Expressions and Equations Grades 6 to 8

Free online middle-school algebra course · 12 weeks

Grade: Grades 6 to 8
Ages: Ages 11 to 14
Price: Free
Format: Self-paced online course at learn.lanternlearn.com

About this course

Expressions and Equations Grades 6 to 8 is a free 12-week online algebra course for middle schoolers that uses only things a family already has. Students set up a Puzzle Post in a garage corner and, week by week, find powers by folding paper, hide a number in an envelope and write expressions for it, rewrite expressions in equivalent forms, keep a coat-hanger balance level to solve equations, graph inequalities, feed a rule machine, measure slope on a ramp, build linear functions, sort equations by how many solutions they have, find where two lines meet and write huge and tiny numbers in scientific notation. The course ends with a Puzzle Night the student runs for the family.

Skills covered

· Write, read and evaluate expressions with whole-number exponents and variables, using the order of operations and the names of their parts
· Rewrite expressions in equivalent forms with the distributive property, combining like terms and factoring, and tell when two expressions are equivalent
· Solve one-step and two-step equations and inequalities by keeping both sides balanced, and graph the solutions of an inequality on a number line
· Use tables, graphs and equations to describe how a dependent quantity changes with an independent one, and read slope as a rate of change
· Compare linear functions given as tables, graphs, rules or descriptions, find their rate of change and initial value, and tell linear from nonlinear
· Solve linear equations with one, no or infinitely many solutions, find where two lines meet, and write very large and small numbers with powers of ten
· CCSS: 6.EE.A to 6.EE.C, 7.EE.A and 7.EE.B, 8.EE.A to 8.EE.C, 8.F.A and 8.F.B

12-week list

Each week has short lessons Monday to Friday, a hands-on Puzzle Lab, and a Puzzle Day with the family on Saturday.

Week	Topic	Focus	CCSS
1	Powers and the Order of Operations	Fold a sheet again and again: 2, 4, 8, 16	6.EE.A.1
2	Letters Stand for Numbers	An envelope hides a number	6.EE.A.2
3	Equivalent Expressions	Beans in rectangles show why 3(x + 2) is 3x + 6	6.EE.A.3
4	The Balance: One-Step Equations	Keep the coat hanger level	6.EE.B.7
5	Inequalities	An open circle and an arrow on the floor number line	6.EE.B.8
6	Two-Step Equations	Undo in reverse order	7.EE.B.4
7	Two Quantities That Change Together	Feed the rule machine	6.EE.C.9
8	Slope	Rise over run on the ramp	8.EE.B.6
9	Linear Functions	The dripping jug: rate of change and starting value	8.F.B.4
10	Solving Linear Equations	One solution, none or infinitely many	8.EE.C.7
11	Two Equations at Once	Where two strings cross	8.EE.C.8
12	Big Numbers, Small Numbers and Puzzle Night	Powers of ten, roots and the family Puzzle Night	8.EE.A.3

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