Algebra in Elementary School 4/26/2020

Project Objective CA Content Standards

Developing algebraic math curriculum for students in elementary grade level Common Core State Standards - Mathematics Grades 2- 5
to prepare them for Algebra and higher levels of math.

Algebra in Elementary School

● Operations & Algebraic thinking
○ Solving equations involving adding/subtraction
Focus: Prepare elementary teachers to & multiplication/division
be familiar with lessons that they
● Number and Operations - Fractions
currently teach and connect it to
○ Understanding fractions as a division problem
Bicky Nguyen algebraic/arithmetic methods. Many
● Measurements and Data
Saint Norbert Faculty elementary teachers and students do
○ Solving problems involving measurement
April 26,2020 not see the hidden algebra methods
conversions
used in the math lessons.

ISTE Standards NBPTS Standards Benefits of Algebra in Elementary school

Proposition #1: Elementary Level High school level Future Careers
● Learner: teachers are learning new ● Committed to student learning.
● Builds a solid ● Better prepared for ● Abstract reasoning
math methods algebraic math higher level math skills
Proposition #2:
● Collaborator: teachers working foundation courses ● Problem solving
● Understanding math ● Higher achievements skills
together to improve teaching methods ● Knows the subject well and how to
language in calculus, ● Logical thinkers
● Leader: finding different opportunities teach it.
● Allows students to trigonometry, and ● Higher education
to improve student learning think outside of the logarithm
Proposition #5:
box and be engaged ● Higher SAT scores
● Member of a learning community.

Understanding Algebra Methods of teaching math

Normal math method Algebraic method
● Teachers from grades 2nd to
● Adding and subtracting to equal ● Showing that math is like a balance
5th at Saint Norbert Catholic
something beam, as long as both sides are equal
School. ● Recognizing that it should equal to one then it is an equation
● Students in grade levels 2nd solution ○ Ex: 2 +3 = 6-1
to 5th at Saint Norbert ○ Ex: 2+3 = 5 ● Introducing variables earlier on instead
● Using properties to define math of using blanks
Catholic School.
methods ○ 5+2 = 3 + b
● Explaining math methods by using
properties

Bicky Nguyen 1
Algebra in Elementary School 4/26/2020

Proposed Grade levels
● Working to show that each side of the equal sign are
equal groups to build for understanding of
Grade 2 multiplication
○ 20 + __ = 15+9 → 20 + a = 15 +9
● Building the idea of the equal sign represents a
balance beam. Introducing multiplication using
Grade 3 variables
○ 5 x 3 = 5 +5 +5 → 5 x a = 5 +5+ 5
Proposed Grade Level
● Understanding patterns and developing a rule that
is written as an equation.
○ 2, 4, 6, 8, 10… the pattern is to multiply each term by
Grade 4 2 so the rule would be 2x where x represents the
term.
● Changing addition patterns to multiplication
○ 5+5+5+5+5 +5 = 5 x 6
● Interpreting and simplifying numerical expressions
with variables using PEMDAS
○ 4x + 5x → 9x where x is the unknown number
Grade 5 ○ (3y +6y) - (5y - 2y) → (9y) - (3y) → 6y
● Understanding prime factorization
○ 72 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 3x 3 and vice versa
Three Big Ideas of Algebra
● Variables
○ Using letters to represent unknown values
Ex: car + car = $4 and car + bear = $6
x + x = 4 → x represents car
2x = 4
x = 2 → each car is $2 so you can now figure out how much the bear cost
● Patterns and Functions
○ Understanding the pattern and coming up with an equation for the rule
Ex: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 → the pattern is x + 1 where x is the term
y = x + 1 will be the equation or rule.
● Proportions and Reasoning
○ Understanding proportions must equal when reduced to lowest terms.
Ex: 200 ones is equal to 2 hundreds, (2 x 100), then 400 ones will equal what?
200 = 400 for this proportion to be true x must equal 4
2 x

Timeline Activity
2019-2020
Teachers will be paired up 2nd with 3rd and 4th with 5th. Each group will be given
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug normal math problems and you will need to work together to change how it needs to
Introduce project to teachers Implement algebraic methods be taught to embed algebraic concepts.
and start their training. within the classroom .

Assessing students’ understanding along the way 2nd & 3rd Grade Math Problems 4th & 5th Grade Math Problems

2020-2021 Advancd projects 1. 24 + 42 = 66 1. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 the pattern is adding 3

Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
2. If 12 inches equals 1 foot, then how many
2. __ - 9 = 37 feet is 72 inches?
3. Popcorn + popcorn + popcorn = $15 then
Continue to implement algebraic methods within the classroom . 3. 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 =32
find the cost of the at movie ticket if
4. 4 x 7 = 28 Popcorn + ticket = $17
Assessing students’ understanding along the way. 4. 9 x 9 x9 = 27

Resources
https://www.quora.com/Why-teach-maths-in-primary-school

http://mathandreadinghelp.org/elementary_school_algebra.html

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-algebra/

https://demmelearning.com/learning-blog/why-we-learn-algebra/

http://thinkmath.edc.org/resource/early-algebra-little-kids

https://qrc.depaul.edu/algebrainitiative/Articles/Algebra_Elementary_Article_Carole_Greene.pdf

https://pact.tarleton.edu/tcert/Content/Documents/Patterns%20and%20Algebra.pdf

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