Orders of Operations - Stations
Lesson 3 of 14
Objective: SWBAT use orders of operations to solve numerical expressions
For this warm up activity, I am going to have the students work on 4 word problems that will require them to use the orders of operations to solve. I want them to try and write the expression. (SMP 2 and 4). Students may struggle with this. To help them out, you could ask them how they would solve the problem. Most will be able to tell you the answer. Get them thinking about what they did in their heads then have them write it down on paper.
Tools: Do now word problems
Each station will be 20 minutes in duration.
At the teacher work station, I will be using the teacher station power point problems. I will be using them in hard copy so I can pass out the questions to students to complete. While students are working out these problems, I will be looking for and asking about first steps. (SMP 1) If students are struggling, I will have them get out their notes to follow along with the steps. I have also created an orders of operations checklist for students that are strugglers. The checklist has the steps for orders of operations, it is laminated and they can use expo markers to keep track of their steps. This helps them walk through each step and decide whether or not they have to use that step based on the expression they are trying to evaluate.
I will also be watching for the execution of exponents and if they are working the problem out one step at a time. (SMP 2 and 6)
Tools: teacher station power point
At the independent work station, they will be using leveled orders of operations domino worksheets. The domino worksheets range from A to F with level A being the easiest and level F being the hardest. Students can choose which domino worksheet they feel most comfortable solving. Remind students that they will be using the orders of operations to solve each expression. Once they get their solution, the answer goes in the small box and then is moved to the large box to create a new problem. They can turn these domino sheets in as evidence of student learning.
Tools: Leveled domino worksheets.
At the computer work station the students will be working with brain pop. Brain pop is a fun website for the students to use. For today’s station, they will be working with orders of operations. They can watch the movie and then take the quiz. I recommend they have a white board and marker or pen and paper to help them solve problems.
Closure + Homework
Students can get started on these problems during class in case they have any questions. The purpose of these problems is to get the students to place parenthesis in the problem to make the equation true. Students will need to have a good understanding that by placing grouping symbols within a problem makes that the first step. They may have to do some guess and check to get these to work out. I’m only giving them 5 problems to try. If students are really struggling, have them try a couple of problems instead of doing them all.