Real-World Algebra Connections in Jasztalville!

Making a "menu".

You may be thinking, You are finally writing something substantial again! I have a reason to today, though. I came up with a few tremendous ideas to make the study of algebraic expressions more exciting. Below is what we did in our math center rotations this week as well as the two real-world creative mini-projects we completed in one class period. 

Lakeshore Game.

First on the list is an AMAZING DVD game from Lakeshore called the Math Quiz Interactive Game Show. It comes in a little pricey at $19.99,  but it is worth it. I am considering purchasing the science and vocabulary ones as well when I have the chance. Pretty much, it is formatted like Jeopardy. Even better, you choose between having 2-6 teams and get to choose the game's five categories before you start the game. Installation is easy, and graphics as well as problems offered in the game are superior! I recommend this game for grades 3-6. There are some challenges as well as some problems I found to be quite simple. 

Scholastic StudyJams. 

Next come the websites I enjoy choosing for math rotations or partner activities when students share a laptop.  Here is this week's algebra-related list. Students enjoyed the tutorials from Scholastic StudyJams (shown above) and Math Live. Math Live also had a handout I used for my problem-solving station that went along with its pattern-related tutorial. 

Extend a triangle pattern with toothpicks. First, build a triangle. As you connect more triangles to the original triangle, you are adding two toothpicks each time. We determined the algebraic expression to extend the pattern was n + (n +1)= p. This was determined after students estimated how many toothpicks would be used for 50, 100, and 200 triangles. 

I had students continue triangle patterns with toothpicks and use the handout from Math Live in the problem-solving station. Using toothpicks to extend pictorial patterns is an inexpensive and fantastic idea. 

I enjoyed preparing a St. Augustine field trip-related expression writing paper for them as well. I asked questions about riding the charter bus (and having a flat fee as well as a fee per hour), student and adult admission to the St. Augustine Lighthouse/Ripley's Believe it or Not/the trolley tour, the number of pen pals between our class and Mrs. Boggess' class, and how much I spend when I purchase vials for each of them from the Fountain of Youth. 

Here is a glimpse of the field trip algebraic expressions sheet. 

While we were in centers, students completed the end-of-the-chapter review from our Pearson math book as well as our test review booklet from Show What You Know publishing. Here is the direct link to our workbook, which I have five of in our classroom for reading/math center rotation purposes. Students complete their work on notebook paper. 

From there, we headed to our most recent assignments: 

#1: Menu Design: Students had to design a menu and come up with five word problems (and correlating expressions) for people "ordering" their items. I encouraged them to incorporate coupons and have people order more than one of the same item in their problems (so they could have variety). A few even incorporated sales tax, though they do not completely understand the concept yet (understandable). 

Most did this correctly; I should have explained it farther, because a few wrote word problems without expressions, but it was my first time doing the menu lesson in this way. It was interesting seeing the creative approaches. For the pictures below, I apologize for whatever was "cut off". (The scanner decided on the ones it liked and did not like tonight, just to let you know. A few more, rescanned, may come soon). I am sorry on a few that you just see menus, but that's all right. You get the gist. 

#2: Algebraic Farmville: We drew grids (and then I had students fill their grids with items like flowers, sheds, fences, etc. They priced their items and wrote the algebraic expressions for each. Then at the end, a few wrote their entire algebraic expression for their "mini-Farmville creation". 

#3: Video Game Algebra Problems: A few students wrote these. I enjoyed these from a student (I LOVED "vaporizes" and "trusty plasma vision"...): 

Considering the time we had to complete this (about an hour), things went well. Not everything is "spot-on perfect", but it was an extraordinary effort from many. Perhaps you'd like to incorporate these impromptu creative mini-projects or center ideas in your classroom soon!