Questions & Activities to Make Math Better.
In Geometry, we teach area as a quick review before surface area and volume. This year, I wanted this topic to be more of a life skill than just a review. I taught students how to use Google cards to find the area of common shapes. A quick search will pull up the following card… Continue reading Application for Area
I've always had my students draw in the lines and explore the interior and exterior angles of a polygon, but they struggle with drawing the lines. Many students try to draw lines from every angle to every other angle and you end up with a spiderweb mess. We also spend so much time on the… Continue reading Exploring Interior & Exterior Angles of Polygons
I love to create in the math classroom. It's a great way to connect with students who may not LOVE math but love to create. However, I want the projects we create to enhance their understanding of math, and not just end up an art lesson. This project, with the addition of a critical thinking… Continue reading Creative Critical Thinking
What do you do at the end of the year when students have already turned in their laptops? Tessellations. This was a great review of transformations and students were able to show their creativity. We learned how to make tessellations that translate, rotate, and reflect and then students could choose which 2 of the 3… Continue reading Tessellations
I have been doing this activity LONG before computers were a staple in the classroom. (We won't talk about how many years that's been!) I love this project now as much as I did when I started. I used to have a Far Side by Gary Larson desk calendar and each year I would keep… Continue reading Far Side Expansion
Matt Miller had a guest post on his blog a while back by John Meehan on a game concept called QR BreakIN. I love to create BreakOUT games so this idea had me intrigued. John's graphics were amazing and the game boards looked fun. I pondered how to use it in my math classroom for… Continue reading Break-In Game
For the last 9 years, I've had students do a Trig project where they use handmade clinometers to measure the height of an object taller than they are. I love this project because it shows the application of Trig and guides students through a thought process to solve this type of problem. This year I… Continue reading Student Created Trig Word Problems
I love Breakout games and watching students interact with each other to solve problems. What I don't like about physical breakout games is students missing out on some of the puzzles. The collaboration is great, but when using it as a review, not all students experience the same things. Digital breakouts can be done in… Continue reading Triangle Congruence Breakout
Triangle congruence is coming up soon. I've always done some kind of activity where students construct triangles and discover which ones are congruent. One activity is Road Kill Cafe shared with me by @craigklement. I'm not sure where it originally came from, sorry. Below is another construction activity we have done very similar to Road… Continue reading Stop Motion Triangle Congruence
I created this project my first year of teaching (we won't talk about how long ago that was). It used to be a teacher-guided activity, but with the use of technology, it's now a perseverance activity that meets the Geometry construction standards for constructing an equilateral triangle and regular hexagon. We also have a discussion about… Continue reading Geometric Jack
Make Math Not Suck 