Name: Intro to Calculus Word Wall
SKU: 63ec2641ae1876118821cffc
Price: 39.99 USD
Availability: InStock

About this resource

What's inside this resource

This is an Intro to Calculus Word Wall that includes limits and derivatives. Your pre-calculus/calculus students will find this word wall beneficial as it provides them with many skills that will be covered in your course. As a teacher, you will find it helpful to quickly reference topics on the wall that were covered last week (or last semester).

Each sheet features a title, a subtopic, and a sheet number. This will help you keep cards organized. The box for the sheet number is left blank on each sheet to give you the flexibility to rearrange sheets and number them however you like.

Some sheets will need to be combined because they are too big to fit on one sheet. An “incomplete” border on the sheet indicates topic extends to multiple pages.

For a long lasting resource, after printing, I suggest laminating each one of the pages. If wall space allows, post sheets as you cover them in class and leave them up throughout the year. If space is limited, print sheets half-size or replace sheets after completing a unit of study.

In addition to using them as posters, this resource may be used in math centers, or as guidance for individual work, or for group work.

The topics included are:

1. Limits & Derivatives

– Limit Notation

– One-Sided Limits: Left-Hand & Right-Hand Limits

– Average Rate of Change: Formula & Graph

– Instantaneous Rate of Change: Formula & Graph

– Derivative: Formula & Graph

– Properties of Limits:

• Sum Rule

• Difference Rule

• Product Rule

• Quotient Rule

• Constant Multiple Rule

• Power Rule

• Root Rule

– Finding Limits: Graphs & Tables

– Velocity: Average & Instantaneous

– Limits at Infinity: Graph & Table

– Infinite Limits: Graph & Table

What's included

A contents page listing the whole set under "1. Limits & Derivatives" with every subtopic named (page 2)
A guide page explaining the sheet layout - title, subtopic, and a deliberately blank sheet-number box so you can order and number the display yourself (page 3)
Two pages explaining how multi-sheet topics combine, with an incomplete border used as the signal that a sheet joins another (pages 4-5)
Limit notation with its reading, its meaning, and a graph noting that f(c) need not exist for the limit to exist (pages 7-8)
Left-hand and right-hand limit sheets around a shared one-sided limits graph (pages 10-12)
Average rate of change and instantaneous rate of change, each as a formula sheet plus a secant- or tangent-line graph (pages 14-18)
The derivative as the limit of the difference quotient, with a tangent-line graph as h approaches 0 (pages 20-21)
Properties of limits across three sheets: sum, difference, product, quotient, constant multiple, power and root rules (pages 23-25)
Finding limits from graphs and from tables, including a worked example where the two-sided limit does not exist (pages 27-30)
Average and instantaneous velocity in position-function notation (pages 32-33)
Limits at infinity and infinite limits, each with a graph of f(x) = 1/(x+2) and a numerical table (pages 35-39)

Resource types: Word Walls, Classroom Decor

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Read limit notation aloud correctly and state what it asserts about f(x) as x approaches c
Distinguish left-hand from right-hand limits and explain why a two-sided limit fails when they disagree
Tell average rate of change from instantaneous rate of change by their formulas and by the secant and tangent lines that represent them
Apply the sum, difference, product, quotient, constant multiple, power and root rules for limits
Estimate a limit from a table of values as well as from a graph, including cases where the limit differs from the function's value

Teaching tips

The sheet-number box is left blank on purpose, so number the sheets after you have decided your own display order rather than following the file's page order
An incomplete border is the join signal: any sheet whose border is open on one edge is meant to sit against another, and eight interleaved pages in the file repeat the instruction "Piece sheets together as shown"
Formula and graph almost always live on separate sheets, so put both up together - a formula sheet alone loses the secant or tangent line that explains it
The set covers limits and derivatives only, following its own contents page, which makes it a natural first wall for the opening unit rather than a whole-year display
The guide page suggests directing students to numbered sheets during independent practice - "reference Word Wall sheets 76-80 before seeking my help" - which works once you have numbered your own set

Skills covered

Wall display assembly - the teacher prints, orders and numbers the sheets, joining any with an incomplete border to their neighbours as the four guide pages set out.
Notation reading - the limit notation sheet gives the symbol, the sentence that reads it aloud, and the meaning, so students can decode the notation from the wall during practice.
Distinguishing secant from tangent - paired sheets put the average rate of change beside its secant line and the instantaneous rate beside its tangent line, making the difference visual rather than verbal.
Limit law recall - the sum, difference, product, quotient, constant multiple, power and root rules sit together across three sheets as a permanent reference.
Reading limits from tables - worked tables show f(x) closing on 4 while f(-1) equals 1, and values diverging either side of x = 5 where the limit does not exist.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How do you know which sheets belong together?

By the border. An incomplete border around the edge of a sheet indicates it is meant to be combined with others, and the file interleaves pages reading "Piece sheets together as shown" before each multi-sheet topic. Limit notation, one-sided limits, the rate-of-change pairs and the limit properties all span more than one sheet.

Why is the sheet-number box empty?

It is left blank deliberately so you can rearrange the sheets and number them to suit your own wall. The guide page explains the intent: once numbered, you can send students to a specific sheet during independent practice - its example is "reference Word Wall sheets 76-80 before seeking my help".

Which calculus topics does the set cover?

The limits-and-derivatives opening of a calculus course, as its contents page states: limit notation, one-sided limits, average and instantaneous rate of change, the derivative, the seven properties of limits, finding limits from graphs and tables, average and instantaneous velocity, limits at infinity and infinite limits.