We Do Math

This is the BEST way to first learn to solve equations with variables on both sides. Students will use money (real or pretend coins) to find the value of a piece of candy. Students are engaged because: 1. There's candy. 2. They are solving problems hands-on without writing anything down. Students will finally represent the manipulative problems they did with actual equations. From that point on, they will be able to make a connection between an equation, and the real-life scenario of buying can

Students start with True/False questions that deal with a review of equivalent expressions. The next 3 pages are notes in which the teacher must guide the students. Students will learn for the first time what an inverse is, and why and what it means to do something on "both sides" of the equation. Explain that one-step equations can easily be solved mentally most of the time, but every equation, no matter how big, can be solved using inverses. These notes will take the majority of the class pe