Day 104 Combining Like Terms

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.EE.3 Apply the properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions. For example, apply the distributive property to the expression 3 (2 + x) to produce the equivalent expression 6 + 3x; apply the distributive property to the expression 24x + 18y to produce the equivalent expression 6(4x + 3y); apply properties of operations to y + y + y to produce the equivalent expression 3y.

6.EE.4 Identify when two expressions are equivalent (i.e., when the two expressions name the same number regardless of which value is substituted into them). For example, the expressions y + y + y and 3y are equivalent because they name the same number regardless of which number y stands for

The Learning Objective: Identify like terms as terms having the same variable

Agenda:

1. Jumpstart
2. HW review 
3. Big Spender
4. It's not complicated
5. Like term notes
6. Like terms practice

The Assessment: The homework was checked with emphasis on the word problems. Many students had issues because a question asked about the number of seats on a 777 aircraft. Most students did not recognize that 777 was the type of aircraft and had nothing to do with seats. It was not a math error but a reading comprehension error.

I also collected the jump start from students after I had reviewed it. I gave students forewarning that the jump start would be collected in order to increase the likelihood that students would pay attention to details as we corrected. 

In one class I had students work in partners in the book and then gave them the homework after they had shown the skill I wanted to see for combining like terms. It was the best class in terms of demonstrating the skill on paper. 

I also had students try two problems from the notes on their own.

Homework: Combining like terms practice worksheet (only one word problem).

My Glass Half-Full Take: The big spender word problem was something I created yesterday as an off shoot to the It's not complicated video which I had shown last year and did not like the results that I had gotten. I needed to draw out the idea further, and I did it with the big spender problem. It was perfect. It was very concrete relative to what kids got from me last year in combining like terms. Saying something like "don't add the coefficients if the variables aren't the same" is mere memorizing. Telling students that purchasing five convertibles and four bags of popcorn is not the same as multiplying the popcorn cost and the convertible cost by nine is using common sense.

One Thing to Do Differently: When we did the story about popcorn and cars, perhaps I could have given students a number for how much the popcorn was and how much the car was to prove 4p + 5c did not equal 9pc.

Link of the Day: The distributive property at its finest.