Middle School Math Moments (now Cognitive Cardio Math)

Happy Halloween! Although, it didn't feel like Halloween at school today, because our students aren't dressing up until tomorrow. So, today, we had our algebraic expressions/equations test (which meant no homework for Trick or Treat night!), and will play Fall Footloose tomorrow for a fun Friday/Halloween math class. But, this post is supposed to be about playing Bingo!  We did that yesterday, to help prepare for today's test. I started using this Bingo last year, and it has worked out very well. The Bingo set has 11 different Bingo cards (worksheets), and the students must solve the one-step equations on their cards before we can play. I haven't laminated the cards because I like the fact that they can write their answers right on the cards, making the numbers easier to find when I call them. Click to see Bingo on TPT The kids did a great job solving as quickly and quietly as possible, so that we could get down to playing. It took students about 15 minutes t...

**Update - flash freebie time has passed, but the link will still take you to TPT if you are interested in the product. Thanks! This is my first Flash Freebie ! It will be free for a few hours:-) Click to go to TPT. The other day I made an "I Have, Who Has" for solving addition and subtraction equations. I don't usually use I Have, Who Has in math, because I feel like it takes a while to get through the game (depending on the concept), and I don't want the kids to get too restless.However, I thought I'd give it a try! I made 32 cards, so that if future classes are larger, I have enough for each student (hopefully class size doesn't go over 32!) Overall, it worked out well for all four of my classes. The first class took about 20 minutes to finish the game (many of them were writing out their work for each problem). In the next period, I told them that they didn't need to write out all of the work, but could solve it mentally or using the calcula...

Today, I watched students using my whiteboards and was just SO glad that I've been making better use of them! (The students really enjoy using them too!)  I've had my little whiteboards for quite a long time, so I took some time to re-tape them with colorful "Duck" tape over the summer. They are definitely more attractive now! Though I've had these whiteboards for at least 15 years, I haven't used them all that much in middle school....yes, I have pulled them out from time to time, but they weren't a part of my regular activities...I don't really know why. I used them much more often when I taught elementary school. Anyway, since re-taping them, I have kept them out on my counter, in sight, and maybe that's why I think of them more often. Today, students completed a Footloose activity for algebraic expressions, and of course, they all finished at different times. So, as they finished, I had students sit at an empty group of desks, with the whit...

Ah, Tuesday. I find my brain searching for how to write an interesting post, but it just doesn't seem to be able to find it!! Anyway, quickly - today we worked on evaluating algebraic expressions when the variable was a given value. Tomorrow we'll practice a bit more and then move on to translating between words and math (using variables). We've done a little bit of this already, through our Mental Gymnastics book, so it won't be brand new. However, we will use the circle chart I made today to remind students of the operation words that will help them translate between words and mathematical expressions. (I decided to go with the circle organizer after I found my " Memory Wheel " templates in my closet today!) I made a quick graphic organizer for this, and will give students the choice to either use the organizer or simply draw their own in their notebooks....I'm curious to see how many choose to draw their own as opposed to using the organizer....I...

I'm so happy to help promote the fantastic Spooktacular Giveaway being offered by Heather at 2 Brainy Apples! There are 4 bundles of products to win, ranging from grades K-8. You can earn several entries a day, so be sure to stop by every day for multiple chances to win!  You can enter until Sunday, Oct. 20, at midnight EST, and a winner will be chosen the following Monday.   Click below to head on over to enter! Good luck!

Please visit my new site:  http://www.cognitivecardiowithmsmm.com/ I spent ALL day cleaning, so I needed to take a quick break to share the Properties Fold it Up that we started using on Friday. It includes the Commutative, Associative, and Distributive Properties, as well as the Identity Properties of Addition and Multiplication.  The students are fairly familiar with Commutative and Associative, but the Distributive Property is relatively new and definitely more difficult. We will spend the greater part of the next couple days on the Distributive Property, and at this point I'm excited to know that it (and the other properties) will keep popping up throughout the year in the Mental Gymnastics (daily math) book I wrote over the summer....this was one reason I created my own book - the others I had used did not review the properties as much as my students needed. Below is the Fold it Up. You can click on the picture below and download it for free. The inside is divided ...

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Who's ready to Fold it Up?! Click to download this free Fold it Up! Just a quick post to share a "Fold it Up" to use in interactive journals (which are relatively new for me). We used our first Fold it Up today, for order of operations. I made the PEMDAS Fold it Up last night, to match the anchor chart I made for my room. I created the inside with Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally on the left, dotted lines for students to cut, and then partial notes on the right-hand side. The front was left blank, for students to create their own PEMDAS lettering and title, as below:  Problem on the chart is the same  as one on the Fold it Up. We'll do some order of operations practice with my Order of Operations Footloose activity, which you can download from my freebies page or for free from TpT . I made a Fold it Up for properties too (Commutative, Associative, Distributive)....will post that one in a day or two. Happy Tuesday!