Author: timefliesedu

Math teacher dedicated to sharing teacher tips, ideas and resources.

Inequalities in Algebra

I’ve been fascinated by inequalities lately. I always find it interesting how students tend to get them backwards. I feel like they learn some bad habits and have some misconceptions about inequalities before they get to Algebra. It’s hard to get them out of those habits.

I’ve heard my students say that you always shade in the direction that the inequality is pointing. Because of this situation, I try to get them used to switching the inequality if the x is on the right side of it. This really is not an easy concept for them and I think it’s because they really do not understand what’s happening.

What is this sign? What does it really mean? Why do I switch it sometimes and not at other times? These questions are hard. I developed a lesson where the students do a discovery of what causes the inequality to switch directions. As they are solving problems in the Google Sheets activity a picture is evolving. The kids can’t wait to finish to see what the picture becomes.

The rest of the activity is setting up, solving and graphing inequalities. To see if students truly do understand, I ask them to either show work or explain their steps. This is really challenging for many students. It’s interesting to see if they truly know what they are doing.

I have several activities that go nicely with this one. Check out the resources below:

Holiday-Themed Math Activities to Brighten Your Classroom

You know, it’s always a blast to incorporate a holiday theme into math activities. It adds a touch of excitement and makes learning even more enjoyable. That’s why I’ve gathered all of my holiday math resources in one place. And the best part? I’ll keep adding more as I create them.

Whether you’re gearing up for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines or any other season, you’ll find a variety of math resources that your students will love. Each of these activities is designed to make learning math not just educational but also fun.

If you’re curious about a specific activity, simply click on it. This will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers store, where you can read a detailed description of the resource. It’s a convenient way to find exactly what you need for your classroom.

The holidays are a wonderful time for creative and engaging teaching. So, go ahead, explore these holiday-themed math resources, and bring the joy of the season into your classroom.

Enjoy finding what you need, and happy teaching!

Expressions in Math

Dealing with expressions is the foundation of Algebra. The tricky part is the basic math that is involved. As a high school teacher, I love using expressions to have students practice their basic skills such as operations with positives and negatives and dealing with decimals and fractions. It doesn’t make sense to me to give my students practice problems that look like this: -5 + 8. I need them to know how to do that problem, but why not make it look like this: -5x + 8x. I also want students to use these expressions in a situation like a perimeter problem or an area problem. All of these things help prepare students for tougher problems and it gets them used to setting up problems themselves. I try to use a variety of resources through the first part of the year in Algebra. My daughter and I have both created expressions activities that can be useful for any math teacher that teaches expressions. Have a look below at two of our favorites:

Different Forms of Numbers

My daughter recently upgraded one of her resources for distance learning. This resource originally had a set of 24 matching cards where the students match a number to the expanded form and to the word form. This is a great activity to see if students understand expanding numbers with decimals and then to see if they know the place values. The resource is called Matching Different Forms of Numbers.

Now she has made this ready for distance learning. She has transformed it into a Google Slides where students will drag and drop to match the various forms.

I love the last question on the Google Slides which is to create the three forms on your own. We love when students have to create. After working 8 different problems, they will be able to follow the examples and create one on their own. I love that.

The matching cards were originally in her Objective 2 5th Grade Math resource. Now the matching cards are separate and can be purchased independently.

Matching cards are fun and use lots of brain power. If you teach elementary math, go check this activity out to see if it is something you would like to add to your curriculum.