DEAD MAN (say bye to sleepy man!)

Yes, I know it's morbid, but you know what? It stuck!! The kids remember DEAD MAN and what he is used for.

I originally used 'sleepy man' for multiplying and dividing integers, and I couldn't figure out why they were getting hime confused with adding and subtracting. That is until someone suggested a name change because student were probably relating 'sleepy' with subtraction. And they were right!! So, his name changed to DEAD MAN and if confusion arises it is quickly and easily redirected in relation to the letters of the name and operations.

This page of notes opens up and down from that middle squiggly line.

Under the top, three properties are listed as quarter sheets folded in half.

The bottom half is used for additional example and my favorite challenge.

This challenge really made students think about and use the Dead Man tool. We then used calculators to store the values 1, -1, and 0 for p, n, and z to check their answers. If they missed one, they really worked hard to figure out why.

 

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Looking Forward...

On a brighter note, I am looking forward to my next unit in Algebra thanks to Pinterest and all of these wonderful blogs that I following.

We will be solving equations and discussing slope. I plan to teach solving using the door flaps fold for a step by step process, over and over. I can't wait to introduce SLOPE DUDE! Majority of my Algebra class is boys and they will love SLOPE DUDE because they loved SLEEPY MAN.

Overwhelming...

I am finding the section on circles quite overwhelming. There are so many relationships, theorems, and formulas. Is there anything out there that provides an organized overview of circles??

 

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Sleepy Man!

This was the most ridiculous thing I thought I'd ever seen, until... it worked!!!

My student's would consistently ask me-

"What's a negative times a negative?"

"What's a negative divided by a positive?"

I tried explaining, demonstrating, etc. Then I remembered something I learned at a workshop-"sleepy man"

This is what the student's can quickly draw and then use their finger to cover up the signs in their problem and the sign left over is the result. negative*negative is positive, positive/negative is negative, etc.

Additional strategy:

The tic-tac-toe image where the positive run diagonally and the rest are negative. No matter which row, column, or diagonal you use, the result is always the sign left over.

My students like sleepy man more than tic-tac-toe.

My goal with journals is to provide my students with a resource to create confident independent learners. And sleepy man was a huge step for a minor concept. :)

Caution: Some students confuse this with adding and subtracting integers. Any suggestions on how to distinguish the difference?

 

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