Thought Well Math

Hanger diagrams are a wonderful visual model for helping kids make sense of how to solve equations...however it's hard to find enough practice worksheets to support kids in truly mastering the skill. This is a carefully scaffolded collection of 35 worksheets that use hanger diagrams to support students in developing their algebraic reasoning and ability to solve equations fluently with understanding. My hope is that this can be a comprehensive resource to support all of your middle school stude

I created this project as a fun way for my 8th grade students to apply their knowledge of scatter plots in a meaningful way. They had a lot of fun! Students pretend to be biostatisticians investigating why asthma rates in a city are skyrocketing. Students get to uncover the environmental cause of the increased rates of asthma and investigate how different factors are associated with asthma attacks. Students get lots of practice: - creating scatter plots using a table of data - selecting an appr

This is the 7th grade excerpt from my 6-8th Grade Hanger Diagram Packet: It includes all 13 pages of scaffolded problems featuring equations in both forms: px + q = r and p(x + q)=r. I've found that these worksheets really support students in developing mastery over solving equations! The careful scaffolding promotes joy and confidence. The activities are scaffolded in a few ways: 1. Representational to Abstract First students solve just using the hanger diagrams, then they connect the diagra

Help your students become fluent in solving two-step equations using these task-cards. The cards are categorized into Mild, Medium, and Spicy equations so you can easily differentiate for your learners. (In fact, I often let my students choose which level is best for them!)Mild Task Cards: Support kids in reasoning about how to solve equations by offering visual models (tape diagrams and hanger diagrams) and restricting the solutions to positive numbers. Medium Task Cards: Offer ample prac

This is 7 levels of carefully-designed scientific notation practice problems. It's a great review/practice activity. Level A - Converting from standard form to scientific notation Level B - Converting from scientific notation to standard form Level C - Mix of A and B Level D - Adding and subtracting in scientific notation. Level E - Multiplying and dividing in scientific notation Level F - Word problems Level G - More word problems Level H - Challenge My experience: I printed the levels on a va

This is the 8th grade excerpt from my 6-8th Grade Hanger Diagram Packet: It includes all 10 pages of scaffolded problems featuring equations with variables on both sides of the equal sign. I've found that these worksheets really support students in developing mastery over solving equations! The careful scaffolding promotes joy and confidence. The activities are scaffolded in a few ways:1. Representational to Abstract First students solve just using the hanger diagrams, then they connect the d

My students love using mild, medium, and spicy task cards to build fluency with a skill. They get immediate feedback and have the chance to learn from their mistakes because the answers are on the back of each card. The levels are intentionally scaffolded so that kids build specific skills as they progress. This builds confidence! Mild : Offers the chance to practice and solidify the product property, the quotient property, and the power to a power property. The exponents are restricted to posit

My students love using mild, medium, and spicy task cards to build fluency with a skill. They get immediate feedback and have the chance to learn from their mistakes because the answers are on the back of each card. The levels are intentionally scaffolded so that kids build specific skills as they progress. This builds confidence! Mild : Includes hanger diagrams to support students in reasoning about the number of solutions. Medium : The visual support is removed, but the equations are still s