As I was thinking about school today, I was thinking about one of our next topics: equivalent expressions, covered by the Common Core standard 6.EE.A3:
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.)
Last year, I worked in equivalent expression practice through the use of my daily math warm-ups, which brought the idea back time and again, and the students did well with it. This year, even though we’ll spend more time with direct instruction, I was thinking about other ways to use equivalent expressions, and I thought of using them for partnering cards!
Using the Equivalent Expressions Partnering Cards
1) Determine the number of pairs needed for the number of students you have and pass out that number of cards.
2) Give students to a minute to factor or distribute to find an expression equivalent to the one on their card.
3) Set them loose to find their partner for your activity.
My 6th grade students did a great job with the equivalent expressions partnering cards when we used them – I’m sure yours will too:-)
Use the Equivalent Expressions Partnering Cards All Year
You can also use them for a quick matching activity!
Grab the Free Equivalent Expressions Cards
I hope you can use these partnering cards to keep you students ‘fresh’ with their equivalent expressions all year!
