Combining Like Terms Friday, October 26th, 2012

Remember to rate yourself! Objective The student will be able to simplify algebraic expressions by combining like terms Remember to rate yourself!

How does this relate to evaluating expressions? y = 8 What are the variables in this expression? How many terms are there in this expression? What if we didn’t know what x and y were?

What are like terms? What are the terms in this problem? Which ones seem similar? Why? How can we simplify this problem, even though we don’t know what x is?

These pieces of fruit are being put in a basket These pieces of fruit are being put in a basket. How many of each fruit do you see? Count the fruit and tell me how many of each there are. We can organize the fruit in groups to make it easier.

Fruit in the basket. 9a + 6b + 5g + 4w 6b 5g 4w 9a We have 9 apples plus we have 6 bananas plus we have 5 oranges plus 4 watermelons 9a + 6b + 5g + 4w

What if we add some more fruit? What if we add more fruit? Show mathematically how we could represent this. 9a + 6b + 5g + 4w + 3a + 2b

9a + 6b + 5g + 4w + 3a + 2b or 12a + 8b + 5g + 4w Is there a simpler way we could write this using variables (letters)? Is there a way just by looking at the mathematical statement that we could get to the simpler statement? Shoulder partner 15 seconds to explain. Report back to group. Like fruits can be combined together just like like terms. Thinking back to objective… How do we identify like terms? STEP OUT – Students were able to develop a definition for like terms through the illustration. How is that accomplished? or 12a + 8b + 5g + 4w

Could we do this without pictures?

Practice Time Why did Everybody Hate the Diaper Thief? Highlight like terms Same variable or terms with no variable (called constants) Combine like terms Find answer in answer bank

What if we eat some fruit? 4 apples, 5 bananas, 2 watermelon 12a + 8b + 6g + 4w - 4a - 5b - 2w Does that mean I add more fruit? When adding we were able to look for like terms in the mathematical statement and combine those like terms. Would the same work for subtracting? How we do know which terms are alike? STEP OUT – Internal Summary (mini review) – review the lesson of concepts that are being taught. Share my example with dividing fractions and how I referred back to the lead off task. or 8a + 3b + 6g + 2w

Can we combine like terms without pictures? 15a + 2b + 12g + 1w + 5a – 4g + 6w Model – same variable, underline, combine

Simplify the Algebraic Expression (together) 3x + 7y + 4w + 6y – 2x + 5z We do – STEP OUT – Modeling, first alone and then with students, can begin to help students understand the expectation of the teacher.

Simplify the Algebraic Expression (on own) 10a + 2b + 13c + 3a – 4c + 5b

Practice Time Try Highlight like terms Same variable or terms with no variable (called constants) Combine like terms Find answer in answer bank