Pre-Algebra Review Topic Line Up Cards Topic Index | Algebra Index | Regents Exam Prep Center

Prepare 3x5 cards with a variety of numbers, both rational and irrational.
For example,

Give each student a card and ask the class to arrange themselves around the room in numerical order.
(You may wish to allow students to use their calculators when determining their place in the number line.)

This very quick activity will help students obtain a feeling of how numbers are related to one another.  It is particularly valuable in allowing students to see how rational and irrational numbers compare.

There are many additional activities which also utilize these cards:

• Ask all of the students holding "irrational" numbers to move to one side of the room, and all students holding "rational" numbers to move to the opposite side of the room.
   

• Ask 5 students to stand in the front of the room in numerical order.  You, the teacher, holding a card, position yourself in the number line.  Ask the class if you are standing in the correct numerical location.  This could also be a small quiz or extra credit activity.
   

• Ask 2 students to stand in the front of the room.  Ask the class to determine the size of the interval between the two numerical values.
   

• Shuffle the cards and ask the students to place themselves in numerical order a second time.
   

• When the students are lined up in numerical order, ask all of the students to step forward whose number:
  -- is a multiple of 2.
  -- is an irrational number.
  -- is an odd number.
  -- can be expressed as a fraction.
  -- etc.