Resources for Factoring Trinomials

Well this post was supposed to just be a quick post to link my factoring puzzles activity but it has turned into a longer blog to share all the resources I have used this semester (Spring 2017) for teaching factoring. So here are my activities that I feel really helped students with factoring this year. I am so happy with the way these activity turned out. 

I learned all about the box method for factoring last summer while scrolling through twitter one night. It was life changing and I'll never go back!! If you haven't heard about this method you should check out this blog (Polynomials and Box Method) I did recently. 

This semester I had two different preps Math 1 and Math 2, I started teaching quadratics early in Math 2 and hadn't made these resources at that point so it didn't go as smoothly. When I started quadratics in Math 1 I did these things that helped lead up to the factoring process. (We have previously covered Multiplying Polynomials & Factoring Polynomials by GCF)

1) Area Model Puzzles

2) Factoring Puzzles

3) Factoring X Puzzles (Diamond Puzzles)

4) Notes on Factoring Trinomials

5) Practice on Dry Erase Template Factoring Trinomials

Here are some student photos of the activities being used:

If you would like to download these files you can find them below:

Area Model Puzzles & Answer Key

Factoring Puzzles

Factoring X Puzzles

Notes on Factoring Trinomials

Dry Erase Template on Factoring Trinomials

Dance Dance Transversal & Angle Relationships

Have you heard of dance dance transversal??? 

If so then you know just how cool this blog is going to be!

If not you need to check out Jenn's blog and the original blog by Algebrainiac because this is the coolest activity I have done in my class. I love love love it!!! I wish I had tried it sooner in the year with my honors class because I really think they would have enjoyed it and would have remembered their angle relationships much better. 

I started my lesson with notes on the different angle relationships using the set of notes below. 

Then we went right into the dance dance transversal activity. Of course you will have a few students who are shy and may not want to do this activity with the class but just try to convince them that they will have fun and that you are going to dance with them. I did not have my activity as prepared as others because it was a really last minute decision. I would suggest already having your tape placed on the floor but if you don't (like me) it doesn't take that long. I used painters tape because it comes off the floor really easily. Also you do not have to move all your desks out of the way. Just place the tape in open holes around your room. 

Before we started the powerpoints we practiced the moves. I modeled what each angle relationship should look like and they copied each move. 

Then we did rapid fire practice like: 

Alternate Interior

Corresponding

Same Side Interior

Alternate Exterior

Corresponding

Same Side Interior

Alternate Interior

etc. 

I also had them do the opposite of each move we just completed. So if they used left top and bottom right for Alternate Exterior then they would use right top and bottom left for the switch move. After a few more rapid fire practice rounds we were ready for the powerpoints and our dancing. 

You can download the powerpoints (music is included) from the blog by Jenn. They are awesome and I really hope to either get a copy of the orignial templates or learn how to create some myself. I love the movement involved in this lesson and hope to incorporate this idea into other topics. 

Do you have any ideas for other lessons that you could use this kind of movement? 

My current thoughts:

 Different types of functions 

Maybe no tape & more like simon says, I've done this before

 but a powerpoint with music would be a great addition

 Use end behavior like y=x left foot Q3 & right foot Q1

End Behavior of functions 

Just x & y axis students would use left foot as -x & f(x) 

while right foot +x & f(x))

Unit Circle Degrees or Radians

Not sure how to do the tape, seems like a lot of lines

 but maybe you could do large circles

 & small groups that rotate out

Another resource for Angle Relationships is a card sort that I created. They could work in groups or individually. I love this one because you could use them more than once to reinforce the skill. I even had a few students ask to take these home to practice the day we did it and the night before their test. 

If you would like to download the resources for this lesson they are below:

Notes for Angle Relationships

Powerpoints for Dance Dance Transversal

Card Sort for Angle Relationships

Systems of Linear Equations (Elimination)

Super excited to share these resources with you today after all the amazing feedback from twitter. Last week I shared a photo of my newest dry erase template that I use to help guide students through the elimination process and I got so many great responses that I had to put this at the top of my list to blog about.

Over the years I have seen that students really struggle with solving systems of equations by elimination. When teaching I try to find a process that will be consistent so students can repeat the same steps and eventually remember how to solve a particular problem. There are definitely faster ways to solve the systems than I teach them but this process works for all the problems if they are in standard form. 

I have students focus only on eliminating the x's even if the y's look easier. Once they understand the process I then tell them about finding shortcuts. So if we focus on eliminating the x's first I tell them the coefficient has to have the exact same number but different signs so that the x's cancel out to zero and disappear. We practice flipping the coefficients and then multiplying to essential have the same coefficient for the x's. Then I ask them if they already have different signs. If they do then we go into the elimination step. If they do not I tell them to ONLY multiply the TOP equation by a negative. Before we go into the entire process I practice just determining what to multiply each equation by to solve. So I created a card sort activity to practice that. Remember that I am focusing on the x's. If you do not do it this way then you will probably find these resources need to be modified to fit your needs. 

Here are the notes I start with to teach this topic. We focus on the rule part at the top for a little while then finally move to actually solving the equations at the bottom once I feel like they understand what we need to multiply by to eliminate one of the variables. 

Here is the card sort activity that I use to help reinforce what they must multiply by to have the x's eliminate.

You may notice that many of the problems have the same numbers in the front of each equation. I purposely did that because I wanted to force the students to really have to think about what they needed to multiply by and not just match up the numbers. Most of my card sorts I try to do this. I find similar problems that have only a few changes so they really have to focus on the rules and steps of a concept. 

Like factoring trinomials for example, I try to make sure that other trinomials share a common factor and also make sure 3 or 4 trinomials all start with the same coefficient so it isn't easy to just match up by multiplying the first two parts of each factor. 

Here is the dry erase template that I use to practice solving systems of linear equations by elimination. 

***Update*** I totally forgot about the truths & lies activity that I made for elimination. I love this activity because it focuses on students having to find mistakes and fix those problems.

Hope you guys find these resources helpful. If you would like to download the files you can find them below. 

Notes for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Card Sort for Multiplication Process of Elimination

Dry Erase Template for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Truths & Lies Activity for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Do you want to find more resources like this??? 

Check out my virtual filing cabinet page

Ratios & Proportions

I'm on a blogging roll... now if only I could keep this up. 

Below you will find my notes and card sorts that I have created for a lesson on ratios and proportions. I think this is a middle school standard but because we need to know ratios and proportions for triangle similarity I thought it was best to do a quick review before teaching that topic. 

This is my first triples card sort and honestly I haven't actually used it yet. We breezed right over this just doing random examples but I wanted to prepare something for the next time I taught it that would be more fun for my students. The plan is to tell them to start with problems 1-8 then explain there are two more ratios that are proportional.

Again we haven't actually used this activity but I'm preparing for next year. This card sort has alot of problems so I will probably allow students to work in pairs to find the solutions so it will not take as long to complete. 

Here are the files if you would like to download and use them: 

Notes for Ratios & Proportions

Card Sort for Ratio Triples

Card Sort for Solving Proportions