Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally Worksheets
These worksheets serve as the ground floor for helping students understand how to proceed when they come across an expression or equation that involves multiple operators. The acronym PEMDAS is often best remember by using the mnemonic “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you will also see a few more mnemonics we offer up as alternatives. Some of them resonate more with students than others. It will be up to you as the teacher, which you feel would work better for your students. This series of worksheets and lesson introduces students to the order of operations.
Aligned Standard: 3.OA.D.8
- Two Step Problem Step-by-Step Lesson- We introduce you to our old friend PEMDAS.
- Guided Lesson - A basic two stepper followed by missing signs for operations.
- Guided Lesson Explanation - Remember to solve these the same way you read, left to right.
- Practice Worksheet - Two or three step sides in this series of problems for you to work on.
- Matching Worksheet - Match the final difference / sum with the problem that forms that value.
- Signed Number Word Problem Five Pack of Worksheets - There is such a wide variety of scenarios and math skills used in this one.
- Solving Multi - Step Equations Five Pack of Worksheets - Two steps max in this one. Wait a minute! Make that three steps, if you consider carrying a step.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Homework Sheets
Time to go all PEMDAS on these problems.
- Homework 1 - The word PEMDAS reminds us of the order of operations.
- Homework 2 - Addition before subtraction.
- Homework 3 - Division before addition.
Practice Worksheets
The second sheet uses (parenthesis).
- Practice 1 - Find the final value of all the problems below.
- Practice 2 - These are a little bit more difficult.
- Practice 3 - The order of operations tells us what order must be used when evaluating numerical expressions with two or more operations.
Math Skill Quizzes
See what you think of the scoring keys here.
- Quiz 1 - We add before we subtract in a left to right manner.
- Quiz 2 - Multiplication and division follow the same when they are next to each other.
What Are the Order of Operations?
Almost everything in this world follows a specific order. Things that don't follow an order are usually termed as disorganized or a mess. When solving mathematical operations problems, specifically the ones with more than one operation in them, students cannot randomly perform operations as it will give an inaccurate answer. When we say inaccurate, we mean something that is not standard. If we were not to all follow the same procedure, we would all get different answers and limited consensus could be found in many situations. That is why we have a set process that we all follow in the same way.
To solve a math problem that involves several different operations, students need to follow the PEMDAS rule. PEMDAS is an acronym that stands for Parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, and division, addition, and subtraction. This is the order in which process operations in a left to right manner. To remember the order, a lot of students memorize the phrase, "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally." That is one of the most famous sayings that you will often see in textbooks. Here are three more that are gaining some traction, "Pudgy Elves May Demand a Snack", "Please Eat Mom’s Delicious Apple Strudels" and "People Everywhere Made Decisions About Sums." Then there is always my favorite way to remember it, "Popcorn Every Monday Donuts Always Sunday." Regardless of my method you use to remember this order, we just need to remember that these are the rules we follow in order from left to right.
The order states that in a number problem, you have to always solve the part that is contained within parenthesis. The second step is to simplify the numbers with exponents or powers on them, and then move on to multiplication or\and division, and addition or/and subtraction. As you will see in the previous sentence we list “or/and” with the combination of multiplication and division. As well as the same thing with addition and subtraction. This is important to note. If you come across those operations pairs at the same time, you proceed from right to left. In those circumstances only do you proceed from left to right.