3 Essential Rules of Math for Solving Equations

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1 Free Download of 3 Essential Rules of Math Graphic Organizer and Foldable

2 More Resources for Teaching Solving Equations

I often use the 3 Essential Rules of Math to review solving equations with my algebra students. I learned about these three essential rules from Glenn Waddell.

When I first started, I would have students write out the three rules.

3 Essential Rules of Math for Solving Equations Graphic Organizer

Then, we would make note of when we used each rule while working through some solving equation examples.

solving equations notes in interactive notebook.

This worked well, but I decided to type up the three essential rules of math as a foldable to reduce the amount of writing my kiddos had to do.

3 Essential Rules of Math for Solving Equations Foldable

I was even able to include some examples on the inside of the foldable.

We did a few practice problems. I made them draw in the 1’s and 0’s that they made, but I guess I forgot to do it when I wrote out my own solutions in my notebook. Oops…

And, for the record, we did more than 3 practice problems. But, I only copied down three.

solving equations practice page in notebook.

I can’t decide how well I like this method. The ones and zeros didn’t help my students as much as I’d hoped. I think if they were taught this way from the beginning, it might work much better. Once they get to Algebra 2, they seem pretty set in their equation solving ways whether they are doing it correctly or incorrectly.