Hannah at 11 months

In few weeks hannah will b turning 1 insya Allah. Time really does ✈. At 11 months now she can walk stable enough. Tho from time to time she keep on falling. But kids being kids,  they know not the meaning of gave up. They try and try till they achieve it. It is sooo fun to watch her stepping 😇

Now she knows few que already. Like,  "nak,  mana?, up and down,  left and right,  and the latest, peace"
Thanks to everyone teachg her.

At this age she would cry seeing me going out the door leaving her behind.  Hence i have to carry her along while i attending extra classes in the evening or performing my prayer in the surau with the kids. 🙆

I would pray for more love and care she receive from all. For good health and good inner and outerself :)

Luv,
Umi

Teaching linear equation

This time around i am exited to teach linear equation. Linear equation is an essential an super duper important for students to master as it will be use in solving almost all mathematical problems. Normally students will have problems in choosing which sign to be removed first. Previously, i teached this topic using 'magic bridge' where students will 'pindahkan' sign and it change. But i realized that method somehow make students confused when it comes to fraction.

Flag Method, or Arrow method will help students to identify what is happening to the unknown, x actually. Students can do a story telling, for example

Hi, I am X. Firstly I had been multiplied by 2, then subtracted by 8 which equal to negative 2. 

Who am I?"

Students might feel tedious to draw the flags over and over again. But its OK, let them do it so they know and have a feeling about the algebraic expression. 

Then students will do the reverse process to find x. Students first need to know the pair operation, 

1. addition vs subtraction

2. Multiplication vs division

3. root of vs power of

Then they will draw the flag reversely and finally find x. yeay :) 

However, this method alone won't contribute any marks in Malaysia examination system. Hence then I asked the students to do the balancing method based on the flag method they just did.

p/s: Flag method only works when you have the unknown in one side only. Not both. When you have the unknown on both sides, you have to use the balancing method. since students already comfortable and understood the expression, they know what to be removed first.

Students happy, Teacher double happy :)

Teaching algebraic expression

This year i try to do something different in teaching algebraic expression. Normally i would simply draw an arrow when expanding the bracket. Ex: 2(x-5)

However some students find it confusing multiplying each term with 2. On top of that, seeing negative term will make them even more confuse.

What i did is not too fancy, but it is helpful in bringing abstract idea to a concrete form.

In this method, i helped students to identify each term by wring it on a colored paper. Then i paste it on board. All the term in the bracket then need to be multiplied by a constant. Then i simply put the arrow from the constant to each term. Then, students easily multiplied the term. Effortlessly :)

Then, i bring all the product and write the expression on board. It would be great if teacher could write the product on colored paper. Each like terms would share the same colored paper. Then, it will help the student to identify like terms to add or minus the terms.

I found it very helpful to resolve students confusion in expanding the bracket. I hope it will help others too.
Cheers :)