Algebra tiles

I used algebra tiles today to illustrate what is going on in the distributive property. I used the meal deal method to introduce the concept a few lessons ago but not very many kids retained the concept on the last quiz I gave. So today, I spiraled back and used the tiles. It was a nice way to ease back into school from our February break. 

The students cut out their own tiles and placed them into envolopes. I modeled what to do by drawing pictures on the board as my projector set-up was not hooked up from the break. Tonight, I am going to use some blank magnet sheets and create some alegebra tiles that will stick to the whiteboard. I gave all the students their own whiteboards to use and circulated around to all the groups to make sure everybody was okay. The common mistakes were there, like when a student does too much...when the equivalent expression should end at 3x+6 but they go on to combine unlike terms and make it 9x. Having the visual models helped recognize the mistake.