HANDS ON! Combining Like Terms

One of my favorite lessons to teach during the year is combining like terms.  It can really be a hard skill for students to figure out at first, so every year I try to tweak my past lessons to try to be more proactive with misconceptions. This year I introduced like terms with an idea of making friendship bracelets.  Students looked at a pattern that called for different colored beads.  Students then discussed how to combine the amounts of each color used in the bracelet to figure out the total beads that we needed of each color.  I totally stole this idea from a Math Club video on distributive property.  The students saw the variables as actual objects that needed to be combined for a goal of trying to buy the right amount of colored beads for each bracelet.  I have taught this lesson in the past and students always say they love combining like terms, but they always then ask how it relates with the real world.  After teaching this lesson, I'm happy to say I didn't have one student stop to ask this question.  Because we had defined the variables as something they could relate to, the students were able to see how they could use this in the real world.  

After introducing the objective, I then had groups complete a word sort with different terms that were written on laminated strips of paper.  As they separated the terms into like term groups, students wrote down questions they had on a sticky note and placed it in our Parking Lot Zone (white board area).  If they didn't have any questions, they were able to write something they noticed or learned and then posted the sticky note on our exit door.  This activity was the highlight of the lesson.  It was so nice to walk around and hear the student discussions and their use of key vocabulary words.

There are some great videos out there, but my favorite video I usually show before talking about combing like terms is the Khan Academy Chuck Norris Video.  The students LOVE this video.  I always then talk about an example with a term that has same variables but different powers being Taylor Swift.  "Chuck Norris and Taylor Swift are both famous (x term), but taylor swift looks nothing like Chuck Norris.  Therefore we can't combine these two terms together." The students for some reason love this part of the lesson.  It seems to make more sense when we define these variables as actual objects they can relate with.

After showing a quick video, I then used the pieces from the word sort to model combining like terms.  I have the kids show me with the pieces how to combine and then show me in their notebooks with different colored pencils.  It's been three years since I started using these strips of paper while combing like terms and it has been amazing to see the difference in student understanding. In years past, I would have so many students making errors with negatives.  Now the students break apart the expression physically using the subtraction as a negative, and they combine the terms by adding. 

My exit slip ticket for the day included students creating their own real world example that modeled combining like terms. The students created some really great examples and it helped me check off my incorporation of literacy for the day.  :-) Awesome! 

If you need any clarification on any of the above activities, please feel free to comment below.  If you do anything awesome for combining like terms, please share.  Thanks!

PBS Math Club Youtube Channel

http://www.radiantfeatures.com

One of my awesome twitter followers sent me a link to the PBS Math Club Youtube Channel. I'm sure I do a pretty great job making math look cool, but I am not nearly as great as these youngsters on this channel.  Oh jeez, did I just use the phrase youngster?  Anyways, these kids from PBS made really awesome and hilarious videos for different math skills. They are extremely worth taking a peek at.  I showed adding negative numbers to my students today, and they seemed to be keen on it.  It was really fun and enjoyable to watch the students' reactions in the classroom during the video, and it started making me think about how my students can do this too!  How cool would it be to have students get into groups and make videos for different skills.  I've done something like this before, but I usually get a student going step by step describing how to solve a problem. Instead of them creating these sometimes dry videos, it would be awesome to have these as samples for them to create their own and relate it to real world.  I hear a future project starting to be created as we speak!  Awesome!  This is just one more thing to add into my toolbox .  

Mastery Trackers

I'm so excited for my new trackers I made this past weekend.  I'm using mine with my Khan Academy playlists, but you really could use this idea for any content or goal.  I call my left tracker the Khan Energy Point Club.  Students move their clothes pins up the ladder as they earn more and more energy points.  I implemented it on Monday, and so far my students are really excited when they get a clothespin and move it.  They haven't asked me about what they win if they reach the top, so I haven't actually said they win anything. It seems as if winning pride will be enough for this!  Woohoo!

The right tracker is also for Khan Academy, and it tracks percentage mastery of Common Core standards.  A teacher can totally set this up with any content and grade level in their classroom.  Again, the students seem to be happy with the pride of their accomplishments with this one also.   Awesome!

Khan Academy Incentives and Data

Khan Academy is a huge deal in my classroom.   Students practice on Khan every week to gain energy points for our Touch Down Competition.

My bulletin board that shows each class' standings.

Why do I love Khan?  

First of all, many teachers think Khan is just videos.  It's not!  Yes, there are videos to support the students when they are struggling with a skill. But even more, it's actually a free site that allows students to practice and apply what they have learned.  The questions come in different formats and different types of applications.  

I LOVE Khan because I am able to monitor student progress, use class data to modify my lesson plans, encourage students to take ownership of their learning, and challenge ALL my 7th graders.

How do I use Khan in my room?

Many teachers struggle with how to manage Khan Academy or how to actually use it in their rooms. I teach 3 different levels of mathematics, and I have over 100 students.  Every class is managed differently because the needs are different.

The most common way that I use Khan is by creating playlists with skills that are connected to units.  Students work through these playlists at their own pace.  The goal is for them to master the skills in a given time frame.  I'm currently creating these playlists as I go this year, so I don't have all of them finished.  I do have two completed that I can share here.  The first one is an introduction to negative numbers: Khan Playlist- Negative Numbers  The second playlist is operations with integers: Khan Playlist 2 Operations with Negatives . If you are just starting out with Khan, I completely understand if you are overwhelmed and don't start making playlists yet.  It has taken me four years to really get the hang of Khan and own it in my room. Have no fear! there are sample playlists other teachers have made on Khan that you can use, and Khan has already organized skills by common core grade level.  It's that easy.  Currently, I am encouraging my students to master all 7th grade skills this year on top of my playlists that pull skills from 6th-8th grades, and algebra.

Grid Format

Students tend to feel overwhelmed with too many skills on a playlist, so I break up my units into 2 or 3 playlists.  This allows me to track their progress easily too.  On Khan, there is a ton of data that helps me plan my small group instructions for the day.  If you go to the grid format on Khan, you can type in all of these skills from the playlist to see who is struggling, and who has already mastered the skills.  If there are red or struggling students, I meet with them to give support on that skill.  

What are students doing while I am working with small groups?

Khan is usually a whole group day of working, or it is done during my MATH workshop centers.  

While I'm pulling small groups, I put the real time screen on the smartboard for students to watch how well their class is doing based on the amount of points per minute they are earning as a whole.  They get really excited. They don't realize it, but it also lets me know if students are staying on task while I'm with a small group.

Real Time Report

I will sometimes hold a "rocket run." Using the Manage Students, I split my class into two teams.  I then project the Real Time report.  I give the first team 3 minutes to earn as many energy points as possible. I repeat this for the second team.  The team with the most points win in that time wins.  (Thanks to teachers in the Los Altos School District for this idea!)

What do I do to intrinsically or extrinsically motivate students?

Encouraging students to work on Khan inside and outside of school is usually really simple. I've been really lucky with the group of students I have had.  I'm very consistent with giving feedback with the data I received, and I make sure to praise students for badges and energy points. I have a few classes that are pumped and really get a thrill out of the challenge and competitiveness.  However, I do always have one or sometimes two classes that have a few students that just haven't joined the bandwagon yet.  In order to try to bring awareness to the fun in Khan, I decided to really bump up my competition and prizes.  Here is a great video from a teacher who I have stolen most my ideas from.  She is awesome, and I WANT these posters!!!

  

Instead of using these posters, I allow the students who have earned the most energy points within a week to write their names on my classroom window with Crayola window markers.  I have no idea why, but there is something special about writing on objects that they never get to write on. The kids think this is so cool!  Those students also get a lightsaber (a nifty pencil), 3 munchkins, and the use of my cozy teacher chair for the following week.  All students get stickers for receiving badges.  I stole the decorating binder idea from the video.  

Please tweet me @mstassbsd 
I am constantly adjusting how I use Khan each year, and I'm super pumped with the progress I see from using Khan with my students. My students are so much more active in their learning.  As a teacher, I feel it is helping me motivate them to take ownership of what and when they learn.  It is so exciting!  I wish I had Khan growing up! 

Adding and Subtracting Integers

Adding and Subtracting Integers turned into fun centers in Ms. Stass' class this year.  Students have been working with different games that incorporate adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers.  This hands on approach is helping all students better their number sense which is crucial in order to be successful in mathematics.  

Students worked with concrete objects such as counters and number lines to help practice addition and subtraction.  I first modeled adding and subtracting with a real number line I  hung from the ceiling.  This allowed us to have some great conversations about comparing numbers.  I then used red and yellow counters to discuss zero pairs and modeled adding and subtracting with them.  I LOVE modeling with these counters!

At my activities center, I usually include games or activities that allow students to practice the skill we are learning that week.  One activity I used for adding integers was a football integer game.  Students roll one negative and one positive dice.  Students use the sum of the two numbers to know how much their game piece moves up and down the field.  The person that reaches the touch down zone wins!

Another activity I used this year in my center was a JENGA game I created by attaching stickers with expressions on them.  The expressions were a mixture of operations with integers.  Students must say the answer to the piece they grab before stacking the piece on top.

I am obsessed with Greg Tang and his Kakooma, and I think my students are just obsessed.  This game rocks!  I have my students work on their one-to-one computers in this center where they play Kakooma here.  The students are really getting a kick out of competing with each other on this site.  THEY LOVE IT!

Doing some Pinterest-ing, I found a game a teacher made that incorporates the operations of integers.  I set this up in my center by laminating the game boards, and including a dry erase marker and dice in a baggy.  The dice has negative and positive numbers on each of them.  Students roll the dice and count how many times it takes them to meet the rule of the round.  For example, round 1's goal is to roll two numbers that have a negative sum.  At the end of all 9 round, student's add up how many total times it took them to meet all 9 goals.  The person at the end with the least score (like golf!) wins!  The students have really enjoyed this game.  However, they haven't been able to finish a game yet within the center times.  They usually have 10 minutes within a center, but this doesn't seem long enough for this activity.  I still use it in the center, because I think it's a great game to practice.

The last game I use is one of my students' favorites.  It is called connect three, and I also found this while pinterest-ing one night.  The students roll 2 dice and decide if they want to add the two number or subtract the two numbers.  They try to connect 3 on the game board, and try to block their opponent.  Therefore, it is not random for them to add or subtract.  They need to do a ton of mental math with integers!  It is awesome!  As the player is saying the expression using the numbers he or she rolled, the opponent is writing down and solving it on paper.  This way partners are checking each other's answers constantly.  

Literacy in Mathematics

This year our 7th graders have been working hard to see how math is in our everyday life.  We have been experimenting with the idea that math is not just one period in the day, but math is really connected to many different content areas.  In our every day life, we are always working with mathematics when we don't even notice it.  Fortunately, it was easy connecting functions with literacy this year when we read a scholastic issue.  The issue was all about scientists that were using underwater robots to  gather data on hydrothermal vents in the earth's crust.  Students were able to compare the relationship between water pressure and depth in the ocean with a function that they then graphed.  It was an awesome day in Ms. Stass' classroom, when the students finally realized how mathematics was more than just a subject in a school day.  


I've also been using a ton of info-graphs with my classes.  The Times magazine titled Answers is filled with a ton of great infographs!  I am obsessed right now.  I've used a few already, but I am constantly finding articles and trying different ways of relating it to what we are learning in class.  

Just recently in the Answers issue, there was an infograph that was all about adoption and showed adoption numbers increasing or decreasing over time from different countries into the United States.  We were learning adding and subtracting integers the week I found it, so I had the students use the infograph to come up with addition equations using negative and positive integers.  The kids not only found the articles really interesting, they were able to practice using negatives in real world application problems.  It was awesome!

I also used another infograph from the Answers issue of Time Magazine when I talked about fractions, percents, and decimals.  I constantly stress with my students what the whole is in problems.  This article was awesome because it gave my class the opportunity to have a math talk about what the whole is and what it meant in this scenario.  

Infographs are a great way to incorporate literacy in mathematics and the students are loving it!

Math Workshop

After 5 years of teaching middle school mathematics, I have observed students participating more when they are are working in math workshops, or working with more student centered activities.  The less I speak and the more they speak is really what drives their understanding of key concepts.

My math class is 46 minutes long, and I try to keep my main lesson down to 10-15 minutes in length.  After my lesson, I break students into our Math workshop centers. My math workshop is called M-A-T-H.  I post these letters around the room for students to know where they are going that day. 

M stands for meet with Ms. Stass.  Here I reteach the skill from the mini lesson or go more in depth depending on the group of children.

A stands for activities.  Here I have students play games that I have created or borrowed that are sometimes directly related to the skills in our main group lessons.  Sometimes they are just review games. In 7th grade operations with integers is always a skill that students need more and more practice with.  Therefore, I have a ton of games that allow students to practice their operations with integers.

T stands for technology.  I am a huge fan of ixl.com and Khan Academy.  I make playlists for each website, and give a deadline for students to master these skills by.  In the technology center, the students work at their own pace practicing and sometimes watching videos for support.

H stands for homework (independent work).  I never like sending students off without allowing them to practice the skills independently with my support near.  I usually will add problems to their homework knowing that I am using this as independent work in class.  I like them practicing at home, so I make sure they have just the right amount to get enough practice in class and some practice hours later at home.  In order to really master a skill, a student really needs a few days to show their expertise. 

I usually will meet with 2 groups a day when I am doing workshops.  However, I have been able to meet with all four groups in a day if my main lesson is super short.  If I am introducing something,  I make sure that I see my students who need my support most immediately after my main group lesson.  

Files to share:  I have a document that lists the group schedule with what each center is.  Leave your email in the comments, and I will email you what I have.  :-)

Daily 5

When my students come into my room.  They know to do the Daily 5.

1.)  Take out homework, write night's homework assignment in school planner

2.) Load netbook (they take forevvvvvver to load)

3.) Write objective as the title of their notes with date.  ex. SWBAT (Students will be able to) add integers

4.) Problem of the Day (PoD)- They turn this into my box. I look over their answers and if majority of students need help.  I reteach to whole group.  If only a few students need help, I pull small groups. 

5.) Khan Academy Playlist- I have created playlists listing skills students need to master by a certain date.  They usually have 3 weeks to master a list of 7-10 skills.   As students are working on Khan, I am able to pull the small groups to go over PoD.

My board above shows the problem of the day is IXL and Khan.  I usually have a specific problem that we are working on.  However the only picture of my board is from a day we did Khan as the problem of the day.  Sometimes I will do this when I know exactly which students need my help on a skill from data collected the day before.  In this instance, I gave a checkpoint and wanted more time with 5 students.  Therefore, the other students were working on this same skill but at a more advanced level online.