Sum of Three

I got this activity from my brother-in-law and really like it.  It is called "Sum of Three".   In essence you have students in groups of three each doing a different problem.  Then you have them add the answers together to be the sum of the three answers.  They will bring this number up to you and ask if this is correct.  If they are correct, then they get to move on to the next problem set.  If they are incorrect, then they must decide how to go about getting the correct answer.  This is the best part of the activity.  When the students get the problem wrong, they automatically think it is somebody elses mistake.  They then will systematically go through the process of how to do the problem with everyone.  It is a great group activity.  Here are my directions.  I have given a couple examples as well. 
1.  Get your class into groups of three.   I always do this on a random basis.  Let's say you had 26 people in your class.  Take 26 kids divided by 3 and you get 8 full groups of three.  Count students one, two, three, and so on till eight, then start back at one, two, three and keep doing this until you run out of people.  In this case, you will have 6 groups that have 3 in it and 2 groups that have 4 in it.  Now the ones get together and the twos get together and so on.
2.  Hand out a problem set A in paper form to each group.   This will have three problems in it.  A1, A2, and A3.  Each student will work on a different problem.  The group will then add the sum of all three answers. 
3.  When a group thinks it has a sum, they bring up THEIR PAPER to show you their answer.  Don't have the students SAY the sum.  This might give it away for the other students.  If they are correct, give them the problem set B in paper form.  If they are incorrect, then they must go back and find out where they made a mistake.
4.  I have my students do all their work on a separate piece of paper to be turned in.  This creates a little accountability as well as a place for them to work.
5.  You will have to decide how many sets of problems you will want.  I typically have 3 to 4 sets.  I have the last set as extra difficult.

Here are a couple of examples of the "Sum of Three" activity.



This is a problem set for multiplying fractions in Intro to Algebra



This is the answer sheet that I use when the students come up to give me their SUM.



This is an Algebra "Sum of Three" problem set.  I have the students add the y-intercepts of the line.


PDF of the FRACTIONS "SUM OF THREE" ACTIVITY

PDF of the EQUATION OF A LINE "SUM OF THREE" ACTIVITY

 

I AM A ...Stand Up, Auditory, Randomly Chosen Students Activity

1.  Have your students stand up.
2.  Have 5 "I am a..." questions ready to ask.  (I have given you a few examples below)
3.  Tell the students that they are not to shout out answers for this activity.  They should think of the answer and be ready to give it when called on.  
4.  Explain to your students that you will be calling students at random for the answer.  Also explain that they will be doing this completely by listening to the question.  They will not be allowed to write out anything.
5.  Give the question and then give the students some "think" time before you call on someone. 
6.  Call on someone to answer the question.  Have them justify the answer.
7.  Call a new person to verify or change the answer.   Do this until you get 2 people in a row to verify an answer. 
8.  Verify the answer yourself and then move to the next question.

It is a great lesson on LISTENING and MENTAL MATH.  It only takes a couple of minutes and the students like it.   You get a high involvement rate because you are being called on at random. This is an activity that I do not assess.  It is also a great review session that breaks up the regular day.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

All the Best,
Dave

See the examples below.

Intro to Algebra Area and Perimeter

Algebra

Intro to Algebra Fractions

 Precalculus Polynomials



Battleship for Introduction to Algebra Students

http://www.teachforever.com/2008/11/coordinate-plane-battleship-game-2008.html

I got this idea from Tom DeRosa and his blog http://www.teachforever.com/ I have modified his original document to work for my needs.

All the students will place their 3 boats on their grid covering the correct number of points.
The teacher will shoot random shot to all students in the class. Everyone will write this down on their paper. Students will put a O for a miss and an X for a hit.
The teacher will then call on a student to fire at back. Everyone will write down this coordinate on their paper. The teacher on the Smartboard will write a O for a miss and X for a hit.

This will go back and forth until someone wins. Usually the students will win since the teacher is randomly firing.

Tom DeRosa suggests having the student explain where the point is when giving it to the rest of the class. Such as "its in the first quadrant." It is on the y-axis. Or things like this.

I've attached the lesson that I have revised from Tom DeRosa .

By the way, I have included sounds in the smartboard lesson to add the fun of BATTLESHIP.

Give it a try.

Word Document Battleship Worksheet

Smartboard Notebook Document

PDF of Smartboard Notebook Document