MATHEMATICS
In this lesson, the students used the order of operations to evaluate expressions on task cards. I separated the students into differentiated pairs. They were to act as ghost hunters. Each task card was considered a ghost and to hunt the ghost, the students had to solve the problem correctly. While the students were working together, I played the "Ghost Busters" theme song. After all of the groups were done hunting, we checked the answers together. The group that answered the most questions correctly won the title of 'Champion Ghost Hunters.'
This lesson involved students keeping an equation equal by adding the same amount to both sides. We used an equabeam manipulative to balance equations. The students would pick a number between 1 - 20. We would discuss the different numbers we could add together to total the number picked. Then volunteers would come up to the equabeam and make the other side equal. Many students would ask if he or she could come up to the equabeam to show another way to total the number picked. Sometimes I would add an extra tile onto one side of the equabeam to show the students what would happen if the equation was not equal on both sides. Once we finished the examples with the equabeam, the students completed extra problems on individual white boards.
