Absolute value sounds like a confusing concept. Show your students how easy it is with these simple activities and lesson plan ideas! After explaining that absolute value is simply a number’s distance from zero, you and your students can explore positive and negative numbers, graphing values, and applying them to real-world contexts! Be sure to include lots of fun games to get them excited about math!
1. Understanding Absolute Value
Build student confidence in their ability to understand the year’s math curriculum by crafting colorful notebook pages! Perfect for middle school students, this easy activity answers any absolute value questions your students might have.
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2. Introduction to Absolute Value
If you’re stuck in distance learning, videos are a super simple way to explain all kinds of math concepts. This engaging video introduces students to absolute value functions. Additional videos expand on the concept by providing real-world contexts for absolute value equations.
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3. Comparing Absolute Values
Incorporate independent practice into your lessons with a variety of math worksheets. Students can practice their absolute value skills individually or in small groups of 2-3 students. Be sure to discuss absolute value signs before they begin the assignment.
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4. Absolute Value War
Create groups of 2-3 students. Give each group a deck of cards with aces and face cards removed. Black cards represent positive numbers, and red cards represent negative signs. Students flip a card over at the same time, and the person with the highest value wins!
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5. Absolute Value Football
Add some variety to homework assignments with a fun game of football! Students form two teams and compete to see who can score a touchdown first. The catch is that they must solve absolute value equations to move up and down the field.
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6. Guess the Number
Give students extra practice by having them formulate their own absolute value questions. Collect guesses on how many items are in a container. Then, graph the data together. Have students come up with absolute value situations that can be answered by what they see!
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7. Truth or Dare
Let your 6th-grade students explore absolute value with a fun game of truth or dare! Students flip over a card. For each dare, students solve the absolute value expression. For truths, they answer questions about absolute value models.
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8. Anchor Charts
Help your students remember the principles of absolute value with a colorful anchor chart! Working together, find simple ways to explain absolute value signs, parent functions, and inequalities. Students can copy the charts into their notebooks afterward.
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9. Absolute Value Equations
Work on building student confidence with basic algebra equations! Have students highlight the absolute values in each equation set before they begin. Remind them to show their work for each step so that you can talk about what went wrong if their answer is incorrect.
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10. Finding Errors
Give students a chance to become teachers! These fun math worksheets ask students to find the errors in a sample math problem. This practice allows for deeper thinking and richer discussions about the math curriculum. Great for independent practice sessions.
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11. Absolute Value Pyramids
For this engaging activity, students need to solve the given equation to find the next set of absolute values. Cut out the equation cards and lay them in a pile. Have your students show their work in each square before they paste the next equation.
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12. Human Number Line
Give each of your students an integer card. Have them sit in a line from highest to lowest. Hold up an inequality for them to solve. Each student that has a correct solution stands. A super fun activity to complete lessons on absolute values and inequalities.
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13. Inequalities Card Sort
Help students visualize absolute distance by correctly sorting inequalities. Students are given sets of equations, answers, and graphs. Turn it into a game, and the first person to correctly match each part of all their sets wins!
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14. Inequality Bingo
Get your middle school students excited about math with a fun game of bingo! Students will write a solution in each square. Allow them to solve all of the inequalities in advance. Assign each math problem a number and then draw the number to begin marking off squares.
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15. Absolute Value Stories
Absolute value stories are an awesome way to help students understand the concept in a way that makes sense. Students are encouraged to explore the concept of absolute distance from zero. Be sure that they demonstrate their knowledge by showing their work!
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16. Graphing Absolute Value
Add some real-world contexts to your 6th-grade math lessons. These easy graph problems help students visualize what absolute value looks like in their lives. Do a few together and then ask them to create their own graphs based on their daily schedules.
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17. Shopping on a Budget
Send your middle school students on a math adventure! Students must pick a product and research different prices across brands. Then they calculate absolute value deviations on price for a practical application in a real-world context.
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18. Digital Task Cards
This pre-made digital activity is a great way to complete lessons on absolute value. You can choose to let students complete the task cards alone for independent practice or do them together as a class. Turn it into a competition for an activity that students will love.
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19. Absolute Value Maze
Add some puzzling maze worksheets to your absolute value activity packs! Students solve the equations to determine the best path through the maze. For a challenge, give students the answers and have them create the equations. Switch with another student who then solves the maze!
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20. Number Balls Online Game
Online games are a great digital activity for distance learning! Students must pop the bubbles in ascending order. As they progress through the levels, more and more balls will appear. It’s a simple way to get real-time student data on how well they understand the math curriculum.
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