Algebraic Expression Writing Practice

I created this page of notes to give my Algebra 1 students some algebraic expression writing practice.

A common question type my students struggle with is writing expressions that match a scenario that builds on itself.  I put one of these on the quiz, and it was still the most missed question.  I think my mistake was not giving students independent practice with this question type.  That’s another thing to fix for next year!

Update 2017: We no longer take an end-of-instruction exam that features these types of problems, but I still use this activity with my classes to give my students a bit of extra practice with translating from words to symbols!