Hello, Monday! I'm still getting over a very inconvenient cold, so today will most likely be a VERY long day of school. But, I can't imagine a better way to kick off this Monday than a new volume of Monday Must Reads. Each Monday, I post a quick recap of what awesome stuff the rest of you have been up to.
In other exciting news, this is my 1000th post on this blog. I have to say that I never thought my blog would make it this far when I started it back in 2011 as a student teacher. I'm usually the one to start a new project that only lasts a few months before moving on to the next new project. But, it turns out that being a part of the #MTBoS isn't just a fad. It's a lifetime of friendships. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog and encourages me to continue posting. It's because of you that my blog has come this far!
I hope you enjoy reading through the ideas I found most inspiring this week.
Allison Hartwig shares some awesome student work from a geometry project where students had to evaluate advertisements and slogans. Any assignment that gets students thinking critically (and mathematically) about the world around them is a huge win in my book.
Malke Rosenfeld inspires with some beautiful mathematical art. I'm thinking this would make a perfect Christmas ornament project for every math class! Check out
this blog post for more information.
Lita Stanton combines creativity and slope with a fun practice activity. I love the idea of combining twelve small graphs to make one large picture! If you create an assignment like this, please share so I can steal it!
I've never been a Star Wars fan, but I still love how
Mrs. Richardson combined Star Wars and systems of equations to make an awesome task. She even graciously uploaded the file for all of us to use
here.
Michael Moore recently penned a
blog post about an idea called "Math is Fun Fridays." In this post, he includes a link to a
google doc full of ideas to show students the more fun side of math. I loved scrolling through this list. Many items are the list were old favorites, but I did run across some new-to-me ideas. For example, have you ever thought about how long 10! (ten factorial) seconds is? Michael is encouraging everyone to "Take an Idea, Leave an Idea." So, be sure to check out instructions for how to add your own ideas to the google doc!
Amanda Atkinson shares an inequality activity by
Sarah Jurhs. I didn't do the best job this year of teaching my students the difference between AND and OR compound inequalities. I think this hand-on activity would be the perfect intro to AND versus OR. Plus, I already have some play money in my cabinet that I've had for years without any idea of what to use it for! You can download this stations activity
here.
Connie Schaef shares some awesome ornaments her chemistry students created. Each ornament represents a different element. These are absolute gorgeous!
Usually, I think I made the right decision in choosing to teach high school over middle school. But every once in a while,
Casey makes me doubt my decision by posting her sweet students' creations.
Joe Cossette shares a brilliant teacher hack: hide words in the answers to make grading easier!
Toni Madison coined an awesome term I look forward to using in the future: "craftivity." Aren't these fraction/decimal/percent Christmas trees adorable?!?
Ms. Grove shares a brilliant way to make a linear equation out of five six-sided dice.
Elyssa Stoddard's compass construction project makes me wish I taught geometry!
Adam JW Craig offers up a fun, hands-on activity for piece wise functions. I love the idea of having students build their own piece wise functions!
Morgan Stipe shares an awesome visual for understanding where the formula for the area of a circle comes from. I've never seen this one before!
Have extra window space? Maybe you should take advice from
Sarah Martin and post a weekly problem on your window for students to solve.
Liz Mastalio has created a BRILLIANT introduction to systems of linear equations. Students have to roll two dice to form an ordered pair. Then, they have to test that ordered pair to see if it is a solution to their system of equations. You can read more details on Liz's blog
here.
Sally Cosgrove shares a fun application activity involving Coke and Mentos.
Randi Munchanitis offers up a creative use for
wikki stix (affiliate link) in calculus. The use of color coding here is brilliant.
Primary Maths shares a fun net activity to pose to students.
DCDSB Math offers up a fun weekly math problem on their twitter account. I especially like this one:
Ashley Tewes gives students both choice and lots of practice at the same time with this distance formula project.
Teaching solving absolute value equations? You MUST check out these notes from
Math by the Mountain. I love the emphasis on special cases. Totally stealing this idea next year!
Until next week, keep up the awesome idea sharing!
