Order of Operations: PEMDAS Leaf

Today we put our knowledge of the Order of Operations to the test!

Before we began the assignment, I needed to go over some new symbols that are used in math equations and add them to our journal:  

• the floating dot, (multiplication)
• a number touching a parentheses or letter, (multiplication)
• and the (all confusing) fraction?!?! (division)

Next, the students solved the problems on the "leaf".  I had them write each equation on notebook paper and write PEMDAS. Using this acronym helped students remember the order they were to work the multiple operations (most of the time). 

My classes had no problem doing the parentheses operation first, however, then they wanted to jump to the beginning of the equation to complete the problem instead of looking for multiplication/division and then addition/subtraction.  It opened their eyes as to what the Order of Operations really meant.  

To see the notes we added and how to solve the first few problems, please watch:

PEMDAS Leaf

HOMEWORK:  Finish the "leaf"