Parts of a Polynomial Practice Book
I created this parts of a polynomial practice book for my students to work through at the beginning of our unit on polynomials. In the past, I’ve always jumped straight from definition of a polynomial to naming polynomials. And, my kids have always struggled. This year, I decided to add in two intermediate steps. This added an extra day, but I think it’s already paid for itself by speeding up things as we move along through the unit.
Polynomials are one of my favorite algebra topics to teach. It’s the type of topic that sounds scary. But, I love getting to show students just how un-scary these problems can be. Every year, my explanations are getting clearer, and I’m more in tune to what students are going to find frustrating. This year, we’re flying through polynomials in Algebra 2 really quickly. Things seem to be clicking after the first explanation. Yay!
I made a poof booklet to explain how to identify the different parts of a polynomial. Then, we did two examples together. Students later did a few more examples on their own.
I felt like the cover of our poof book was a bit lacking. Next year, I’m totes going to add some cute clip art.
Students were asked to underline the terms and highlight the coefficients.
Then, they circled the constant if it existed. They rewrote the leading term below.
Then, they identified the leading coefficient and the degree of the polynomial. We were only dealing with single-variable polynomials. I didn’t teach them to find the degree of x^2y^2 – xy + 5.
Only one student noticed my missing “L” in “LABEL.” I didn’t even notice it. Sad day… I hate when I make typos.
Things I liked about this: students weren’t confusing degree and number of terms. This re-emphasized that terms take the sign in front of them. This will be important throughout the year. It was another chance to practice spotting invisible numbers. I made them write in the invisible coefficients. It helped set us up for our discussion of standard form!
Free Download of Parts of a Polynomial Practice Book
Parts of a Polynomial Practice Book (PDF) (1191 downloads )
Parts of a Polynomial Practice Book (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (735 downloads )
More Activities for Teaching Polynomials
- X Puzzles Factoring Review Game
- Quadratic Area Puzzles
- Shared Factors – A Quadratics Puzzle
- Naming Polynomials Poster
- “Polly”nomial
- Naming Polynomials Speed Dating Activity
- Dividing Polynomials Using the Box Method Puzzles
- Area Model Puzzles from Christie Bradshaw
- Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Graphic Organizer
- Writing Polynomials in Standard Form Foldable
- Factoring Quadratics Foldable
- Multiplying Polynomials Foldable
- Naming Polynomials Practice Sheet
- Polynomial or Not Color Coding Activity
- Polynomial Frayer Model Template
- Roots Solutions Zeros X-Intercepts Posters
- Multiplying Polynomials Egg Hunt Activity
- Human Polynomials Activity
- Introducing Algebra Tiles to Students
- Building and Naming Polynomials Activity
- Factoring Trinomials with GCFs Question Stack Activity
- Factoring Polynomials Using the Box Method Directions
- Looking for Patterns in Factoring Quadratics
- Factoring Quadratics Question Stack Activity
- Dividing Polynomials Using the Box Method Activity
- Dividing Polynomials Using the Box Method Foldable
- Multiplying Polynomials Using the Box Method Foldable
- Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Notes
- Parts of a Polynomial Practice Book
- Standard Form of a Polynomial Interactive Notebook Page
- Factoring out the GCF of a Polynomial Foldable
- Factoring vs Distributing Card Sort Activity
- Factoring Quadratics Using the Box Method Foldable
- Naming Polynomials Graphic Organizer
- Factoring Quadratics Graphic Organizers
- Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Activity
I am so definitely going to use these when I get to polynomials with my Algebra 1 kids! THanks so much for sharing!
You're welcome!
The Parts of a Polynomial file is empty 🙁
Just fixed it! Thanks for letting me know.
Sarah, so glad you posted this! I'm a few days behind you (starting polynomials on Monday in Alg 2) so I plan on using this! thanks so much!!
Glad I could help! 😀
It's such a great feeling when you teach something the second or third time and can see changes you've made helping students understand better!
I've got to find a way to use the speed dating concept in German class…
Yes! I think you could definitely use speed dating in German. I know my kids love getting out of their seats, and they end up doing a lot more practice with a lot less complaining this way!
Hi Sarah,
Is there a single word, for a monomial, without the coefficient?
In other words, the third monomial in
5x + 3y + 6xy^2
is 6xy^2.
The coefficient here is 6. But what is the product of x and y squared called? Is it just called the variable part of the monomial? Or is there a shorter term for it?
That is a very good question I do not know the answer to.
The standard form file only has a publisher file. Could you add a pdf file as well like the others have? I can't wait to use these ideas when we get back from Christmas break!!
Should be fixed now. Thanks for letting me know!
How do you fold the booklet? Thanks for sharing your resources!
Instructions found on this post: https://mathequalslove.net/foldable-book-of-exponent-rules/
Good luck!
Thank you Sarah, I will use your work to introduce polynomials in english to my italian class. We call this CLIL = content and language integrated learning and I'm always hungry for ideas to do it. Your work is simply perfect for me. All the best, Francesca
You are welcome!