Thursday, July 7, 2011

First Grade Algebra Help (easily trasformable for higher grades)

Yesterday we had tears, frustration, and discouragement for both child and mom over simple algebra.  Algebra questions like 3+c=9 were confusing.  Because it was a new concept I expected a little bump in the road.  I did not expect the all out "war" that ensued over making blocks match or dividing numbers into 10+7=17 just like 8+9=17. It just seemed like too much too fast.  As a result, we prayed.  My son prayed for my daughter's day and unprompted, remembering yesterday, he prayed about her math.  When she prayed for him she was smiling because she knew his prayers would be answered.  As we began math, my prayer was simple..."Help me to find a way to teach her so she will have fun, enjoy math, and learn this concept." We started off with drills and I was happy to take the easy out and have her drill her entire math time because if she just memorizes the problems then she can fill in the blank.  BUT, I have always believed it is best to understand the concept behind the math and to learn it early is best.  She did a couple rounds of drills and asked for a break.  I was not about to let her go after 15 minutes of math so I gave her a choice. She could A) Keep doing drills OR B) Take another go at algebra.  To my shock she picked algebra!! Again I asked God for help.  Then the answer came.  It was so easy and I knew it would work.  Dominoes...

Here is the process:
1) Put all dominoes face down on the table
2) Have him/her randomly pick one (this makes the domino the "bad guy" instead of me)
3) The low number on the domino goes in front of the equal sign and the high number goes after the equal sign
4) Solve for "x" (or y, c, d, s, whatever letter you choose)



The dots help save me a lot of time drawing them and they help eliminate mistakes in counting/drawing when he/she is working alone.

Variations:
1) Make it harder by drawing 2 or 4 tiles and put the larger number after the equal and the smaller number before. You can also reverse the tiles and do subtraction.

2) Draw 2 dominoes and and put the 2 numbers of one on top and the numbers on the second on the bottom and add (ie: 42+65=X) and for subtraction put the higher number on top and the lower on the bottom (ie: 65-42=X)

3) Use the numbers on the dominoes for random multiplication (ie: domino with 2 and 4 can be 2x4 or 6 x (other domino).

Have fun with it and see what domino games you can come up with!