Unit Circle Magnets
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I created these unit circle magnets to use with my dry erase magnetic unit circle from EAI Education. I plan to use the magnets both as a way to have a large unit circle on the wall of my classroom and for various activities throughout the year.
When I share pictures of my magnetic unit circle, I always get two questions. Where is the unit circle from? And, what is the answer to your math joke of the week?
The magnetic unit circle is actually four separate magnets. It is from EAI Education.
The answer to the joke (What is a math teacher’s favorite tree?) is Geometry. You can find all of my math jokes here. And, if you want the printable Math Joke of the Week posters, I have those available as a free download, too!
To make the magnets for my Unit Circle, I typed up all of the degrees, radians, and ordered pairs. I printed them on three different colors of paper and laminated them.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.
I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.
I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!
I buy my disc magnets in bulk from Amazon. They are super strong magnets, and they come with little sticky circles to make them super easy to stick to things. These are the same magnets I use for my puzzles.
At the beginning of the year, I will just be using the degree and radian magnets with my Pre-Calc students.
I want to create a set of station activities related to the unit circle. One of the stations will have groups of students who have to place all of the magnets in the correct place on the unit circle without using any references.
I can also see myself passing out magnets to random students as they walk in the classroom. Then, as the lesson proceeds we will work together to build the unit circle.
There are just so many possibilities. I also have lots of other magnets in mind to use with this, but I haven’t got around to making them yet…
You could also just print the cards and use them for various activities without any magnets at all! I might print off a few more sets to have students practice with in the floor.
They won’t have a circle to build on, but they could still practice laying everything out where it belongs.
More Activities and Resources for Teaching the Unit Circle
- 7 Engaging Unit Circle Activities
- Fill in the Blank Unit Circle Chart
- Unit Circle Bingo Game
- Deriving the Unit Circle Foldable
- Unit Circle Magnets
- Unit Circle Projects
- Exact Values of Trig Functions Leap Frog Game
- Unit Circle Paper Plate Activity
- Finding Trig Ratios Using the Unit Circle Notes
- Trig Ratios in the First Quadrant Chart
- Unit Circle Interactive Notebook Page