you can download below.  If the dollar store is out of the numbers, I am going to use the plastic bottle tops that I've collected and my trusty sharpie to make my own set of numbers. 



I wanted something else to practice with that was active.  So I thought about the Kagan cooperative group technique called "Mix-'n'-Match".  I have had good success with this in the past.  If you're not familiar, students each have a card and have to go and tell someone the answer to what is on the card (or explain something to another student).  So student A explains to student B, then Student B explains to student A what was on their card.  The two students then swap cards and go talk to someone new.  This goes on for 5 minutes or so.  I like it because there is a lot of practice happening in a short time frame and it gets them up and moving.

After I made the cards, I thought that they would work well for an inside-outside circle activity.  For this activity, students make two circles with one circle inside of the other.  Students face each other so that one student on the outside circle is facing a student from the inside circle.  They talk about the cards, swap them, and then either the inside or outside circle moves while the other stands still.  There are lots of variations on this activity, so do what works for you.  Below are the cards that I made.

Stations for Real Numbers

Well, school has barely ended and I am already working on next year. There will be no rest for me this summer as I get ready to have a blended, leaning heavily towards flipped, Algebra classroom next year. Making the videos is not what I think will be the most time consuming! What is taking longer is figuring out how to use all of class time that I now have!  In some cases, it is narrowing down the activities that I have and figuring out what will be the best use of the class time.  In other cases it is finding the activity or tweaking something to better fit the topic.

The first lesson that we do in the Saxon Algebra I (2009) text is about classifying real numbers. I like the calk walk activity that I did last year, but I want to use that to review with the following week.  I want to spend the class time after the first video actually practicing classifying the numbers. For some reason, this needs more practice than I usually give it.  So I decided to set up some stations and practice and practice and practice classifying numbers in the real number system.

Here are the stations (I'm still working on the names)...

Station 1: Popsicle Stick Sort 

In this station students will be asked to sort 20 popsicle sticks with different numbers on them.  The white cups are the classifications of natural, whole, integer, rational, and irrational.  The green cups have multiple groups.  I made the categories of irrational/real, rational/real, rational/integer/real, rational/integer/whole/natural/real, and integer/whole/natural/real.  The first task at this station will be to sort the popsicle sticks into any cup that would classify the numbers.  They will then write down 3 observations about how the numbers were sorted.  The second task will be to use only the white cups and decide which is the best classification for each number on the popsicle stick.  They will then write down 3 observations about this task.

Station 2: Real Numbers Concentration

For this station, students play a traditional game of concentration (or memory), but they get a match if the two numbers flipped are from the same set of numbers and they can identify the set.  Students can't use the same set, two times in a row.  So for example, if student 1 made a match using rational numbers as the classification, then he/she couldn't make a match on their next term using rational numbers.  He/she would need to use another set.  I am also not letting them use real numbers for any of the classifications.  Also, all of the cards have a match, but depending on what set students use the last ones may be challenging to classify.

Station 3: Real Life, Real Numbers

In this station, students will be asked to sort the real life situations into the best set of real numbers.  Students will need to explain why they have picked that particular category for the situation.  The trickiest are the circular questions.  Students tend to classify those as rational when it should be irrational.  All of my examples came directly from my textbook.

Station 4: Tic-Tac-Toe: Real Number Style!

This is a basic game of tic-tac-toe with a twist: To win you need to have 3 of the same sets!  Students can pick their own numbers and classify them into any set that the number belongs.  Another student can block them by putting another number in a box and classifying it in a different set.  Some strategy will need to be used and really thinking about the sets that a number can belong.  Students may classify numbers as real in this game.  I'm going to monitor it closely and see if that is all that they are using.  I can always change the rules! :)

Station 5: Real Number Carousel

The last station that I am going to have the kiddos do is a real number carousel that is free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I am going to have this set up for them to work on while they are waiting for a station or when they finish all of the stations.  Hopefully that will help with down time.

Sorry about the long post.  If you made it all the way to the end, then I hope that you found something useful that will make next year better!  I would love to hear how any of the activities goes for you.  I will update after I try them in the fall!

Literal Equations

Last week the kiddos were having a lot of trouble with literal equations and I decided to make some task cards for them.  This is my first attempt at making my own task card and my own boarders. I think they turned out nicely for a first attempt.  I put QR codes on them because I was trying to save my sanity.  Just putting some questions on the board without a check was not a good idea! :)

Since I made the task card, I thought I would post them for anyone who wants them.  I got the equations from 2 different worksheets that I downloaded from the internet a while back.  I can't find the exact ones again.  My apologies to the original authors!

Here it is in Power Point, but it is converted from the Keynote version, so you might need to clean it up a little.  Sorry!  (The Keynote version is below.)



Here is the Keynote set of task cards:



Hope they help someone out!  Enjoy!