How to Teach One Step Equations: a Free 7th Grade Pixel Art Activity
Want the free One Step Equations activity? Click here
If you are working out how to teach one step equations in 7th grade, here is the activity I use with my own students, and it is free: a self-checking mystery pixel art activity for Google Sheets with 10 one-step equations, a printable recording sheet and an answer key.
Below is how I teach the idea, step by step, and how I run this solving one step equations activity. Type your email on the sign-up page and the PDF is yours right away.
How to teach one step equations: keep it balanced
An equation is a balance: whatever you do to one side, you do to the other. A one-step equation has one operation on the variable, so one inverse operation gets the variable alone. Addition undoes subtraction, and multiplication undoes division.
Here is one with negative numbers, the 7th grade part. For x + 7 = 3, subtract 7 from both sides: x = -4. Then check it by putting -4 back in: -4 + 7 = 3. For n / 3 = -6, multiply both sides by 3: n = -18. When the variable is being subtracted, as in 5 - x = 9, subtract 5 from both sides to get -x = 4, so x = -4. Students who check every answer catch their own sign mistakes.
The lesson at a glance
- Grade: 7th grade
- Standard: Common Core 6.EE.B.7: solve real-world and mathematical problems by writing and solving equations of the form x + p = q and px = q for cases in which p, q and x are all nonnegative rational numbers
- Standard: Common Core 7.NS.A.3: solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers
- You need: a Google account for you and your students, the recording sheet, one per student, the answer key
- Students will be able to: solve one-step equations with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, including negative numbers
Get the free activity and answer key
Before you teach
The activity lives in a Google Sheet. The directions page in the free PDF has the link: click it, choose Make a Copy, and save the copy to your Google Drive so you can find it later.
- Print the recording sheet, one per student, or have students work on scratch paper or whiteboards.
- You and your students need a Google account.
- Give each student their own copy, so nobody edits your original.
Assign the one step equations activity: one copy for each student
In Google Classroom it takes a minute. No Google Classroom works too: use the Sheet's Send button to email it, or copy its link and share it somewhere your students sign in, like their school email.
- In Google Classroom, click Classwork, then Create, then Assignment.
- Name it 1-Step Equations, add instructions if you want, and set a due date.
- Click Add, choose Google Drive, and pick your copy of the Sheet.
- In the dropdown, choose Make a copy for each student.
- Click Assign.
The recording sheet: 10 one-step equations
Students show their work on the recording sheet. The 10 equations mix all four operations, and most have a negative number in them. A few are there to make students think: one has the variable on the right side, one divides by a negative number, and one subtracts the variable from a number.
The mystery pixel picture: how the activity checks itself
Students type each answer into the Google Sheet. A correct answer fills in part of a hidden pixel picture, so students know right away that they got it, and the whole picture shows when all 10 are right. They want to see the picture, so they keep going.
Check the work with the answer key
The answer key is a copy of the recording sheet with every answer, for checking the paper work or helping a student who is stuck.
Here is the free One Step Equations activity
Type your name and email on the sign-up page. The PDF downloads on the next page, and a copy comes to your inbox.
- The cover and directions, with the link to the self-checking Google Sheet
- The recording sheet with 10 one-step equations
- The answer key
This activity is from the 7th grade math activities in my membership
- Integer Operations Activity
- Multiplying and Dividing Integers Halloween Activity
- One-Step Equations Veterans Day Activity
- Ratios and Rates Activity
- Ratios and Proportions Groundhog's Day Activity
- Solving Proportions Fall Activity
- Percentages Scavenger Hunt
- Simple Interest Scavenger Hunt
- Theoretical and Experimental Probability Activity
- Volume of Cubes and Rectangular Prisms Activity
- 7th Grade End of Year Review Jeopardy
See everything in the membership
More free 7th grade math lessons
Questions teachers ask about one step equations
What is a one step equation?
An equation you can solve with one inverse operation, like x + 9 = 4, 3x = 27 or x / 2 = 8. Do the opposite operation to both sides, and the variable is alone.
What grade is one step equations?
They start in 6th grade with Common Core 6.EE.B.7, using numbers that are not negative. In 7th grade students solve them with negative numbers too (7.NS.A.3), which is what this activity practices.
Can I use the activity without Google Classroom?
Yes. Use the Sheet's Send button to email it, or copy its link and share it somewhere your students sign in, like their school email. Each student still needs their own copy.
Want every 7th grade math activity right now?
The membership has every course from 7th grade to Calculus: notes, activities, review games and tests, with answer keys. New lessons keep coming.
Get the free One Step Equations activity
The self-checking Google Sheet, the recording sheet and the answer key, in one PDF. Type your email and it is yours.
Pin this for later
Want more engaging resources like this one?
Notes, activities, review games and tests from 7th grade to Calculus, with answer keys. New lessons keep coming.
