Lesson 6

Help me remember the order, Acronyms.

Lesson Overview: Students will use what they have learned about order of operations to create
their own acronym. They will write it out on a 6 section foldable so that they can refer to it when
they need it as a reminder when solving order of operation equations.

Materials Needed:

iPad
Promethean White Board
Document Camera
White copy paper
Pencil or colored pencils

Learning Objective:
Students will be able to create an acronym to represent the sequence of an order of operation
problem. They must correctly order their letters to either spell a word or a phrase.

Time: One class lesson (40 Minutes)

Classroom set-up: Students will be in their standard team of 5s. Each group facing the front of
the room.

Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activity

1) Teacher will ask students what an acronym is and if they can give any examples.
2) The teacher will ask how this acronym is associated with math. Please Excuse My
Dear Aunt Sally
3) Students will be verbally quizzed on the order in which they have to solve a multifunction equation.

4) As students answer the sequence of order of operations the teacher will write them
out on the Smart board in a vertical column making sure to line up the first letter in
each of the words.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

5) Students will be asked if they see how the earlier acronym is associated with math
again.
Step 2: Content Presentation
1) The teacher will point out that Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally is an acronym
for order of operations.
2) The teacher will highlight each words first letter that was written on the Smart board
earlier. With each letter highlighted, the teacher will show how each letter is the
beginning letter of the acronym.
3) Students will also be exposed to PEMDAS. PEMDAS is how the 6th grade teachers
will remind students about the sequence of order of operation problems.
Step 3: Learner Participation
1) Students will be given paper and shown using a document camera on how to create a
6 section foldable. (Basic hot dog fold so there is 6 sections top to bottom)
2) Students will have to create an acronym to help them remember the sequence of order
of operations.
3) Students will apply that acronym to their foldable and write an example of each
component on the bottom of each section.
Step 4: Assessment
1) Completion of foldable with the correct sequence in their acronym.
2) Students will take a picture of their foldable and upload that into Schoology under the
Foldable tab so everyone can see each others work. This is also how the teacher
can grade the students work.

Step 5: Follow Through Activities

Half hour before school ends the teacher will keep students in their teams and verbally quiz them
on certain order of operations sequences which will be answered on Doceri. The team that
answers the most questions correctly will be excused from school a few minutes early.