Any students in grades 9 - 12 should see or email natasha.lamb@ocdsb.ca if you are interested in participating in a math contest. 

Grade 9 students work in groups of three to visually represent numbers with tiles. Working with visual helps students understand negative and positive integers more comprehensively.  

In the example above, one red tile represents one negative. Adding two (negative) red tiles and five (negative) red tiles shows the students that (-2) + (-5) is equal to seven red tiles (-7).

The opposite of one negative is one positive, which is represented with a white tile (hard to see in the picture). The example on the left shows that (-2) red tiles and (+5) white tiles equals (+3) white tiles. Students discovered that they can pair one red tile and one white tile to make zero. Once they get rid of all the zero pairs, the remaining tiles gives them the answers. 

BONUS: Playing with tiles is fun!

Grade 9 students are focusing on literacy in all of their classes this year. In math we need to use words to understand relationships and new theorem. Students practiced reading a passage about the Pythagorean Theorem (also known as the Sum of Squares Theorem) and discovered not only how to use the theorem, but also why some advocate to call it the Sum of Squares Theorem.

In the image, students practiced writing a one sentence summary of what they learned from reading the passage. By sharing what they write on vertical surfaces, students can see other students' work which helps them get new ideas and have confidence that they can succeed.