Function Machines

It's Monday! The day before our state testing!!! I am trying not to stress my kids out with too much. They are either ready or not. They just have to do their best and all will be okay. 

For Mathematical Monday, I have a Monday Made it as well. 

My boys have gotten into Pringles. 

And because I am a teacher and think, "I can't throw this away, I could use it for something", I save lots of things that normal people just throw away. So, I have this collection. (this is about 2 months worth) 

They are starting to be an eye sore in my kitchen. But, I am so busy with school and baseball, I just can't "make" anything right now. 

 Last summer, I made these with Pringles cans. 

They are pretty and I really like them. 

Confession time:  It's April and they have not been used. I love the idea and concept, but I need to adapt them to meet my students needs. 

As we planned for our STAAR Camps, we decided to use Function Machines. 

I saw some on Math = Love. It was my job to make them for the camp. 

Over the weekend, I starting researching how to make them. I looked over at my sink, and viola, those Pringles cans were just staring back at me. 

So, I played around and this is what I came up with. 

Students put in a card with the "x =" side up. When it comes out, it tells them what "y" would be. Students complete this for all the like colored cards. 

They complete their table and then decide what the process was inside the "function machine". 

Students were doing this independently so we made it multiple choice. It's also a review for our state test which is all multiple choice, so we made it this way on purpose as well. 

This is how I made them: 

I cut a section out from the bottom. 

I cut a "ramp" for the inside of the machine to fit. 

The "ramp" had to come out of the can to work. 

Then, I duct taped it down. 

This is the view of the inside. See the small slots that the poster board doesn't cover? Well, believe it or not students got cards stuck in  there. How? I don't know. 

So, I had to take it apart and adjust it. Now the inside looks like this. 

Then I duct taped the whole thing. E-A-S-Y!!! 

I cut the lid. This is where the card goes into.

So, here is how I feel about this function machine:

It works. Its what I had available when I needed it. 

Will I use it again? Absolutely. 

Will I make a different type of function machine during the summer? Maybe. 

Were my students able to figure out algebraic expressions using tables? Yep! 

This means, S-U-C-C-E-S-S! 

HAPPY MONDAY!