Looking for an Evaluating Expressions Worksheet? Try our Paper Chain Activity!

What does it mean to evaluate an expression? Evaluating an expression with a variable means finding out the value of the expression when the variable is replaced with a specific number.

For example, if we have the expression 2x + 3 and we want to evaluate it when x equals 4, we would replace x with 4 and simplify the expression:

2x + 3, when x = 4

= 2(4) + 3 (replace x with 4)

= 8 + 3

= 11

Teach Starter has created a cut-and-paste activity to help your students sharpen their computation and order of operations skills to work. Through this activity, students will show they can evaluate expressions with one or two variables.

How to Use Our Paper Chain Activity

This activity can be completed individually, in pairs, or with a small group.  

• Cut out all of the strips.
• Find and solve the expression on the strip that says START in the left-hand corner. 
• Locate the strip with the matching answer on the left-hand side. Create a link by gluing the expression strip with the strip that has the correct answer.
• Continue the pattern with the remaining links. 

When your students are finished, you can hang this up in your classroom as part of a classroom display!

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slides version of this resource. An answer key is also included with this download. 

You can choose to print this on colourful copy paper or keep it simple by printing on white paper and having the students colour in the links.

This resource was created by Cassandra Friesen, a Teach Starter Collaborator.