Round robin

Today I set the desks into groups of four for a round robin activity for solving multi-step equations.  I have name cards in red (pink), yellow, and green on each desk.  If the kids needed help with a question they put up the red card, yellow if they are still working, but would like for me to check behind them, and the popular green "I've got this".  Each student received 8 different problems and they only did a part of solving the equations, so they were in groups, but they couldn't cheat and everyone had a role.  I learned some things today from the activity.  For example, they need a checklist on each problem, so they know what they are doing next when they receive the next sheet. 

(Excuse the messy desk)

Each child had a different colored pencil, so I could grade the accordingly and quickly find who was still lost. 

Next, we played one-step equation bingo, this can be found here.  The kids thought it was a fun day, instead they solved 5 math equations in one class period!  They did great!

Order of Operations Bingo

First I need to give credit to the blog Math Equals Love, Ms. Hagan has been such an inspiration to me starting an interactive notebook in my classroom.  We used her printable for PEMDAS today and the kids really seemed to understand the left to right concept better in the visual organizer.  I will reference her materials tons this semester!  

Tomorrow we will be playing Order of Operations Bingo, I decided to add a bit of a twist to the lesson provided by NCTM.  I decided I would let the kids come up to the board and select a number to solve, then they would mark it out on their bingo card.  If anyone knows how to limit a hyperlink to one click, please let me know.  Originally I was going to use shapes instead of numbers for the hyperlinks, but I couldn't figure out how to make the shapes disappear.  If you have a smart-board let students toss a sock at the board to choose the next problem.  Unfortunately my kids have to use the pen, so I had a different number than the answer for each problem.  My first five kids to win bingo will receive 25 tickets to place in the drawing on Friday in hopes of getting one of the 4 homework passes.