I was super excited to discover a mathematical variation of tic-tac-toe. Instead of playing with Xs and Os, Numerical Tic Tac Toe is a game of evens vs odds. I printed the even and odd numbers on different colors of paper to make it super clear which numbers belong to each person. You might have …
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I’ve been a fan of this factoring puzzle for factoring quadratic trinomials since I worked through it at a Common Core workshop I attended (OGAP) in the summer of 2013. Over the last couple of days, I have been going back through these resources that I originally blogged about and giving each resource its own …
Today I’m sharing the Sum to Twenty-One Puzzle with you. Previously, I have shared similar puzzles called Sum to Twenty and Sum to Thirty. These puzzles are the creation of Marcy Cook. They were shared in THINK ABOUT IT! Mathematics Problems of the Day which was published by Creative Publications in 1982. The book is …
The 9-10-11-12 Challenge is actually four puzzles in one. Can you arrange the numbers 1 through 6 in the spaces of the triangular shape below so that each side sums to 9? Repeat the challenge for sums of 10, 11, and 12. I learned of this challenge from a collection of brainteasers that is no …
Everyone knows how to play tic-tac-toe. But can you solve the tic tac toe challenge puzzle? This fun brain teaser is simple to explain, but it can be hard to solve!
Today I’m sharing a new puzzle with you called the 8 sticks puzzle. Yesterday, I bemoaned the loss of my classroom puzzle corner. I’ve been trying to come up with some ways to keep incorporating puzzles in my classroom in a pandemic-friendly manner. My favorite puzzles are the ones with pieces that students can manipulate. …
I want to share a factoring quadratics practice activity I created for my Algebra 2 students. In the Oklahoma math standards, students are first exposed to factoring quadratics in Algebra 1. However, they are only exposed to factoring quadratics where the leading coefficient is 1. These are called monic quadratics. Thus, my Algebra 2 students …
It’s a lazy Saturday morning that is turning out to be lazier than I had initially planned since I’m currently stuck on the couch with a sleeping baby on top of me. That means it’s the perfect time to share another puzzle that my students tackled recently on our magnetic puzzle wall (AKA dry erase …
Master the art of the squaring off puzzle! Rotate and arrange given rectangular pieces to create a perfect square, testing your problem-solving skills. Thanksgiving Break is here, and I am oh so grateful for these few days off. This year has felt like one long learning curve as I figure out what life looks like …
I’m excited to share with you the Big Magic Puzzle. I love magic square puzzles, but I’ve never done much more with them in my class then give out the occasional magic square puzzle worksheet. So, when I ran across a different-than-normal magic square puzzle in The Ultimate Clever Puzzle Book, I knew I had …
Today I’m sharing a puzzle I’m calling Nine Squares Puzzle. A few days ago, Shelli tweeted about needing more puzzles for next year since her advisory students will have already seen the ones she has used previously. This reminded me that I too will have this problem because my Pre-Calc classes will be made almost …
I’m here today to share with you the Twelve Envelopes Puzzle. I’ve finally reached a point in the summer where my brain has started thinking about ideas for the new school year. Actually, I’ve been thinking about next year since around February or March, but I’ve finally stopped *just* thinking about next year and started …
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 …
I want to convince you why dividing polynomials using the box method is my favorite method for dividing polynomials. After taking a 2 year hiatus from teaching Algebra 2 to dabble in teaching physical science and chemistry, I’m back at it this year. One of the things I really missed about teaching Algebra 2 was …
Day one and two are in the books! I’ll share a bit more about what I did with my classes on the first two days in a later post, but I want to go ahead and share the mathematical challenge I used with my students on the first day since I have got several questions …
Today I’m sharing with you the Sum to Twenty Puzzle by Marcy Cook. In Math Concepts, we ran out of That’s Logical puzzles a few weeks ago, so I had to find a new source of daily warm-ups. Instead, I’ve started using puzzles from “THINK ABOUT IT! Mathematics Problems of the Day” by Marcy Cook. …
The idea for this building and naming polynomials activity started out like many of my ideas do. I start thinking about the topic I’m teaching, and I ask myself “What if…?” This week, the topic was polynomials, and the question I asked myself was “What if I could create some sort of puzzle for polynomials?” …
Just a quick puzzle post today to share the north east south west puzzle with you because it’s already past my bedtime! This has been a crazy week because I’ve been spending almost all of my spare time prepping for a 2.5 hour workshop I’m giving this Saturday on interactive notebooks. The participants will actually …
Today I’m sharing my first ever original puzzle. I’m calling it the Decorate the Tree Puzzle. It’s officially the first day of Christmas Break here in the Carter household. So far, I’ve celebrated by doing the standard dishes and laundry, watching a Christmas movie as well as silly get out of debt reality shows on …
Today I want to share with you the Pyramid Challenge Puzzle. Last week, we tackled the color square puzzle from Puzzle Box, Volume 1. This book is my current top recommendation for teachers who are looking to incorporate more puzzles into their classroom. Or, maybe you want a challenge yourself. What I love about this …
Last week, I came across a fun perfect square puzzle. Place a set of numbers in a row such that adjacent pairs of numbers always sum to a perfect square. I decided to create a version of the perfect square puzzle for my students to try who finished their 9 weeks test early. To keep …
I love using the Blocko game to give students much needed practice with experimental and theoretical probability. This game also goes by the name “Beano.” I prefer to play it with linking cubes, so we call it Blocko. Algebra 1 is in the midst of our LAST unit of the year. With the stress and …
I created this function vs not a function puzzle to help my students practice determining if a relation is a function or not a function. I also wanted my activity to perform double duty. I wanted students to be able to use the exact same activity to form relations that were functions and that were …
Last Friday, I pulled a this make it even brain teaser out for Figure It Out! Friday. I found a puzzle called “Make It Even” in The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations by Boris A. Kordemsky. The book is published by Dover, so it’s super affordable! I’ve found numerous puzzles I want to try out …