1. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
In The News
Purple
Elephants
May Destroy A
School

2. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
Everyone at Math Middle School was a panic as they read the headline saying that a herd of purple elephants were headed towards the school.
Students sat in math class worrying about the headline and wondering if they would be safe while working order of operations problems.

3. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
Ms. Takes, the Math teacher, became very discouraged as she checked their order of operations problems and had to give them back because the students did not follow the correct procedure in working the problems.
Ms. Takes kept telling the class to remember the rules, but all they could think about was that the purple elephants may destroy a school, their school, Math Middle School.

4. What could Ms. Takes do?

5. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
All of a sudden Ms. Takes had an idea.
She would teach the students that Purple Elephants May Destroy A School is a clue on how to solve Math problems.

6. Ms. Takes, Math Teacher, Agrees: Purple Elephants May Destroy A School

7. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
Ms. Takes, the Math teacher, then informed her class that they could use the headline Purple Elephants May Destroy A School to remember how to solve their math problems.
Her class agreed that worrying was not going to stop the elephants if they decided to come to Math Middle School. The students then chose to turn what could be a major problem into something productive instead of worrying.

8. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
All of a sudden the principal, Mr. Al Gee Brahe, made an announcement.
He said that all Math students should quietly and quickly go to the auditorium because there were purple elephants in the school parking lot.

9. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
The students all quickly and quietly proceeded to the auditorium worrying about what would happen to their school if the Purple Elephants decided to destroy it.
All the students entered the auditorium and took a seat listening for the announcement on how to proceed if the elephants decided to destroy Math Middle School.
With great fanfare, the elephants headed into the auditorium. The students sat quietly and waited to see what would happen next.

10. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
The students imagined this:

11. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
Instead of destroying the school, the elephants amazed the middle school students with their Math talents.
Multiplication or
Division
Parenthesis
Exponents
Addition or
Subtraction P E MD AS

12. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
In The News
Purple
Elephants
May Destroy A
School

13. Purple Elephants Head To Middle School
The students quickly realized the headline meant the elephants were coming to share with them the secret of order of operations problems and not to destroy Math Middle School!
Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication or
Division
Addition or
Subtraction P E MD AS

14. Purple Elephants May Destroy A School
Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction