Order of Operations Lesson: Parentheses, Brackets & Braces, Grades 5-7

Parentheses change the answer, and this lesson lets students see it. The same numbers, 8 + 4 × 3, are worked twice: once with no grouping (20) and once with parentheses around 8 + 4 (36). Students compare the two and say what the grouping symbols did.

What's inside

• 18 slides, with speaker notes on all 18
• Lesson plan, 2 pages: standards, materials, objective, a teacher-guided sequence keyed to slide numbers, a "Watch For" note and a 25-minute version
• Scaffolded notes, 1 page, fill-in-the-blank to match the slides
• Practice worksheet, 2 pages: 18 practice items
• Exit ticket, 3 questions, two per sheet
• Answer key, 2 pages, with every step shown
• Print-all PDF, 8 pages: the lesson plan, every student page and the answer key in one file

Answer key included

Want this for a different grade? Request a lesson