Intro Lesson - Systems of Equations

On Monday we begin our study of systems of equations.  Much of the unit is review; students learned to solve systems by graphing, substitution, and elimination in Algebra 1.  In this course, they will review those topics, include inequalities and stretch on the kinds of applied problems required to master.

I am limited in time by our district plan so I have to incorporate exploration, problem solving, notes, practice in a timely fashion.    So I'm trying to create lessons for this week that allows for all of those!

Here is a link to the powerpoint (as a pdf file) that I plan to use on Day 1.  You'll see that I am incorporating noticing/wondering with a simple graph of a line.  I hope by noticing we will review basic concepts about graphing a line and by wondering that we will briefly explore what the graph of a line might represent.  

My "group whiteboards" arrived this past week ... YEA, Donors Choose!  So in the last half of class, students will work in groups to solve a puzzle problem built around the race between the Tortoise and the Hare.  I borrowed this problem from The Math Projects Journal.  I like the graphing problem because it provides opportunity to emphasize key concepts like the significance of the y-intercept, slope, and intersection of lines.

I'm thinking about an Oreos investigation for our substitution day ... we will investigate the calories in the wafers ... not verify if Double Stuf are really double!  I love that ABC News picked up that story in their blog!