This year, I taught systems of equations right after Christmas break. My students STRUGGLED. I think I need to do a two-day review of graphing equations before jumping in next year.
First, we talked about what a "system" of equations actually is. We also talked about the three types of solutions they could have and what they looked like graphically. At the bottom of the page, I included a magic book that substitutes points into a system to determine if they were a solution. The file was corrupted so I will get to remake that for next year. Yay.
Next, we solved systems of equations by graphing. I gave the students a step by step list for their notebooks that had one example included. Next year, I think I will include a "drill and kill" practice sheet on the facing page.
On the next page, I had a practice sheet. Each time I substituted into an equation, I highlighted the substitution. Showing that helped my visual students SO MUCH. I also started throwing in word problems. They hated me a little for that. :)
I spent the next day reviewing and showing them what the special cases looked like algebraically. No cool foldable for this page.
I continued following the same format for solving systems of equations by elimination. I had a step by step list with one example for their notebooks. This time, I highlighted the "stacked" variables. I was trying to make them notice that they needed to make sure they were combining the same variables.
The example page came next. I continued highlighted the "stacked" variables. Also, more word problems :)
We had several days of review and when I was sure that my students had it down, I pulled out the big guns...MORE WORD PROBLEMS. I used legal paper to make a giant hamburger book. It gave us plenty of room to work all of the problems. My students whined loudly that they were going to die. No word problem-related deaths... yet.
Intro to Systems and Solving by Graphing INB Page
Solving Systems by Substitution and Elimination INB Page
Substitution and Elimination Practice Pages
