Today I’m excited to share this Hidden Animals Puzzle with you from Frank Tapson. This year, I am teaching 4 sections of Algebra 2 and 2 sections of Pre-Calculus. Having four sections of one subject is always interesting because I find that keeping four different classes at approximately the same spot in the curriculum to …
End of Year Activities
We made ice cream in a bag as our last lab of the year in Chemistry. My students were pretty skeptical that the process would actually result in ice cream, and they were pleasantly surprised as a result. One student brought in M&M’s and Heath bits as topping. Super yummy! Here’s our recipe if you’re …
My first introduction to the Panda Squares Puzzle was from one of my favorite inspiration sources: Twitter! I saw a tweet by Jenny Leake that sparked my curiosity. This curiosity led me to do a google search. I was pleasantly surprised to find David Butler‘s blog at the top of the search results. From his …
Before I share the chromatography butterflies bulletin board that my chemistry students created, I should make it clear that I’m teaching chemistry this year under some not-so-normal circumstances. I still want to keep my chemistry class as hands-on as possible. This has meant that I have to get creative to find lab activities that my …
The Crazy Eight Paper Folding Puzzle may be made up of only a single sheet of paper, but it is actually eight different engaging and infuriating puzzles in one!
Last year, I learned about an activity called “Make a Million” from Julie Morgan who blogs at Fraction Fanatic. I tried this out with students several times throughout the year. It’s perfect for those awkward five minutes when you get through your lesson plan way faster than you expected. Kids LOVED it, but every time …
I’m looking forward to playing this traffic lights game during the first week of school with my new 9th graders. Yes, I am teaching 9th graders for five of my six periods again this school year. As I wrote in my giant Ideas for the First Week of School post, I learned of this traffic …
Another one of my favorite math-y games is SET. If you are not familiar with SET, it is a card game that can be played alone or with a group that relies on pattern recognition. Here’s the basic rules courtesy of the SET company. Though I now love the game of SET, this has …
Sprouts is a mathematical game that was invented by two mathematicians: Conway and Paterson in the 1960s. I remember reading about this game as a kid in a book of mathematical games that lived on the bookshelf in my family’s living room. I have used it as a fun activity for the first week of …
I’m still on a quest to clean out my drafts folder before the new school year starts in a couple of weeks. As most of you know, last year I taught one section of physical science. When I announced to my math classes that we would be celebrating Pi Day, my science kids wanted to …
I really hope you guys aren’t growing tired of reading blog posts about Frank Tapson’s awesome activities because you’re about to read another one. Previously, I’ve shared about How Far Can YOU Climb?, Manifest, and Skittles. Frank also designed the number line poster I have at the front of my classroom. I love …
Today I want to share an activity with you called Learning from A to Z. Last month, I saw a tweet by Kimberly Blodgett and told myself I needed to remember it for the last couple of weeks of school. We’re now in our last week of school, and it’s been hard to maintain regular …
Today I’m sharing the skittles game by Frank Tapson. Skittles is a fun little dice game for two players. You will need dice as well as something like bingo chips to play. It’s been a while since I shared one of Frank Tapson’s activities here on the blog. Previously, I’ve shared How Far Can YOU …
In February, Mary Bourassa wrote a blog post about Skyscraper Puzzles. As soon as I read the post, I knew I needed to use this puzzle in my classroom. I even sent my husband a link, gushing about how amazing these puzzles were! The puzzles from the brainbashers.com website weren’t quite the right size to …
I am so blessed to be married to a teacher because my husband doesn’t even bat an eye when I ask him to do things like buy me some six foot long pieces of pipe insulation at Lowe’s. Note to self: pick a non-windy day to try and bring this into the building! Shaun also …
I ran across this game while reading Don Steward’s blog. The Manifest Game was created by Frank Tapson. I posted about another activity from Frank Tapson last week called “How Far Can YOU Climb?” Quite a few of you tried it out in your classroom, and your students loved it just as much as mine …
Last week, I ran across an activity by Frank Tapson called “How Far Can YOU Climb?” (page 34). The premise of the puzzle is quite simple. Form the longest chain possible by moving horizontally or vertically from one number to an increasing number. Here are Frank Tapson’s instructions: I printed off a class set, and …
Looking to play a friendly game of Farkle with friends or with your students in your classroom? I’ve got a free printable Farkle Score Sheet to help make your game play run smoothly. What is Farkle? Farkle is an incredibly fun and addictive dice game that is equally suitable for a fun family game night …
I’m excited to introduce you to the 5-4-3-2-1 Challenge. On Sunday morning, Nancy Swank tweeted me a link to a puzzle on NPR’s website. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because Nancy is the entire reason why NPR spent an entire day in my classroom in 2014. I followed the link and started reading …
Build It is a cooperative, team building activity that encourages students to work together, communicate, and think logically as they construct a geometric object to satisfy a set of given clues. If you’re looking to work on vocabulary, this activity introduces/reinforces words such as “face” and “edge.” I learned about Build It from Stanford’s website. The …
The Thirteen Game is a Nim-style counting game that I originally learned about from Julie Morgan’s lovely blog. It’s the perfect time filler game for the first week of school when schedules can be weird and classes tend to be regularly cut short. I use this game whenever I have a few extra minutes with …
I created these stellated icosahedrons from clear plastic straws and curling ribbon. They make the perfect math classroom decoration to hang from the ceiling of my room. I learned how to make these stellated icosahedrons from Janelle Graham. Her blog sadly no longer exists, but I was able to find an archived version of the …
If you are looking to engage students in a fun classroom game, look no further than Sara Van Der Werf‘s amazing 5 x 5 game. It is a relatively low-prep game that only requires a set of printed game boards and a standard deck of playing cards. As soon as I read Sara’s post, I …
Today I want to share with you an idea I’m calling “Alphabetical Advice.” Do you ever find that you have ideas at the totally wrong time of the year? That just happened to me. I’m supposed to be thinking about the new school year coming up soon, and I’m already thinking about how I want …
Petals Around the Rose is a fun and frustrating dice-based brainteaser. It makes a great activity for the first week of school in math class! I first learned about Petals Around the Rose from Annie Forest in her blog post on 8 Ideas for the Last Minutes of Math Class. Usually, I read a post …