Students sort term pairs as like or unlike, simplify 16 expressions with negatives, decimals and squared terms, and find a perimeter.
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A color-coded example opens the worksheet, turning 7m + 3n − 2m + n − 5 + 8 into 5m + 4n + 3, with a note that n on its own means 1n. Students then decide which of eight pairs are like terms and simplify 16 expressions. Later ones mix x with x², and in several a whole family of terms cancels. Two extras close the set: explaining Rina's mistake of adding 3x, 3x² and 4 to get 10x², and writing a garden bed's perimeter as a simplified expression.
Watch problems 6 and 15, where a family of terms cancels: 12r − 12r and 6g² + 2g² − 8g² both make zero. Students often leave 0r or 0g² in the answer; the key gives −6s + 3t and −g + 4.
In problem 2, 6x − 8x is −2x, and many students write 2x by taking the smaller number from the larger. Have them circle each term together with the sign in front of it before grouping.
Problems 1 and 8 hide a coefficient of 1: 4a − a is 3a, not 4, and −h − 4h is −5h. Point back to the note under the rule, n means 1n.
Ways to adjust the 16 simplify problems and the two extras.
Each one is checked against the official documents. Where the resource covers only part of a standard, the note says so.
Students simplify expressions by combining like terms that have negative and decimal coefficients, such as 2.5w + 4 − 1.5w + z. The file does not ask students to factor or expand with parentheses, and some items include squared terms, which go past linear expressions.
Students rewrite each expression as a shorter equivalent one by grouping like terms, the same idea as turning y + y + y into 3y, and write a garden-bed perimeter as one simplified expression. The distributive-property examples in this standard are not practiced here.
In Find the Mistake, students explain why 3x + 3x² + 4 is not equal to 10x² and write the correct equivalent expression. Students are not asked to test equivalence by putting in different values for the variable.
Students combine like terms, including terms with squares and decimals, and write a garden-bed perimeter as one simplified expression; the separate properties are not named or practiced one by one.
Students find the mistake where a classmate added unlike terms and explain why her answer is not equal to the starting expression; models and drawings are not used.
No. Every expression is already written out without parentheses, so students only group and combine terms.
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