Expressions and Equations Grades 6 to 8
Turn a garage corner into the Puzzle Post: powers, variables, equivalent expressions, equations on a coat-hanger balance, inequalities, slope, linear functions, systems and scientific notation, with Rocket, Raven and Nova.
Free, start to finish. No card. Every week opens without signing in.
- Grade
- Grades 6 to 8
- Length
- 12 weeks
- Pace
- 6 short lessons a week, about 20 minutes each
- Price
- Free, every week
About this course
Expressions and Equations Grades 6 to 8 is a 12-week middle-school algebra course that uses only things a family already has: a wire coat hanger and two paper cups for a balance scale, dried beans or buttons, envelopes to hide a number, index cards, masking tape, a tape measure, graph paper and a timer. The crew runs the Puzzle Post, a weekly puzzle for the kids on their street, and every week's math makes a puzzle work. Students write and evaluate expressions with powers and variables, rewrite them in equivalent forms, keep a coat-hanger balance level to solve one-step and two-step equations, graph inequalities on a taped number line, feed a cardboard rule machine to see how one quantity depends on another, measure a ramp to find slope, compare linear functions in tables, graphs and rules, sort equations into one, none or infinitely many solutions, find where two lines meet, and write very large and very small numbers with powers of ten. Every answer is computed, every question is checked, and the course ends with a Puzzle Night the student runs for the family. Short daily lessons, a hands-on Puzzle Lab each week and a Saturday Puzzle Day. 100% free, start to finish.
Kids will
- Write, read and evaluate expressions with whole-number exponents and variables, using the order of operations and the names of their parts
- Rewrite expressions in equivalent forms with the distributive property, combining like terms and factoring, and tell when two expressions are equivalent
- Solve one-step and two-step equations and inequalities by keeping both sides balanced, and graph the solutions of an inequality on a number line
- Use tables, graphs and equations to describe how a dependent quantity changes with an independent one, and read slope as a rate of change
- Compare linear functions given as tables, graphs, rules or descriptions, find their rate of change and initial value, and tell linear from nonlinear
- Solve linear equations with one, no or infinitely many solutions, find where two lines meet, and write very large and small numbers with powers of ten
The 12 weeks
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Week 1
Powers and the Order of Operations
Fold a sheet again and again, then agree on which step comes first
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Week 2
Letters Stand for Numbers
An envelope hides a number, and a letter stands in for it
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Week 3
Equivalent Expressions
Two expressions that always give the same number
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Week 4
The Balance: One-Step Equations
An equation is a level balance, and a solution keeps it level
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Week 5
Inequalities
More than, less than, and a whole set of answers on the number line
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Week 6
Two-Step Equations
Undo in reverse order, rewrite to see the puzzle, estimate to check
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Week 7
Two Quantities That Change Together
Inputs, outputs and the rule machine
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Week 8
Slope
Rise over run, the steepness of a line
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Week 9
Linear Functions
Rate of change, starting value, and graphs that tell a story
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Week 10
Solving Linear Equations
Envelopes on both sides
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Week 11
Two Equations at Once
Where the lines cross
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Week 12
Big Numbers, Small Numbers and Puzzle Night
Powers, roots and Puzzle Night
Try Week 1 today.
Open the course, pick Day 1 and go. Make a free parent account when you want progress saved for each kid.