Review Stations

My Algebra 2 students didn't do as well as I would have liked on their before break quiz. I had hoped that many would do well enough to master the exponent rules and adding and subtracting polynomials, but in reality, only a handful out of my 65 or so students did. When we return Tuesday, we need to do some review.

I had hoped to put together 6 stations - 3 exponent rules and 3 adding and subtracting polynomials, but at the moment I only have 4. I have spent several hours putting this together and at this late hour, I am questioning whether it will be worth it. My hope is that they will actually work through many of the problems and get much closer to mastering the skill. 

I intend to put the students in groups of 4 to rotate through the stations. I may have to adjust if I don't come up with two more stations. I am anticipating giving them 5-6 minutes per station. I know they won't necessarily get through all the problems, but they should get through most.

Right now the four stations I have are:

1) Match Puzzle for Exponent Rules. 

I printed this on cardstock and will have it cut out already to save time.  This is a 3 x 3 grid that has the questions and answers printed on the interior. They will have to match up the problems and answers.

2) Row Game for Exponent Rules.


In this case, I called it the partner game. Each partner works out their problem and their answers should match.

3) Match Puzzle for Adding and Subtracting Polynomials.



 Same directions as #1, but with adding and subtracting polynomials instead.

4) Cubes - Adding and Subtracting Polynomials.

I have constructed two cubes, one out of blue cardstock, the other of white cardstock. I have numbered the faces and written the following polynomials on the faces:

Blue Cube:
1: 3x^2 + 6x - 7
2: 8x - 2x^3 + 2x^2 - 1
3: 4x^3 - 3x^2 + x + 10
4: 5x^2 + 2x + 6
5: -5x^2 + 6x - 8
6: 6x^3 - 3x^2 + 7x + 10

White Cube:
1: 10x^3 - 7x^2 + 2
2: 3x^3 + 12x^2 - 6x - 9
3: 9x - 10x^2 + 3
4: 4x^3 + 6x^2 - 3x + 5
5: 5x^2 - 4x - 8
6: -6x^3 + 5x^2 + 3x - 8

Students will also have a wooden token that I will have put + on one side and - on the other side. The directions will tell them to roll the two cubes and flip the token to find out if they are adding or subtracting the two polynomials. I have specified that they are to either add blue + white or subtract blue - white. They are supposed to do this at least 12 times. Here are the answers I have left them so they can check:


At the moment (and it's pretty late), my back up for the last two stations is to create flashcards of 12 problems for both the exponent rules and adding and subtracting polynomials and have students work out the problem on the front and check their answers, which will be on the back. I'm not sure what else to do. I'm hoping that by having students move from station to station that they will work through the problems and hopefully get their questions straightened out. I'd like to think that this will be more effective than giving them a practice worksheet of x problems on exponent rules and adding and subtracting polynomials. We shall see.

Addendum:
Thanks to @pamjwilson - I am going to use Exponent Block for my 3rd exponent rules activity. This came via Sam Shah's wonderful virtual filing cabinet (check it out if you haven't been there!).

Addendum 2:
Thanks to @druinok - the final adding and subtracting polynomials activity will be something like I have... Who has....


Students are directed to deal out all of the cards. The oldest person starts and picks one of his or her cards. He or she reads the "Who has" part of their card. Students work out the problem. Whomever has the answer says "I have..." and then reads their "Who has..." at the bottom of that card. Students then work that problem and repeat until all problems are worked (or time is up).

Thanks again to everyone for your help!