When it comes to teaching math, I’m not the biggest fan of just having kids memorize rules. However, when teaching properties of exponents, you literally need students to understand a set of rules.
So, here’s what I like to do: first, introduce the rules through a discovery activity. Then, walk students through what to do in different circumstances. After you’ve given them instruction on all of the properties, then they just need practice. To make the practice most effective, students need a lot of it. Plus, they need to see the properties mixed together so they’re prepared for anything. In this post I’ll share with you my favorite ways to get students the practice they need with properties of exponents.
I use a wide variety of practice activities in my classroom. We play games and use task cards. Also, for anticipatory sets we diagnose the problem. Sometimes what they’re learning isn’t the most exciting or hands-on concept (like this one-it’s a little more abstract). However, that just gives us math teachers an opportunity to find ways to make the learning more engaging.
The easiest way I’ve found is to use more engaging activities with a less naturally engaging topics. In this post I’ll share some ideas with you on how to practice and review properties of exponents. All of these activities are guaranteed to bump up the engagement and get students more fluent working with exponents.
The list of ideas:
Properties of Exponents Knockout Game
Target Game with Rules of Exponents
Properties of Exponents Chart and Game
Let’s dive in
Each of these activities can be used for a different purpose. Some of them are suited as bell ringers while others work for the whole class. Also, you’ll find that some of them work as homework or for cyclical review. I encourage you to look through them and find the ones that will work for you and your classroom.
Properties of Exponents Mazes
These three properties of exponents mazes are a great way to practice a variety of properties of exponents. They can be used for homework, centers, partner work, or assessment. I use a maze everyday for bellwork and it gets students in their seats and working. They know everyday when they come into class how we start.
This particular set of mazes includes:
*Questions that review properties of exponents including power of zero, power of one, power of a power, negative power, power of a product, and power of a quotient.
*3 mazes with 15 problems each
*answer keys
*1 maze with no negative numbers and 1 maze with negative numbers
Are you a fan of math mazes just like this one? Each month we send a FREE middle school math maze to members of the Maze of the Month Club. It’s easy to join- just sign up below and you’ll get started with an integers maze exclusively for club members:
Sign me up for the Maze of the Month Club!
Can’t wait to see you there.
Product of Exponents Board Game
Board games work great for fast finishers or for math lab classes. This properties of exponents board game is all ready to print and go. The blog post that accompanies this download details all of the steps and the rules for playing the game. Many students love to practice like this because it feels like they’re playing a game, but at the same time they’re getting better at simplifying properties of exponents. You can download the game board and the rules right from the blog post.
Properties of Exponents Knockout Game
Students enjoy reviewing the rules of exponents in this interactive knockout game. This game can be played with or without an interactive whiteboard or projector to practice the rules of exponents with increasing complexity, including negative exponents. It has 20 questions and it works great as a review before the test. It really gives you a chance to see where students need help.
This game is played by having students choose a character and clicking on the character to reveal a question. I have all of the students answer the question on their whiteboard and then show me their answers. When I see a misconception I can address it with the whole class. Students keep track of their points and some of the characters reveal bonuses instead of questions. These bonuses can be extra points for them or for a particular group of students, or they could actually lose points. My kids love playing this game, and they especially love that little element of chance that the bonuses bring. I love that they get more practice and I can see how the class is doing overall.
Algebra Lab
Sometimes I just want my students to do some good old fashioned practice on their own. One of the issues is making sure they’re getting the feedback that they need.
Algebra Lab has 10 questions for students to complete, and they have a couple that will challenge kids more. Students can answer one question at a time. There’s a link to a page of notes if they need a little extra help.
Math Games
Another online resourece to check out is from Math Games. This site gives students one question at a time and has 2 levels. It gives students stars for each question that they get correct. Some of the features are that the questions change each time you play, so you can play many times.
You can also share this activity directly with students through Google Classroom (score!). It’s the type of activity that students can work on independently if you need a center when you’re working with a small group. It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s engaging. Both of these websites would be a great addition in the 1:1 classroom.
Square Puzzle
I love this exponents square puzzle because you actually complete a puzzle while practicing. Some of the kids really like the puzzle aspect. The first time that you have your kids do this type of puzzle, you’ll want to give them support. I show them how it works and I tell them which square goes in the middle. When I don’t do that some of them struggle with trying to understand how the puzzle even works.
In this puzzle students have to simplify 12 different expressions and they get to practice 6 different properties of exponents. Some of the sides of the squares don’t have answers so they always have many choices to choose from. You’ll enjoy this one if you try it!
Target Game with Rules of Exponents
As I’m sure you’ve already seen if you’ve read other posts on my blog, we do a lot of games and activities in my class. Sometimes, the most simple activity can be a winner. My favorite “simple” game we call the Target Game. To play, I just draw a target on the board and students get to throw a suction cup ball at the target for answering questions. I have a few different variations on this game, but the one we have been doing lately consists of the following steps:
- I put a problem on the doc cam for the class to complete on their whiteboards.
- They all complete the problem individually.
- After they have finished, I ask three questions about the problem.
- Each of the three kids who answers a question gets to throw at the target.
- Before they throw at the target, everyone else has to choose who they have confidence in and they get the amount of points that person gets.
All you need to play this game are some prepared questions. Here’s a link to a worksheet that has questions that you can use to play this game. Your students will be super engaged and some of them that never participate will be chomping at the bit to get an opportunity to throw something at your board!
Properties of Exponents Task Cards
Task cards are a staple in my classroom. I was introduced to them a few years ago and I’ve never looked back. What I love about them is that you can do so much with them. We use them most often as an independent practice activity. Also, I always print the answers on the back of the cards, so that students can get corrective feedback as they work. This works a lot better than having them finishing 20 problems and then going over the answers.
These properties of exponents task cards review 6 different properties of exponents and include 24 different questions. Included in the task casks pack is a resource that has 10 ways to use task cards in your classroom. You can play games with these cards, use them as example problems for the whole class to work on, or set up math stations for independent practice. There’s really so many options.
Mash-up Math Videos
In addition to all of activities above, you can have students watch videos to practice properties of exponents. Mash-up Math has a great series of videos that explore the properties of exponents. Each video is about 3 to 4 minutes long. Also, their videos aren’t boring. You’re not just watching someone explain a concept standing at a board.
The videos are titled:
-Introduction to Exponents
-Raising an Exponent to Another Exponent
-Dividing Exponents with the Same Base
-Multiplying Exponents with the Same Base
-Raise a Product to an Exponent
You can reach a YouTube page that has them all together by clicking here. Finally, one of the great features of these videos is that they have timeouts. During the timeouts there’s a question on the screen for students to answer. You can have students answer these questions in their notebooks. It’s a great way to keep them focused on what they’re seeing in the video.
Properties of Exponents Chart and Game Freebie
For whatever reason, I love charts. I mean, I really love them. Anytime a concept has vocabulary or characteristics, then I will happily make a chart. The chart I’ve made for this topic as seen below is a great way to review the rules of exponents. When students use this chart, they analyze what’s happening in the situation. They also have to keep simplifying if possible. You can download this chart for free and use it when you’re teaching about exponents or when you’re reviewing this topic.
Speaking of charts, you can also download this free review activity. It’s a circle chart seen below (see what I mean about my chart obsession?). Each circle has some exponent expressions to simplify. Basically, students use this activity as a drill. They can check the answers under the flaps. With this chart students get a lot of practice in a short amount of time. I like this for cyclical and skills practice. In fact, it’s one of the ways I review with students at the end of the year in the 8th Grade Review Pack. But, it could be used throughout the year to brush up on this skill in a quick and easy way.
Try one thing…
You’ll find a lot of different ideas out there for practicing and reviewing the properties of exponents. This collection shows some of my go-tos. My challenge to you is to try one of the ideas in your classroom. I can’t remember teaching something exactly the same way two years in a row, so I’m always trying a new activity or two for each unit. I firmly believe that you don’t have to change everything to make improvements in your teaching. Improvement happens in small incremental changes- just one thing at a time. I hope you are ready to rock your exponents unit! Thanks for reading. Until next time.
