Description
What our Solve Equations with Decimals lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Solve Equations with Decimals teaches students how to solve problems that include numbers with decimals. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to solve equations with decimals. This lesson is for students in 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional adjustment to the lesson activity is to write the lanes on a small sheet of paper and have students rotate the paper within their group, with each person doing one step of the problem. For an additional activity, you can have your students do a scavenger hunt to find the problem and the answer and match them together. If you have students who are struggling with the material, you can help them review decimal procedures more thoroughly before starting the activity. To challenge students, you can increase the number of decimal places in practice problems.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
SOLVE EQUATIONS WITH DECIMALS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Solve Equations with Decimals
The Solve Equations with Decimals lesson plan includes two content pages. To solve equations with decimals, follow the same rules as solving equations with whole numbers. You want to get the variable alone on one side of the equation. To get the variable by itself, you use inverse operations, which undo the operation in the equation. Always remember that what you do the one side of the equation, you will have to do to the other side!
Examples
Let’s take a look at a few examples, one for each operation. For addition, let’s look at the problem 3.2 + x = 7. The inverse operation is subtraction, so you subtract 3.2 from both sides to get x = 7 – 3.2. Now that you’ve isolated the variable, solve: x = 3.8.
For subtraction, let’s look at the problem x – 10.4 = 2.1. The inverse operation is addition, so you add 10.4 to both sides to get x = 10.4 – 2.1. Now that you’ve isolated the variable, solve: x = 12.5.
For multiplication, let’s look at the problem 6.2x = 31. The inverse operation is division, so you divide by 6.2 on both sides to get x = 31 / 6.2. Now that you’ve isolated the variable, solve: x = 5.
Finally, for division, let’s look at the problem x/2.9 = 3. The inverse operation is multiplication, so you multiply by 2.9 on both sides to get x = 3 * 2.9. Now that you’ve isolated the variable, solve: x = 8.7.
SOLVE EQUATIONS WITH DECIMALS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Solve Equations with Decimals lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
DECIMAL RELAY ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work in teams of four or five to complete the lesson activity. The teacher will prepare 4 or 5 “lanes” of 5 decimal equations for the “race” either on the board or a large piece of bulletin board paper. The students on each team will line up in the order that they want to “run”. A new “runner” cannot go until the previous “runners” problem is correct. “Runners” can seek help from their teammates if necessary. The first team done with all the problems correct wins!
SOLVING PROBLEMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will solve eight equations with decimals.
SOLVE EQUATIONS WITH DECIMALS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Like the practice worksheet, for the homework assignment, students will solve eight equations with decimals.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
