Balancing Math Equations Task Cards - Intro to Switching Concepts

Balancing Equations – Intro to Switching Concepts are task cards designed to provide students with opportunities to improve their understanding of a range of mathematical concepts.

Students need to find the total of all three boxes before being able to determine the number which balances both sides.

The cards are specially designed so that students are required to mentally switch between different concepts several times for every card. This requires a higher level of thinking than simply calculating totals that continuously use the same visual representation.

This resource is aimed at Year 2 and 3 students but is also useful if you have purchased any of the higher levelled balancing equations resources and need something at a lower standard for differentiation.

The concepts included in the cards:

• Multiplication arrays
• Multiplication equal groups
• Repeated addition
• Pictorial representations of base ten blocks (single and double-digit numbers)
• Doubling
• Halving
• Although these cards are commonly used as task cards, they have also been used successfully in math centers or rotations.

This resources contains:

• A total of 25 cards (24 task cards and 1 title card)
• Student recording sheet
• Answer key
• Complete PDF and individual PNG files of the cards also included

Instructions:

• Print, laminate and cut the individual cards. (p. 2-8)
• Print student sheet (p. 9) and provide each student with a worksheet.
• Distribute the cards around the room
• Students may start at any number and work their way through in any order
• Check answers

Enjoy!