Leveled Practice Cards Activity for Absolute Value Equations

I created these leveled practice cards for solving absolute value equations when I taught Algebra 1. There are three levels of problems so that students can start with problems of an appropriate difficulty level.

Level 1 Questions – Absolute value bars are already isolated.

Level 2 Questions – Students have one step to do in order to isolate the absolute value bars.

Level 3 Questions – Students have multiple steps to do in order to isolate the absolute value bars.

When I typed these up, I originally thought I would cut the cards apart. But, I actually ended up leaving them intact and using them as a review game.

I put all three levels of questions at the front of the room with a stack of dry erase pockets. Each group of students sent someone up to the front of the room to grab a page of problems to slide in their dry erase pocket. Students could choose to start with Level 1, 2, or 3.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

I cannot imagine teaching math without my dry erase pockets! They instantly make any activity more engaging and save me countless hours at the copy machine since I can use the same class sets of copies year after year.

Here are my current go-to recommendations:

• 8.5 x 11 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from Puroma
• 11 x 17 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from C-Line Products
• Expo Dry Erase Markers

If you don’t have a classroom set of dry erase pockets, you could also use heavy duty sheet protectors. But, I highly recommend investing in a classroom set of the pockets since they are so much more durable.

I encouraged students to switch levels when the problems became too easy.

Groups used their jumbo dry erase boards so that they could each have a working space. Some groups decided to work the same problem and compare their answers.

Other groups divvied up the questions and each solved their own individual questions. I was okay with this because they were still helping one another and learning from one another.

We used Julie Morgan’s 1 to 100 game to make this into a super easy review game. All you need is a 100 chart. I displayed the 100 chart on my SmartBoard. When students finished a problem, they raised their hand. I checked their work.

If it was correct, they got to go to the 100 chart and mark off a number with their group’s color/symbol. If it was incorrect, they got to rework the problem with their group to see where they had made a mistake.

I made color-coded answer keys to make it super easy to check students’ work.

Groups marked off the problems their group had solved on the dry erase pocket.

At the end of class, I used a random number generator to pick a number between 1 and 100. Whichever group had that number claimed on the hundred chart won a small prize. Usually I just gave them a piece of candy.

I like this review game structure because it is super easy to implement. I used problems that I had typed up. You can do this with a regular worksheet! And, students really are motivated to do as many problems as possible since claiming more numbers on the board increases their chance of winning.

At the same time, I like that because of the way probability/randomness works, the underdog team can still often win!