Translating Verbal Phrases into Algebraic Expressions

I'm a little behind in recording my INB activities.  Wow, the first two weeks of school have been a whirlwind.  I finally started to get a little caught up yesterday since I gave long quizzes and was able to organize the piles of paper that were EVERYWHERE. 

This INB activity is actually one I did the first week of school.  Our first lesson in Algebra I is on Translating Verbal Phrases.  We then extend this lesson on the next day by learning how to take a verbal phrase like "The set of y-values are three less than twice the x-value" and create function rules, mappings, tables, and graphs.

The lesson went well, it was short enough to keep their attention and then the INB activity allowed them to practice in a hands on way.  I then assigned a puzzle page  for homework that had a corny joke at the top.  When I handed it out, I was surprised to hear kids say things like, "I love these things".

Here are the files if you'd like to download them.  One thing I have found about cut and paste activities.  Give the students the page that they have to cut out first and give them about three or four minutes to get started cutting.  By then almost everyone will be done or almost done cutting.  Then pass out the "answer mats".  If you don't do this, some just want to write the answers down on the mat and skip the whole cutting part.  This may sound strange, but I think the whole act of cutting and pasting the answers seems to make the material stick in the brain better than just trying to write down the answers as quick as you can and get it turned down.  It is a deliberate effort on my part to get them to slow down and THINK.

Lesson

Translating Verbal Phrases into Algebraic Expressions Cut and Paste

Puzzle Page Translating Verbal Phrases