Graphing in all Four Quadrants--Coordinate Graphing Activities--Math Intervention

How can my students practice coordinate graphing?

Coordinate graphing is usually a topic that my students caught onto pretty quickly. It was a lesson that could be hands on and those lessons are the ones that students caught onto more quickly. 

However, in the year of COVID-- a lot of students were remote during the coordinate graphing lesson and missed that hands-on lessons. As we progressed throughout the year, I realized students were still not getting how to graph so I created this activity to help reinforce the skill. 

I pulled students into groups of 5 or 6 and had expo markers, the cards, and a poster-sized coordinate graph that was laminated. My school had a poster maker so I could make the coordinate graph poster size. If I didn't have a poster size coordinate graph-I would print several copies of the graph for students to have access to. 

First I had students work in pairs. I gave each pair a card and had them work together to find their ordered pair based on the instructions. I asked each student pair to explain how they found their ordered pair. The expo markers were helpful because I asked students to trace the path they took to find their ordered pair. I ask them to to the same thing when they are taking a test. It is a more concrete way to learn this concept. 

Overall, this was an easy activity to prepare and got students talking about finding their ordered pairs. Any activity that gets to students to talk about their thinking in math is a win. 

Get the activity here.  

If you need more activities to teach coordinate graphing, you can find them here. 

Introduction to Inequalities with Desmos and Real-World Situations

 I think introducing inequalities is so much more interesting and fun than equations. There are so many more real-world situations that students can relate to. 

"Your mom says she will give you no more than $20 for lunch this week. How much money could she give you?"

"You need to be at least 48 inches to ride the roller coaster. How tall could you be and still ride it?"

"The elevator can hold up to 750 pounds. How much can the elevator hold?"

You can have some fun discussions with your students and even those students who struggle with math can participate because it is something they can relate to. It is  great way to help students build confidence. Math isn't just a set of steps and algorithms--its a way to explain the world around us. 

So this year, I was in the classroom because of lack of substitute teachers and got to start the inequality unit with some 6th graders. These are the two activities I used with students. (My campus currently has enough devices for every student.)

1. Desmos Inequalities on a Number Line

Have you used Desmos? You might know it as an online graphing calculator, but it is so much more. There are lessons on there that you can walk students through, see what they are doing in real-time, and give immediate feedback. 

The assignment I have linked has students place value on the number line with prompts like "a number less than 3." This starts students thinking about how there are multiple numbers that fit that prompt. One class would only every pick whole numbers and I had to push them to see 1.5 as a value they could select. 

Eventually this assignment shows students how we use a shaded number line to show all possible solutions. 

2. Google Slides Beginning Inequalities

Next, I had students look at some real-world statements on the board and place possible solutions on the number line. I had several students come up to the board and use a marker to mark their possible answers. Again, all students were able to participate because theses were situations they experienced in their daily lives. 

Now I know that when we get into solving and writing inequalities, that students may struggle. But by starting the unit with some low floor activities, the students can build their confidence and it is something I can continue to refer back on. 

Fraction Decimal Percent Google Slides Digital Assignment

 Are you are trying to figure out virtual learning and face-to-face learning at the same time? Is your school doing just virtual learning? No matter what your situations, the 2020-2021 school year will be one to remember. The first few weeks of school have been exhausting and overwhelming. 

I want to do what I can to help. I wish I could do more! 

This resource has students look at models and name the fraction, decimal, and percent modeled. 

Click here to download to the Free Activity

Free Subtraction with regrouping Tic-Tac-Toe

I was in a classroom this week and the students were learning how to divide with 2-digit divisors. Over and over, I saw students get wrong answers. As I looked over their work, the problem wasn't that they didn't know the steps to division. They were having problems subtracting, especially when they had to re-group.

Even though this was a 5th grade classroom, it is always necessary to fill in gaps that students have. If students can't subtract without making lots of mistakes, they can't divide. Even students who were dividing using the partial quotients method have to divide.

I made this quick tic-tac-toe game for the teacher to use so students can practice subtracting without using just a worksheet.

Download it for free here.

Are there gaps that you see in your grade level that you have to go back and teach again or have students practice? What are they?

Science Coloring Pages to Use in Stations or Homework

The science teachers at my school started small groups this year and wanted things for students to do in stations as they pulled students into small group. I had a made a coloring page one and they requested more. So I started making some coloring pages for them. The students like doing them. There are something students can complete without interrupting the teacher at her small group and they enjoy coloring--even in middle school. Not every student likes to color...but that's okay. 

Here is a free coloring page  for students to differentiate between elements and compounds. 

If you are interested other science coloring pages. The topics there so far are calculating density, heat energy transfer, metals nonmetals and metalloids, rock cycle, classification of organisms, and plate boundaries.

Free Editable Math Game for Middle School or Elementary Math

One thing my students liked to do is create challenges for each other. When they do that, the get practice in two different ways. First, they have to create problems/games for others to solve and then they have to solve and play other student's games. In my experience, students usually try to stump their classmates.

I created this template that you could use to have students create a Spin and Cover game for others to play.

You can give students this blank template and and topic to create a game for. Give them some time to make the game and then when they are done, they can switch and play. 

Some topics they can make the game on: 

• Integer Operations- students pick 8 numbers to place in the spinner. Then they have to write enough integer operation problems where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 
• Multiplication facts- Students pick 8 numbers and write multiplication problems where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 
• Equivalent Fractions- Students pick 8 fractions and then they fill the circles with fractions that are equivalent to the 8 they selected. 
• Solving Equations- Students pick 8 numbers to place in the spinner. Then they write equations where the solution is one of the 8 numbers they selected. 

Some topics will be more challenging than others, but you can vary it based on what your want your students to practice. 

Here is a completed game board where students will compare numbers. 

Finally, here is an editable version of the game so you can add your own numbers and problems. 

Area of Polygons Practice

After the students learned the area of triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids, they needed to practice.

It would be easy to give them a worksheet with the shapes on it and all the measurements given and they just have to plug the numbers into the formula the solve.

Worksheets can be useful, but when there is a way to not do a worksheet, do it.

I did this activity last year and wish I would have saved all the shapes I made. So I remade them again and laminated them.

I drew 10-12 triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids each. I spread them around the room and asked the students to find the area of the shapes. They measured everything to the nearest centimeters.

To make them talk to each other about it, I asked them to verify their answers with their classmates. I put a large poster at the front of the room with a table of the shapes. Once students have verified their answers with 3 other classmates, they could start adding the area of the shapes to the poster.

Once I made and laminated all the shapes, the activity was easy to put together. I didn't even use any copies! Just notebook paper.

If you dont want to draw your own shapes, you can use this file here. Download it for free. 

Here is another way for students to practice finding the area of polygons fro my TpT store. 

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In Texas, 6th graders are to "determine solutions for problems involving the area of rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, and triangles and volume of right rectangular prisms where dimensions are positive rational numbers."