Partnering Cards Using Equivalent Expressions

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As I was thinking about school today, I was thinking about one of our next topics: equivalent expressions. 
(CCSS.6.EE.A3: Apply the properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions. For example, apply the distributive property to the expression 3 (2 + x) to produce the equivalent expression 6 + 3x; apply the distributive property to the expression 24x + 18y to produce the equivalent expression 6 (4x + 3y); apply properties of operations to y + y + y to produce the equivalent expression 3y.) 


Last year, I worked this concept in through the use of my daily math warm-ups, which brought the idea back time and again, and the students did well with it. This year, even though we will spend more time with direct instruction, I was thinking about other ways to use equivalent expressions, and I thought of using them for partnering cards!

Using the Partnering Cards
They're very easy to use - determine the number of pairs  of needed for the number of students you have and pass out that number of cards. Give students to a few minutes to factor or distribute to find an expression equivalent to the one on their card, and then set them loose to find their partner for your activity. My students did a great job with them when we used them:-)

The cards can be used many times throughout the year as partnering cards, for a quick, random reinforcement, so laminating them is a great idea. You can also use them for a quick matching activity.
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Grab for Free
You can download these for free, if you'd like. There are 6 pages, with 3 sets on each page, giving you 18 sets (36 students). The set is in the download twice - once with a background and once without.

I hope you can use them!

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