Category Archives: Middle School

Homework Responsibility and Monster Equations

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Yikes, it’s Saturday, not Friday.  I was so energized after a after a FABULOUS week of teaching and I couldn’t wait to blog.  I really meant to post last night,but I just didn’t have it in me!  So, here is my favorite Friday – on Saturday!

This week my “No Homework Responsibility Binder” blew me AWAY.  I have kids turning in late homework right and left.  Last year, when they didn’t do homework, they took their zero and moved on.  This year, they are doing it – even if it is a week later!  I believe that it is the format of the binder and the new incentive that I have offered for making up their missed homework.  I only check homework for completion.  At the end of the grading period, they have a homework completion grade that is equal to one test grade (50 points in my class).  Every time they do not have their homework, they lose 2 points.  It can add up (or rather, subtracts) pretty fast.  This year since I am not tracking missed homework (the binder does that for me) I am freed up to offer an incentive.  WHEN they make up their homework they get half credit back.  It’s working like a dream and almost every student has made up every homework assignment so far this year.  I’m in heaven.

I love my green, yellow, and red baskets (thanks @fouss) where students turn in EVERY paper and assessment!  They put their paper in the green basket when they felt they understood it well, the yellow basket is so-so, and the red basket is my “SOS – HELP ME I’m lost” basket.  If kids turn in a paper to the yellow basket but do very well, I always put a “Go Green”! on their paper.  I want them to be confident in their math abilities!

My other favorite this week is MONSTER EQUATIONS.  The kids can’t get enough of them.  I love their monsters!  When we moved to x/2 = 3 this week we got to draw HALF of a monster.  How much fun is that?  Then I got to say, “If HALF a monster can eat 3 people, how much could an ENTIRE MONSTER EAT.”   (** Note, I am also modeling this on the balance scale and then writing out the steps. **)  It really makes equation solving fun.  A student even made me three adorable monsters (with google eyes and everythign) and brought them to me Friday.  I meant to take a picture and post it, but forgot.  I will though – they are so cute!

Sub Plans – MS Sunday Funday

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 #msSunFun

This week’s theme is Sub Plans.  Next week, the theme will be “Math Club”.

Click here to submit your MS Sunday Funday post!

Click here to submit your MS Sunday Funday post!

Writing Word Problem Equations – Help!

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Please help me make this lesson better.  The main problem was that the students did not get to practice enough problems (the rotation and the checking slowed us down).

My students need help writing equations for word problems.  Most often, they read the problem and scratch out an answer – with nary an equation in site!  To help fix this, I wanted to practice writing equations to simple, one and two step equation word problems.  I did not want it to be boring AND I wanted students to work together.  With the help of the wonderful Twitterverse, I decided to do a “Pass the Problem” activity.  (Thanks so much to @wahedahbug, @approx_normal, and @cgramatges for the idea and inspiration!)

Each student received their own answer sheet to record their work.  Each partner group received a word problem and a small answer sheet that went with the word problem.

For each problem, the students had to do the work individually on their own answer sheet, compare their answer with their partner, come up with the best joint answer, and then write that answer on the small answer sheet.  We did one step at a time, and then passed the word problem with it’s answer sheet, to the next pair of partners.  The steps were

  1. Define the variable
  2. Write an equation
  3. Solve the problem
  4. Write the solution in words to see if it makes sense.

I had color coded word problems (by level of difficulty) and used my table top dry erase frames to put them in.  This made reading the problem and passing it easier.  Also, at each step the new partners checked the past work, and made corrections when a problem was incorrect (as well as noting it on the sheet).

I liked the thought of this idea.  But, all of the passing seemed confusing.  I also felt that the students did not receive “closure” with any one problem.  And, we only were able to get through three sets of word problems, so I don’t think that the students got enough practice.  Plus, it was too “teacher directed” and high maintenance.  I like it when the activity runs itself so I am more available to walk around and help students.  I would love to make this activity better.  Help!

Negative Numbers – What’s Your Sign?

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This was a GREAT lesson for students that were already familiar with adding and subtracting negative numbers.  I am also going to use it with my new 6th graders that have not used negative numbers before, but only after introducing them to positive and negative numbers with the number line and with positive and negative integer chips.

I saw an amazing video of Allison Krasnow on the teaching channel that explains this activity really well.  So, if you are interested in this activity, I strongly suggest that you watch her make the magic happen!  Also, she recently blogged about it, with improvements!  So, go read it!  Coincidentally, I also hosted one of Allison’s post when she joined the “New Blogger Initiation” last month!  I just didn’t put two and two together until I was looking her up to give her due credit for this fabulous activity!  It is really a “small world” with math teacher bloggers – hurray!

For this activity, students use three circle stickers.  Yellow for the final sign (they put this on first), green stickers for positive numbers, and red stickers for negative numbers.  We just learned absolute value so I had them put the number with the larger absolute value “on top” because this also helps to ensure that they do the subtraction algorithm correctly.  The sheet I created is at the bottom.

I was worried that my seventh graders would not get into this activity and actually debated doing it with them.  I knew I wanted to do it with 6th, but 7th has practiced and practiced and practiced negative numbers last year.  However, I still have a couple of students that have trouble, and it seemed like such a great idea so I went for it.

I am so very glad that I did!  First of all, the kids were obsessed with the stickers.  They really loved using them.  This surprised me because they are just plain dots that you get at office supply stores.  But, the best surprise of all were several of my students saying, “Wow!  This makes so much sense now! Can we always use these?”  I then told them that they can use red and green colored pencils on their homework if they would like to!

I also asked them to find a person who they thought worked “at the same pace” that they worked.  This worked GREAT because  I wanted them to do partners for this activity, but not have one person “telling” the other what to do or what the answer was.  This way one my more proficient students finished, they could move on to another activity (Zero is their favorite).  I loved that students really embraced this, even moving after they got started because a group was going “too fast” or “too slow” for their pace.  I’m going to do this much more in the future!

Thanks Allison!  And welcome back to blogging!  🙂

GEMS Were A Hit with Homework!

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HALF of my students in one class actually drew GEMS around their order of operations problems last night! LOVE 6th grade!!

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Foldables – Place Value, Exponents, and Scientific Notation

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I have been a foldables freak lately!  I’ve been making them, but I haven’t posted them yet.  I just can’t keep up with the beginning of the year flurry, plus I was so sick last week.  Also, I have the new Notebook Foldables from Dinah Zike for notebooks and she suggests making “tabs” so you use the notebook paper as part of the foldable.  I love this because it saves trees!

Place Value – I was very surprised when I asked my 6th graders to round to the tenths place and most of them gave me the hundredths!  So, I did a mini-lesson complete with a mini-foldable.


Exponents, Positive, Zero, Negative – This one we didn’t get to fill out all of the way.  I keep running out of time with shortened classes this year.  They have the definitions on their vocabulary page, but next year I’m just going to have them put everything on the foldable.

 

Scientific Notation – I worked on this one for a while because I wanted so much on there, but I didn’t want it to be too complicated.

   

Scribed is NOT working for me right now.  So, I will add the actual docs here later.  Or, you can get them now at the Math Teacher Wiki’s Foldables Page.

Favorite Math Class Games – MS Sunday Funday

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#msSunFun

This week’s theme is Favorite Math Class Games.  Next week, the theme will be “Organizational Tips and Tricks”.  Also, be sure to tune into the Global Math Department this Tuesday, September 11th at 9pm, to see several teachers (including me) present their favorite math review games live!

Read the High School Sunday Funday Posts!

Also, grab the MS Sunday Funday logo at the top to link back to this page.

Advisory – MS Sunday Funday

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#msSunFun

This week’s theme is Advisory.  Next week, the theme will be homework policies.  There weren’t many posts this week.  I’m not sure if many schools do not have advisory (I was asked by several teachers what Advisory was on Twitter), or that we are just in CRUNCH TIME with school starting tomorrow!

Read the High School Sunday Funday Posts!

Also, grab the MS Sunday Funday logo at the top to link back to this page.

Discovering Negative Numbers

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Today I had a three hour Math Boot Camp where I reviewed basics and exposed new to our school students to math topics that our current students have already been taught.  I do not expect them to grasp these topics in one day.  But, it is great exposure for them and I get to see where they are mathematically so I can more accurately plan for these students this fall.  Again, this is exposure, not a full blown lesson.

One of the main topics today was the discussion of negative numbers.  Kids have such a hard time with this because they are taught so many “rules”.  Man, I hate rules kids have to memorize for math.  Today several kids even told me some of the rules they had learned, but didn’t know what they meant and could not apply them.  I actually prefer this to kids that just apply these rules because I can wipe the slate clean and start fresh with them.

I started with the idea of a negative number, showed them patterns so they could discover the answer, and then moved to a number line.  I also frequently referred back to the “concept” of a negative number often and pull finances in at every opportunity.  I mean seriously, what kid doesn’t understand simple money spending?  (As in, I want this awesome xbox game that cost $50, but I only have $30.  My Mom buys it for me and now I owe her $20, thus -20).

To introduce them to the idea of negative numbers, I asked them to represent (on a whiteboard) numbers for the scenarios that I gave them.  You received $45, 15 degrees below zero, you owe 27 dollars and 62 cents (decimals too), the depth of the titanic and the height of skydivers.  I told them they have been using negative numbers for a long time and didn’t even know it.

Then I moved on to patterns. The patterns I used were very simple and kids even laughed when we went through them.  This stuff is TOO easy and they loved that.  They got to see negative numbers come out and they were excited that they discovered the pattern.

  • 4 – 1 =
  • 4 – 2 =
  • 4 – 3 =
  • 4 – 4 =
  • 4 – 5 =
  • 4 – 6 =

After this I modeled subtraction on the number line, always bringing in parallels to money.  Then, I moved on to more patterns.

  • 4 – 2 =
  • 4 – 1 =
  • 4 – 0 =
  • 4 – (-1) =
  • 4 – (-2) =
  • 4 – (-3)=

This was a brief introduction today.  I am going to add more discovery and the need for working with numbers like -4 – 5  =  for an in-class lesson.  I didn’t hit them with multiplication and division of negative numbers as I didn’t want to confuse them.

After all of our pattern work today, one kid even said, “My IQ just doubled today.”  Did I mention how much I LOVE 6th graders?

I hate saying, “Subtraction of a negative”.  Or “minus” a negative for 4 – (-3).  What does everyone else say?  And how are you all teaching negative numbers?  I would love more ideas and discussion.

MS Sunday Funday – First Day / First Week Activities

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Hi!  Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more updates!  I am @jreulbach.  🙂

Welcome to a collaboration of posts by amazing middle school math teachers!

This week’s theme is First Day / First Week Activities.  Next week, the theme will be sharing how you have your students set up their math class notebooks.  This can be interactive notebooks or traditional notebooks.

To submit a blog, click on this link.

** Brand new blogger!